Filmmaker Carla Simón’s career is closely connected to the Berlinale. In 2017, her autobiographical feature-length film debut “Estiu 1993” celebrated its world premiere in the section Generation, and won both the Best First Feature Award as well as the Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus International Jury. The film went on to win three Goyas and over 30 more awards at international festivals, was nominated for an European Film Award in the category Best First Feature, and selected as Spain’s submission for the Academy Awards. This past year, the director, who grew up in a Catalan village, won the Berlinale Golden Bear for her second film “Alcarràs” and was nominated for eleven Goyas and three European Film Awards. In 2019, Carla Simón won the Eurimage Co-Production Development Award for the project at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Her most recent short film “Letter to My Mother for my Son” screened at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

Carlo Chatrian studied literature and philosophy and holds a degree in film studies. In 2003 he began working for the Locarno Film Festival. Between 2013 and 2018, Chatrian was Artistic Director of Locarno, where he enjoyed programming popular films for the 8,000 viewers in the Piazza Grande, as well as auteur films for an even more cinephile audience. Since 2019 he has been the Artistic Director of the Berlin International Film Festival.