Carla Simón (1986) studied Audiovisual Communication at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and later at the University of California, where she made the experimental short films Women (2009) and Lovers (2010) with Marco Businaro. In 2011, she received a LaCaixa grant to study a master’s degree at the London Film School, where she directed the short films Born Positive (2012), Lipstick (2013), Those Little Things (2014) and Llacunes [Missing Pieces] (2016).

Summer 1993 (2017), her first feature film, autobiographical in nature, premiered at the 2017 Berlinale, where it was awarded best debut feature and won the Grand Prix from the International Jury for the Best Film in Generation Kplus. The film won more than 30 awards around the world, represented Spain at the 2018 Oscars, was nominated for the European Film Awards, and won three Goya Awards, including the Goya for Best New Director.

Alcarràs (2022), her second feature film, with an international premiere in the Official Section of the 72nd Berlinale, won the Golden Bear, making her the first Spanish woman to win the golden statuette in Berlin. The film became one of the highest-grossing films in Catalan cinema.

In 2025, she released Romería [Pilgrimage], her third feature film, in the Official Section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film is set in Galicia in 2004 and tells the story of a young woman who embarks on a journey to reconstruct the memory of her biological father, who died of AIDS. Romería closes out the family trilogy begun with Estiu 1993, where personal memory serves as the foundation for cinematic creation.