Directed first short, "Silent Music"

Directed first feature, "Motel"

Won major world-wide attention for "Gaby - A True Story," the poignant study of a woman he learned about from a television program, a writer coping with cerebral palsy

Returned to Mexico; directed short films and documentaries for the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, Conacine, SA and Centro de Producion de Cortometraje

Directed first American feature, "White Palace," starring Susan Sarandon and James Spader

Directed Meg Ryan in her emotional portrayal of an alcoholic wife and mother in "When a Man Loves a Woman"

Directed "Message in a Bottle," starring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn and Paul Newman

First Spanish-language film in more than 15 years "Voces inocentes/Innocent Voices" set in El Salvador during the years of civil war in the '80s