Diego "Mapache" Fuentes

Biography

Diego Alonso Fuentes Badilla (born September 11, 2000, Chile), better known as “Mapache,” is a director, executive producer, and screenwriter. His films are characterized by their focus on marginalized characters: stories of dissidents and misfits, with a blend of intimate sensitivity and monstrosity. His debut film, Matapanki, premiered in the Youth Film Competition at FICValdivia 2025, establishing itself as a film that blends science fiction, B movies, and teen rebellion. The project was part of laboratories and formative spaces such as Málaga Talent 2023 and Bolivia Lab 2024, obtaining recognition at Encuentros Biobío Cine 2023 and Cine Chileno del Futuro 2024 (Sonamos Award – Final Cut). He is currently developing his second feature film, Corazón de Polilla, a queer and fantastical exploration of identity, metamorphosis, and desire, which blends body horror, road movie, and intimate melodrama. Mapache understands cinema as a space of freedom, where the poetic, the chaotic, and the grotesque coexist, and where characters who are “left over” in society find a central place on the screen.