Bio

Elena López Riera is visual artist and filmmaker from Spain, holding a PHD in Audiovisual Communication. In 2008 she moved to Switzerland, where she teaches cinema and comparative literature at Geneva University and the HEAD (haute école d’art et design). She also has worked as a programmer for film festivals such as Entrevues Belfort (France), Sevilla European Film Festival (Spain) and Visions du réel (Switzerland).  

Her films have been screened at prestigious international film festivals such as: Toronto, San Sebastián, Zagreb, Cinéma du réel, Leuven, Mecal, Curtocircuito, Filmadrid, Hiroshima, Rio de Janeiro, Cali, Rekjiavik, Lincoln Center in New York, Le cinema club. 

Elena López Riera is also co-founder of lacasinegra, an artists’ collective dedicated to research and experimentation with new audiovisual devices, with whom she co-directed the feature film Pas à Genève. 

She participated in at the Berlinale Talent Campus, as well as the Ikusmira Berriak residency program of the San Sebastián Film Festival, the Arché lab of Doc Lisboa festival, Spanish Academy of cinema residency, and at the prestigious Cinéfondation residence of the Cannes film festival where she was awarded by the CNC grant 2019 in Cannes film festival pitch session. 

As an invited artist she’s participated in the first international film seminar of the Tabakalera Art Center, at the Museum of universitary art in México (México DF) and ArtBo (Bogotá, Colombia). In 2019 she has her first solo exhibition at Domium Art Center in Salamanca (Spain).  

El agua premiered at Cannes Film Festival, Director’s Fortnight in 2022 is her first feature film. The film is coproduced by Switzerland (Alina Film), Spain (Suica Films) and France (Le film du Worso).