Born in Mallorca in 1998, Eugenia Sampedro is one of those young voices in film who never stop growing. Trained in Audiovisual Production at the CEF, she soon began to shine: she was selected for residencies including Cinema Lliure and Faber Llull, and with her first short film, Un diumenge qualsevol (Any Given Sunday), she not only made her debut as a director and screenwriter, but also won awards at competitions such as Art Jove and Mostra Out!, as well as traveling around the international festival circuit hand in hand with the Selected Films distribution company.
She currently combines several different facets: she has released her new project, Eixam, already an award winner at the Atlàntida Film Fest; she is the deputy executive director and programmer for CineCiutat; and she hosts a weekly film section on IB3 Ràdio. She is a versatile filmmaker who has a lot to say and promises to continue making her mark on the audiovisual scene.
Hello Eugenia, we are delighted to be able to talk to you. Let's start by getting straight to the point regarding your latest project, Eixam. How does it feel to premiere and immediately win an award like Best Short Film in the Official Balearic Talent Selection at the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest for your latest short film, Eixam?
It's a feeling that's pretty hard to put into words. The moment you get the news, a whole bunch of conflicting thoughts pop into your head, and I guess that's something that's pretty common, especially for women: we have this habit of thinking that we don't deserve all the good things that are happening to us. Even so, I felt incredibly happy, and thinking about it from time to time helps me believe in myself a little more. Plus, it's a really important festival for me.
The title Eixam (“swarm”) has a very strong symbolic power. How does this concept speak to the story you're telling?
Far from wanting to fit in with the dominant trend in contemporary filmmaking, I wanted to find visually powerful symbolism, inspired by Julio Medem's filmography. That's where the bees come in. The concept of the swarm is terrifying to me because it reminds me of the famous “Manada” wolf pack case, and while I don’t want to give away the short film’s storyline, I think the title already gives you an idea of what the story's about -or at least that was my intention.
With this short film, you introduce us to a universal concept, which is fear, but from a very specific point of view, which is that of women, and in this case, two friends who travel to an idyllic but equally terrifying environment, namely Esporles. What process did you follow to choose this perspective as the driving force behind the project? What were your most direct influences?
The process is actually very easy: I just had to look inside myself. Unfortunately, we have all experienced some sort of frightening situation in our lives, so it was as simple as delving into the painful processes that we go through simply because we are women. In that same vein, my most direct influence has always been -and will always be- my female friends; not so much their stories, but thinking about what could happen to them. It's complicated for me to imagine myself in a story I've never experienced, but putting them in the picture makes it easier for me.
Eixam isn't your first short film as a director and screenwriter, because in 2022 you released Un diumenge qualsevol, which was also distributed by Selected Films and had a very successful run at numerous festivals. What did you learn from that experience? What differences do you see between the Eugenia of back then and the Eugenia of today?
It was a wonderful experience that I remember fondly. Un diumenge qualsevol taught me that I really liked this, and that I had to keep going. I get emotional every time I talk about it because, although it may sound a bit brusque, professionally speaking, it was the happiest I've ever been. I hope I can repeat it many more times. There's a clear difference between the two short films, especially in terms of their narrative. The second one is much more polished than the first, because with Un diumenge qualsevol I wanted to experiment, see how I felt and whether it made sense for me to be doing what I was doing. With Eixam, on the other hand, I'm returning to that place because I know it's where I'm the happiest. I'm still the same person, but with more experience and, above all, more self-confidence.
As well as being a screenwriter, producer, and director, you also play another very important role in film, one that often goes unnoticed: you are the deputy executive director and programmer for one of Palma's most historic and iconic movie theaters, CineCiutat. What can you tell us about that? What criteria guide you when programming films at CineCiutat? How does that role influence your vision as a filmmaker?
Generally speaking, I can say that it's the second best job I've ever had in my life, because the first is directing and writing. It's a job that allows me to stay very close to what I love most in the world: cinema. CineCiutat is a movie theater with a very clear line of programming that has been developed over its thirteen years in existence: diversity, new audiences, equality, indie films, but also more commercial ones (which shine in our new Theater 1, in 4K). CineCiutat aims to be a meeting point for cultural, social, and environmental action through innovation, development, and citizen participation. I am very fortunate to be able to program the type of cinema that interests me most, and that is truly a privilege.
Overall, we could say that not only are you responsible for creating films, but you also distribute them, either through your section on IB3 radio or in your role as a programmer. From your perspective within the programming area, how do you see the future of independent film and the role of new generations of filmmakers? What does communicating cinema in another format do for you?
I believe that independent film will always have a place, mainly because there are numerous festivals and a wide audience that follows it. The most important thing to ensure that this continues is to educate the perspective of younger audiences and for them to go to theaters that continue to support this type of programming, as in the case of CineCiutat.
I think that we, the new generations of female filmmakers, are doing a good job, even though the times we live in are very complicated and that's something that's beyond our control: there's a supersaturation of awesome releases and content, so it's very difficult for people to get to see our films. As a programmer, I see this all the time, which is why at CineCiutat we have a wonderful initiative called Descobrint Cinema d'Estrena (Discovering New Releases), where we program all the films that don't fit into our weekly lineup but deserve to be seen. It's an initiative that I, as a creator, truly appreciate.
Communicating cinema, whatever the format, but communicating it, nonetheless. Being a cultural spokesperson is an extremely enjoyable activity. If someone listens to me and takes a recommendation so seriously that they actually go to the theater to see the film, then I've done an excellent job. I would love to dare to do it constantly on my social media, but I simply don't dare. Victor Salmerón (@cinemaexcelsiorr) does it wonderfully. When I'm older, I want to be like him.
Even though statistics show improvements in the presence of women in the film industry, there's still a long way to go. How difficult has it been for you to make your way in an industry as complicated as film, and particularly on an island like Mallorca? What's your view of the current situation for young women filmmakers in Spain?
Staying in Mallorca and making films from here has been an excellent decision. We have the equipment and the female colleagues we need to get a project off the ground. It's true that being on an island is always tricky and causes us a number of problems, but I try to look at it from a more inspirational perspective. Everyone wants to come here to shoot, so why would we want to leave?
The WomanInFan program seeks to give visibility and support to female creators in genre filmmaking. What would it mean to you to be part of this initiative at the Sitges Film Festival?
Being part of WomanInFan would be a dream come true. I'm particularly excited about the idea of being able to screen Eixam at the Sitges Film Festival, a venue I've always admired for its courage and its way of understanding genre filmmaking as a territory of creative freedom. Eixam was born precisely from this need to explore fear from a female gaze, and I can't think of a better place to show it than at a festival that celebrates the unsettling, the symbolic, and the emotional.
Plus, doing it as part of a program like WomanInFan would have added value: sharing the screen and conversations with other female filmmakers who, like me, believe that horror can also be a tool for talking about what we have to deal with as women. It would be a priceless step forward for this short film and, above all, a reminder that our stories also belong to this genre.
And finally, how do you envision your career ten years from now?
Right now, I'm in the process of developing my first feature length film and I'm looking for a production company that wants to help me get the project off the ground. It scares me, it scares me very much, to think about ten years from now, but I do like to imagine myself with this project completed and working at CineCiutat, because that's exactly where I want to be.
Thank you so much!
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