Encounter - MaestrAs: Mary Harron Meets Carlota Pereda
Sitges MaestrAs celebrates the talent, vision, and influence of women who have shaped the course of genre cinema. Directors, screenwriters, editors, world-builders, masters of horror, suspense, or fantasy: their careers have expanded the boundaries of the fantastic and opened new doors for future generations.
One of the most distinctive voices in independent cinema over the past twenty-five years, Mary Harron made her feature debut in 1996 with I Shot Andy Warhol. The film earned actress Lili Taylor a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and received nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards and the London Film Critic Circle for Best First Feature. Her next film, in 2000, was the then-controversial and now revered American Psycho, starring Christian Bale and co-written with Guinevere Turner. She went on to direct The Notorious Bettie Page (2006), the cult horror film The Moth Diaries (2011), and Charlie Says (2019). Her most recent work is DaliLand (2022), focusing on the later years of Salvador Dalí, starring Ben Kingsley, Barbara Sukowa, and Chris Briney.
Mary began her career as a director in the UK in the late 1980s, making short films and documentaries for the BBC and Channel Four. In the United States, she has directed episodes of acclaimed series such as Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz, The L Word, Six Feet Under, Big Love, and The Following, as well as the TV movie Anna Nicole. In 2017 she directed all six episodes of Netflix’s Alias Grace, adapted by Sarah Polley from the novel by Margaret Atwood. She is currently preparing her new feature film, The Highway That Eats People, slated for 2025.
Joining Harron at the festival is Carlota Pereda, one of the most promising voices in contemporary Spanish fantastic cinema. After a solid career in television, she debuted as a short film director with Las rubias (2016), and especially with Cerdita (2018), which won the Goya Award for Best Fiction Short Film. In 2022 she adapted the story into her first feature, also titled Cerdita, presented at Sundance and awarded at international festivals for its visceral and unique take on bullying, violence, and otherness. Her cinema blends realism and genre with a narrative strength that places her among the directors shaping the future of the fantastic.
The encounter Mary Harron meets Carlota Pereda will be a dialogue between two creators who, from different contexts, have expanded the possibilities of genre to address society, bodies, and the power of images.
This year, the festival presents Mary Harron with the WomanInFan 2025 award in recognition of her unique contribution to fantastic cinema from a gender perspective.
Participants: Mary Harron, screenwriter and director, and Carlota Pereda, screenwriter and director.
Language: Simultaneous translation English-Catalan-English.
One of the most distinctive voices in independent cinema over the past twenty-five years, Mary Harron made her feature debut in 1996 with I Shot Andy Warhol. The film earned actress Lili Taylor a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and received nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards and the London Film Critic Circle for Best First Feature. Her next film, in 2000, was the then-controversial and now revered American Psycho, starring Christian Bale and co-written with Guinevere Turner. She went on to direct The Notorious Bettie Page (2006), the cult horror film The Moth Diaries (2011), and Charlie Says (2019). Her most recent work is DaliLand (2022), focusing on the later years of Salvador Dalí, starring Ben Kingsley, Barbara Sukowa, and Chris Briney.
Mary began her career as a director in the UK in the late 1980s, making short films and documentaries for the BBC and Channel Four. In the United States, she has directed episodes of acclaimed series such as Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz, The L Word, Six Feet Under, Big Love, and The Following, as well as the TV movie Anna Nicole. In 2017 she directed all six episodes of Netflix’s Alias Grace, adapted by Sarah Polley from the novel by Margaret Atwood. She is currently preparing her new feature film, The Highway That Eats People, slated for 2025.
Joining Harron at the festival is Carlota Pereda, one of the most promising voices in contemporary Spanish fantastic cinema. After a solid career in television, she debuted as a short film director with Las rubias (2016), and especially with Cerdita (2018), which won the Goya Award for Best Fiction Short Film. In 2022 she adapted the story into her first feature, also titled Cerdita, presented at Sundance and awarded at international festivals for its visceral and unique take on bullying, violence, and otherness. Her cinema blends realism and genre with a narrative strength that places her among the directors shaping the future of the fantastic.
The encounter Mary Harron meets Carlota Pereda will be a dialogue between two creators who, from different contexts, have expanded the possibilities of genre to address society, bodies, and the power of images.
This year, the festival presents Mary Harron with the WomanInFan 2025 award in recognition of her unique contribution to fantastic cinema from a gender perspective.
Participants: Mary Harron, screenwriter and director, and Carlota Pereda, screenwriter and director.
Language: Simultaneous translation English-Catalan-English.
