Carla Simón

Simón was born 22 December 1986 in Barcelona^[2] and spent her youth in the Catalan village of Les Planes d'Hostoles.^[3] By the age of six, her parents died of AIDS so she had to live with her uncle and his family in Garrotxa in northern Catalonia. In 2009, Simón graduated from studying film science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In 2010, she studied television work at Televisió de Catalunya and later at the London Film School. During her time in London she directed the documentary film Born Positive and the short film Lipstick.^[4] Her youth experience was the background for her first feature-length fiction film, Summer 1993.^[5]

Summer 1993 was filmed in 2016.^[6] The plot revolves around a young girl and her reaction to and ways of handling her parents' sudden death.^[5] The film was produced by Valérie Delpierre's Inicia Films^[7] and Avalon P.C. and the filming took place over six weeks in rural Garrotxa where Simón grew up.^[8]

Released in 2017, the film received plenty of attention at various film festivals where it was shown. It has won over thirty awards, amongst them the award for Debut Film at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival,^[9] the Golden Biznaga for Best Film at the Málaga Film Festival,^[10] and the Goya Award for Best New Director.^[11] It was also chosen as Spain's submission for Best Foreign Film at the 90th Academy Awards,^[12] the second Catalan-language film to be submitted to the Academy Awards by the Spanish Film Academy.^[13]

Simón's sophomore feature Alcarràs (2022) won the Golden Bear at the seventy-second edition of the Berlinale, becoming the first Catalan-language film to do so.^[1] The film was also selected as the Spanish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards,^[14] but it was not nominated.

In 2025, Simón third film Romería was selected for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or, marking her first film at the festival's main competition.