Biografia
The Contravía Films partner William Vega earned a degree in Social Communications from the University of Valle in 2004 and a master's in Film and Television Script from the College of Arts and Entertainment TAI Madrid in 2008. He has worked as a university professor, director, screenwriter, and assistant director for film, video and TV projects. His first short film as a director and writer was Amnesia (2001) which was an Official Selection at the Havana Film Festival (Cuba 2002) and Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography at Colombia's 2002 Césares Awards. Two years later he directed Sunrise (2003) with Oscar Ruiz Navia, which won Best Fiction Film at the Equinoxio Festival (Colombia 2003) and was selected to be in the Toulouse Film Festival Section, "Ecran Libre" (France 2005). In 2004 William worked at Telepacifico, a cultural TV Channel, as a director of the series EducaTV, produced by the National Education Ministry, Ecopetrol and the Carvajal Foundation. EducaTV won First Prize for Best Educational Series at the Telefestival of Young Video ATEI (Spain 2004). In 2005 he directed his 3rd short film Tricolor Fútbol Club, produced by Antorcha Films, and screened in more than 250 theaters of Cine Colombia. Later, William was part of the team television series Juan Mochilas, produced by SEÑALCOLOMBIA, cultural TV Channel. After one year studying screenwriting in Spain, and working on the structure of LA SIRGA, he came back to Colombia and was the Assistant Director of the feature El Vuelco del Cangre (Crab Trap) directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia, winner of the FIPRESCI prize at the Berlin Film Festival 2010. His short film Simiente, shot in Lake La Cocha, was released in Latin America in the International Short Film Festival Sao Paulo (Brazil 2011) and participated in the Film Festival of Havana (Cuba) that same year. He also received the award for best photography at the Festival Invitro (Colombia). The short film Simiente was a major source of inspiration for Vega in his production of La Sirga.