President and Founder
Robert James Roessel was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 9, 1960. During his undergraduate studies, Roessel was a directing intern under Liviu Ciulei at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. Throughout his graduate work in England, Roessel studied under Trevor Nunn and the Royal Shakesphere Company at Stratford Upon Avon.
It was while employed by the Minneapolis Film Festival in 1980 that Roessel was hired by film director George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting) as his assistant on the film The World According to Garp. Roessel worked with Hill and Warner Bros. developing various projects including (The Little Drummer Girl, Shadowlands, Misery, Funny Farm and Grumpier Old Men) for a period of fifteen years until Hill retired.
In 1989, Roessel initiated a film and lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In this series he brought Robert Redford, Robin Williams, Jessica Tandy, Glenn Close, Paul Newman, Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving and many others to the Met. From there he founded the Berkshire Film Society which was part of the "Tanglewood" crowd in western Massachusetts. In the Berkshires, he hosted Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Robert Wise, Arthur Penn, George Roy Hill, Alan Pakula, James Ivory and others. It was during this time that Roessel brought a Mexican Film Series to New York that was very popular - so popular that the Mexican Consulate offered him a trip to Puerto Vallarta where he'd never been.
In 2001, Roessel relocated to Puerto Vallarta where he is currently the President and Founder of the Puerto Vallarta Film Festival of the Americas.
Co-Founder and Director of Operations
Maria Jose Zorrilla was born in Victoria, Tamaulpas, Mexico. She was educated abroad in England and Switzerland until graduating with honors at the Institute of Technology in Monterrey in 1978. While at the Institute, Maria Jose participated in the making of a short independent film written by Salvador Elizondo, one of Mexico's great writers.
Maria Jose has called Puerto Vallarta home since 1983. She first worked as a political journalist at Vallarta Opina and for Indice Quarterly. In 1998 she was appointed Director of Cultural Affairs for the City of Puerto Vallarta and held that position through 2003. She is currently vice President of the Puerto Vallarta Film Festival A.C. and also serves on the board of the Los Mangos Public Library A.C.
