1973, Valencia, Spain
Paco Plaza holds a degree in Information Science from the Universidad de Valencia and a diploma in Cinematographic Directing from the Escuela de Cine de la Comunidad de Madrid (ECAM).
After extensive experience making high quality short films and earning numerous awards he directed Abuelitos, a magnificent fantasy short film that, in addition to many other prizes, received the award for Best Short Film at the Canal Plus Fantasy Film Festival in San Sebastian and the Canal Plus Award at the Fantasy Film Festival in Brussels. Abuelitos played to audiences at numerous festivals throughout the world, including Fantasia (Canada), Fantasporto (Portugal), Fantafestival (Roma) and L’Etrange (Paris). Later he would go on to film Puzzles, also a winner of various awards such as the INJUVE award for Best Experimental Spanish Short Film (TVE).
Paco’s first feature film was El Segundo Nombre (2002), a screenplay which he wrote with the writer Fernando Marías and which was based on the novel by Ramsey Campbell. It saw him win the Melés Award for Best European Feature Film at the Sitges Film Festival and led to the consolidation of his reputation as one of the most promising new talents in fantasy film. Later, he would film O.T. La Película together with Jaume Balagueró, a documentary-film based on the tour of Operación Triunfo, and also RomaSanta, la caza de la bestia (2004), and Cuento de Navidad (2006).
In 2016 he directs an episode of the successful series on Channel 1, El Ministerio del Tiempo and the film Verónica starring Sandra Escacena which is nominated for 7 Goya Awards.
In 2018, he filmed the movie Quien a hierro mata, starring Luis Tosar. Shortly after, he embarked on his next film, La Abuela, which was released in 2021. He also directed the second episode of the first season of Historias para no dormir. In 2023 he releases the short film The Same as a screenwriter and director, and his latest feature film Hermana muerte. In 2024 his documentary Mugaritz. Sin pan ni postre is released in Movistar +.
His most recent project is the series La suerte for Disney +, released in 2025.