Born in Lima, Peru, Marcos graduated from the Communication’s program at San Martin de Porras University in 1985. In Peru he worked as a journalist and photographer for the daily magazine “MARKA, and the weekly magazine “AMAUTA”
Arriaga immigrated to Canada in 1987. He graduated from Sheridan College’s Media Arts Film Program in 1995 followed by a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film Production at York University in 2003. Arriaga has directed over a dozen films including: Watching (1994), MARS (1995), El Barrio (1998), The Harris Project (1998), Promised Land (2002), A Little Square Heaven (2003), 3 X 16 (2007), Tale of Winter (2008), Assembly (2012), My Gentrification (2020), Jatun Llaxta, Noh Kaah… (2020) and two medium length documentaries: Maricones (2005) and Looking For Carmen (2012).
Marcos’ visual project Many Years Later, a solo photography exhibition (20 Silver Gelatin Prints) was featured at MayWork Festival 2011, Toronto Free Gallery.
Arriaga was the Director of Photography on several independent productions including: Honey Mocassin (1998), Deep Inside of Clint Star (1999) which won a Gemini award for Best Social and Political Documentary (2000), the feature drama Johnny Grey Eyes (2001) which won awards at Toronto’s Inside Out Film Festival and the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles, Zero: The Inside Story (2004), Goldirocks (2003) and several shorts.
Marcos works as a Film Technician in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts at York University and lives in Toronto, Canada.