Carla Simón

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Simón and the second or maternal family name is Pipó.

Carla Simón Pipó (born 22 December 1986) is a Spanish film director. Most known for her films Summer 1993 (2017) and Alcarràs (2022), for the latter she received the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.^[1]

Carla Simón
Simón at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Carla Simón Pipó (1986-12-29) 29 December 1986 (age 38) Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Occupations	Director screenwriter
Years active	2009–present

Biography

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. Her father was Galician.^[4] 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.^[5]

Her feature first film, Summer 1993 (2017), follows her own youth experience.^[6][7] The plot revolves around a young girl and her reaction to and ways of handling her parents' sudden death.^[6][8] Filming took place over six weeks in rural Garrotxa, where Simón grew up.^[9] The film had its world premiere at the Generation section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the award for Debut Film at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.^[10] It also won thirty awards in numerous festivals and ceremonies, amongst them the Golden Biznaga for Best Film at the Málaga Film Festival,^[11] and the Goya Award for Best New Director.^[12] It was also chosen as Spain's submission for Best Foreign Film at the 90th Academy Awards,^[13] the second Catalan-language film to be submitted to the Academy Awards by the Spanish Film Academy.^[14]

Simón's sophomore feature, Alcarràs (2022), won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, becoming the first Catalan-language film to do so.^[1] The film follows the disappearance of family-based agricultural activities, in the traditional peach-harvesting fields of Catalonia. The film was also selected as the Spanish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards,^[15] but it was not nominated.

In 2025, Simón third film Romería was selected for the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or, marking her first film at the festival's main competition. A semi-autobiographical film, the plot follows a young orphaned woman traveling to Vigo seeking the truth about her biological father past, an AIDS victim in the early 1990s.

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2017	Summer 1993	Yes	Yes	No
2022	Alcarràs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-scripted with Arnau Vilaró
2025	Romería	Yes	Yes	No	[16]

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2009	Women	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-directed with Marco Businaro
	Lovers	Yes	Yes	Yes
2012	Born Positive	Yes	Yes	No	Documentary film
2013	Lipstick	Yes	Yes	No
2014	Las pequeñas cosas	Yes	Yes	No
2015	Llacunes	Yes	Yes	No
2018	Después también	Yes	Yes	No	Co-scripted with Aina Clotet and Valentina Viso
2020	Correspondencia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-directed with Dominga Sotomayor
2022	Carta a mi madre para mi hijo [17]	Yes	Yes	No	Miu Miu Women's Tales #24

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Category	Result	Ref(s)
2022	Berlin International Film Festival	Alcarràs	Golden Bear	Won	[18][19]
2022	European Film Awards		Best Screenwriter	Nominated	[20]
2023	Gaudí Awards		Best Director	Won	[21]
			Best Original Screenplay	Won
2023	Feroz Awards		Best Director	Won	[22]
			Best Screenplay	Nominated
2023	CEC Medals		Best Director	Nominated	[23]
			Best Original Screenplay	Nominated
2023	Goya Awards		Best Director	Nominated	[24]
			Best Original Screenplay	Nominated
2017	Berlin International Film Festival	Summer 1993	Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus International Jury	Won	[25]
			Best First Film	Won	[25]