El Norte es el Sur was directed by Federico Veiroj (Montevideo, 1976). His first feature, Acne, premiered at the 2008 Directors Fortnight at Cannes and his second film, A Useful Life, premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Both films received many awards worldwide and were released in many countries. The Apostate, his third feature and first film shot in Spain, received the Jury's Special Mention and FIPRESCI awards at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Retrospectives of his work have been shown at the 2015 Viennale Film Festival, the Harvard Film Archive in 2016 and the Swedish Film Institute in 2017. His last film, Belmonte, won Best Screenplay at San Sebastián 2018.