Itsaso Arana

Itsaso Arana was born in 1985 in Spain. She studied at the Royal Higher College of Performing Arts in Madrid, and in 2004, she co-founded the theatre company La Tristura with her classmates Violeta Gil and Celso Giménez. Through La Tristura, she produced, wrote, directed, and starred in several plays, which have been showcased in theatres and festivals worldwide, including in France, Germany, Brazil, Finland, and Poland. While she is primarily known for her work as an actress in television and film, particularly her collaborations with her partner Jonás Trueba, she first gained attention with The Reconquest (2016), which was selected for the Official Competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival. However, it was The August Virgin (2019), which she co-wrote and starred in, that brought her significant acclaim. This film premiered in the Official Competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Award, and her performance received widespread praise. In 2024, she again collaborated with Trueba, co-writing and starring in The Other Way Around, which premiered at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes at the Cannes Film Festival. The previous year, she wrote and directed her first feature film, The Girls Are Alright, in which she explored the relationship between cinema and theatre. This film also premiered in the Official Competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.