Born in Puerto Mont, Chile, in 1941. He directed his first feature, “Three Sad Tigers”, in 1968, which won the best film prize at the Locarno Film Festival. Ruiz went into voluntary exile in Europe, following the Chilean military coup in 1973. International critics discovered his work with “Three Crowns of the Sailor” (1982), awarded at Cannes Film Festival. In his vast career as a director, there are also titles such as “Manuel on the Island of Wonders” (1984), awarded at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as “Three Lives and Only One Death” (1995), “Genealogies of a Crime” (1996), winner of a prize for outstanding artistic contribution at Berlinale, “Love Thorn in Dream” (2000), “That Day” (2003), “Nucingen House” (2008), “Mysteries of Lisbon” (2010), critics’ prize at the 34th Mostra, “Ballet Aquatique” (2011) and “Night Across the Street” (2012), all exhibited at Mostra, which also awarded him the Humanity Award in its 34th edition, in 2010. He died in 2011 at the age of 70.