Satellites: Elena López Riera

Elena López Riera

This year we are once again joined in orbit by a select group of _Satellites, acclaimed Spanish filmmakers whose paths have often crossed with l’Alternativa and who splash down at the festival to give a talk or masterclass and curate a programme of films linked to their creative universe.

Elena López Riera is today one of the most compelling voices of European auteur cinema. Her work, presented to great acclaim at festivals such as Cannes and Locarno, has grown alongside l’Alternativa, where we have programmed all her short films before she made her name for herself with El agua (2022) and her acclaimed medium-length work Las novias del sur (2024). The festival has accompanied her since the beginning, and this year we welcome her again as a Satèl·lit guest of honour.

For her director’s pick, she has chosen the short films The House Is Black, by Iranian filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad, and Les Mains négatives, by renowned writer Marguerite Duras, to spark a dialogue with her own films Los que desean and Las novias del sur.

She will also be giving a masterclass at the festival in which she will explore her creative process, the questions that underpin her cinema and the personal and external materials with which she constructs her narratives.

In addition to raising the profile of Spanish filmmakers crafting alternative visions to mainstream cinema through their own original ways of working, the _Satellites section also provides unique opportunities for direct, creative exchange between filmgoers and filmmakers.