Carla Simón

Carla Simón Pipó is a Spanish film director and screenwriter whose work is rooted in deeply personal narratives and the rural landscapes of Catalonia. Born on 22 December 1986 in Barcelona, she spent her formative years in the small village of Les Planes d'Hostoles before a tragic loss at age six when both of her parents died of AIDS, an event that forced her to live with her uncle's family in the Garrotxa region. The experience of early orphanhood and the cultural mix of her Galician father and Catalan upbringing later became the emotional core of her debut feature Summer 1993. After completing a degree in film science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2009, Simón further honed her craft at Televisió de Catalunya and the London Film School, where she directed the documentary Born Positive and the short Lipstick. Her early work demonstrates a keen eye for intimate storytelling, using non‑professional actors and natural lighting to convey authenticity.

Simón burst onto the international stage with Summer 1993 (2017), a semi‑autobiographical drama that premiered in the Generation section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, winning the Debut Film award and later the Goya for Best New Director. The film collected more than thirty accolades, including the Golden Biznaga at Málaga and a Spanish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Her sophomore feature Alcarràs (2022) secured the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, marking the first Catalan‑language film to receive the honor, and was also Spain’s entry for the 95th Academy Awards. In 2025 she entered the main competition at Cannes with Romería, a semi‑autobiographical tale about a young orphaned woman seeking her biological father’s past, further cementing her reputation as a leading voice in contemporary European cinema.