Carlos Alfonso Corral was born on the border between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He began as a photographer, spending years documenting the inequalities between the two cities before finding his way to cinema through the Fellini Film Cafe — a small arthouse theater in El Paso where he worked as a projectionist and barista, screening classics by night and studying directors by day.

In lieu of film school, he trained in the camera department of documentary filmmaker Roberto Minervini, working on Stop the Pounding Heart (Cannes 2013), The Other Side (Cannes 2015), and What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire? (Venice 2018).

His debut feature documentary Dirty Feathers premiered in Panorama at the 71st Berlinale Film Festival. His cinematography and score for Roberto Minervini's The Damned premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2024, where it won the Best Director prize, and went on to screen at NYFF and TIFF. The film received the Best Cinematography award at the Mediterrane Film Festival in Malta and the Il Quarzo di Spilimbergo Light Award at Le Giornate della Luce in Italy.

He recently completed cinematography on Red Rocks (Les Roches Rouges), directed by Bruno Dumont — a Romeo and Juliet-inspired love story set during one summer on the French Riviera, following rival gangs of children in the dangerous game of cliff jumping. The film is currently in post-production.

He is currently based in Los Angeles.