Irene Zoe Alameda facts for kids

Irene Zoe Alameda is a talented Spanish writer and filmmaker. She is known for her movies and books. Her film "La cinta de Álex" (which means "Alex's Strip") won the Best Picture award at the Winter Film Awards in New York in 2020. Many people thought it was one of the best first movies by a Spanish director. She has also written popular books like "Antrópolis," "WA. Ultimos Dias de Warla Alkman," and "Sueños itinerantes."

About Irene Zoe Alameda

Irene Zoe Alameda is a writer and filmmaker who has studied a lot! She earned a special degree called a PhD in literature from Columbia University in the United States. Before that, she studied Spanish language and literature at Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. She also spent time studying and later teaching Spanish at a university in Germany.

She has worked as a professor and researcher at several universities, including George Washington University. Since 2008, she has been the founder and CEO of her own film company, Storylines Projects. She also directed the Instituto Cervantes in Stockholm, Sweden, for a while. She writes articles for newspapers like El País and other online magazines. In 2012, she moved to the United States, where she continues to teach, write, and make films.

Her Movies

Irene Zoe Alameda has made several award-winning films.

"La cinta de Alex"

Her feature film La cinta de Alex (made in Spain and the US in 2020) won many awards. It received Best Picture and Best Actress awards at the 2020 Winter Film Awards in New York. It was also nominated for Best Director. The movie won awards at festivals in Las Vegas, the UK, India, Romania, and Cyprus. The original music from the movie, including a song called "The Protester," was released worldwide.

"Uniformed"

Her short film Uniformed (called Uniformadas in Spanish) was made in Spain in 2010. This film also won many important international awards. It was named Best Short Film at festivals in France, Austria, and Italy. It also won awards in Spain for Best Short Film and Best Script. The film was even considered for the Goya Awards, which are like the Oscars for Spanish films.

Other Short Films

Irene Zoe Alameda's short film Buen Viaje (meaning "Have a Nice Trip"), made in Spain in 2008, won several awards too. It was shown at many film festivals around the world, including the Malaga Film Festival in Spain and the San Diego Latino Film Festival in the US. She has also written, directed, produced, and composed music for her other short films, Tarde de homenaje (US 2002) and Jaisalmer (India 2012).

Her Books

Besides making movies, Irene Zoe Alameda has written many short stories and four books.

Novels

Her novels include Sueños Itinerantes (2004) and WA. Últimos días de Warla Alkman (2013). Her novel Itinerant Dreams was praised by critics. One critic from EL PAÍS newspaper said she had "amazing writing" and "unstoppable word power."

Irene Zoe Alameda spent nine years working on her second novel, "WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman." This book is special because it mixes traditional writing with music, videos, and links to real websites. All these parts were created by her! When it was published, the head of the Spanish Editor's Association called it "a risky, but extremely brilliant novel."

Digital Hybrid Global Fiction

Irene Zoe Alameda explained that she wanted her novel "WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman" to be a new kind of book. She wanted to go beyond the usual way novels are written. She called this new style "Digital Hybrid Global Fiction" (Dhyglofiction). This is why she used new ways of telling stories and created characters who were also real people, like the pop star Galatha and the writer Amy Martin.

This unique multimedia novel was launched at events in Madrid and Barcelona in 2014. Many literary critics liked the novel. One critic said that Irene Zoe Alameda "needs to break free of the limits of literary tradition." Another critic from El Mundo newspaper said she was "without any doubt a talented writer."

Other Books

Her more recent books include Conexión Senegal and a book of poems called "Antropolis."

Writing Under a Different Name

Irene Zoe Alameda sometimes used a different name, called a pseudonym, for her writing.

The Amy Martin Pseudonym

In 2013, a newspaper called El Mundo reported that Irene Zoe Alameda had been writing under the name Amy Martin. These articles were published online by a group called the Ideas Foundation. Irene Zoe Alameda later told El País newspaper that she was indeed Amy Martin. She explained that using this name was part of her plan to create real characters and blur the lines between truth and fiction in her novel "WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman." She even donated money she earned from this to avoid any problems.

The articles written as Amy Martin covered many topics, from the movie industry in Nigeria to the Fukushima accident. You can find them online. As Amy Martin, she also helped write a book called 55 Terms For Progress and worked with the newspaper Público.

Music and Her Band Reber

Irene Zoe Alameda is also a music composer and performer! She has created the music for her films like "A Tribute's Evening," "Have a Nice Trip," and "Uniformed."

The Band Reber

In 2011, she started an electronic pop band called Reber. The band is made up of two siblings, Galatha and Golem, who are the musical alter egos (or other selves) of Irene Zoe Alameda and her brother Daniel Alameda. Their first album, "Who Reads Future?", came out in 2012. Songs like "There UR," "Julia," "Think of Me," and "The Protester" were played on radio stations in Spain. The band also performed concerts in different cities. Their futuristic music videos are very popular online.

In 2014, they released a new song called "Mad City" and a video for it. This was part of their new album, "The Future Maker," which came out in 2015. Fans could download it for free on Valentine's Day. She has released two music albums with Reber, where she performs as Galatha and writes all the songs. A radio host once said that Galatha's "cold and robotic voice combines perfectly with Reber's retro-futuristic rhythm."

Awards

See also

In Spanish: Irene Zoe Alameda para niños