After becoming a medical doctor in Peru, Javier Fuentes-León studied film at CalArts in Los Angeles. His first feature, Contracorriente (Undertow) won over 50 international awards, including the Audience Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It was Peru’s submission to the 2011 Academy Awards and was nominated for a Goya Award (Spain’s Oscars). Fuentes-León’s second feature, the psychological noir thriller The Vanished Elephant, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2014 and traveled to prestigious international festivals (LA Film Festival, Cartagena, etc.)

His latest feature, the satire The Best Families, had a double world premiere at the 2020 Rome Film Festival and 2020 Busan Film Festival, and was part of the official competition of many international festivals, including Malaga, Miami, Lima, Outfest, etc. It is currently streaming worldwide on digital platforms including HBO, Amazon and Movistar.

Fuentes-León is currently developing his next feature film projects, both in the English language: The Woman Who Feared the Sun, to be shot in the Amazon jungle, and Sinister, a rock musical for which he’s also writing the music.

Fuentes-León is a co-writer and the lead director of the first season of Netflix’s first Colombian original series Distrito Salvaje (Wild District), released in 2018. He is also the head writer and co-director of Netflix’s first Peruvian original series, Contigo, Capitán, which premiered in late 2022.

His indie rock band Left Avenue Joiners (an anagram of his name), for which Fuentes-León sings, plays the acoustic guitar and writes the songs & lyrics, just released their debut album Altivo Way in January 2023, accompanied by six music videos directed, co-directed and/or edited by him.

Fuentes-León is repped by MGMT Management.