Alba Sotorra (born 22 May 1980,

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is k ...

, Spain) is an independent film-director and producer of several documentaries. She has her own production company based in Barcelona.

Education

Alba Sotorra grew up in Reus,

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

. She studied film at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

, from where she graduated in 2004. Her last year she studied in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. She obtained a European Masters in Cultural Education from the

University of Rovira i Virgili University of Rovira i Virgili ( ca, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; , es, Universidad Rovira y Virgili; URV) is located in the Catalonia, Catalan cities of Tarragona and Reus, Spain. Its name is in honour of Antoni Rovira i Virgili. The Univer ...

in 2007.

Professional career

''Unveiled Views'' of 2008 is a documentary which portrays five women Alba Sotorra met while

hitchhiking Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads hav ...

from Spain to Pakistan. ''Game Over'' was released in 2015, and treats the life of a man who is trapped in his internet world and in attempts to come free of it. It won the Gaudì Award of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

for best documentary in 2016. ''Comandante Arian'' was released in 2018 and is about a Kurdish female commander of the

Women's Protection Units (YPJ) ar, وحدات حماية المرأة , image = File:YPJ Flag.svg , caption = Flag of the YPJ , dates = April 2013–present , commander1 = Nesrin ...

, who leads her troops towards

Kobanî Kobanî (, , also rendered , ar, كُوبَانِي, Kūbānī) (Kurdish: Kobanî/ کۆبانی) officially Ayn al-Arab ( ar, عَيْن الْعَرَب, ʿAyn al-ʿArab ), is a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, lying immediately ...

aiming for a defeat of the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

. She is also a member of the Dones Visuales. The Return: Life after ISIS of 2021 portrays

Shamima Begum Shamima Begum (born 25 August 1999) is a British born woman, who left the UK in 2015 aged 15. She obtained entry to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In February 2019, Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, acting for th ...

Hoda Muthana Hoda Muthana (born October 28, 1994) is a U.S.-born Yemeni woman who emigrated from the United States to Syria to join ISIS in November 2014. She surrendered in January 2019 to coalition forces fighting ISIS in Syria and has been denied access ba ...

or Kimberly Polman who had joined ISIS. It contains news coverage of the defeat of ISIS at

Baghuz Al-Baghuz Fawqani ( ar, ٱلْبَاغُوز فَوْقَانِي, al-Bāġūz Fawqānī) is a town in Syria, located in Abu Kamal District, Deir ez-Zor. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Al-Baghuz Fawqani had a populatio ...

and has a focus on the de-radicalization of the ISIS adherents. It was nominated to the

Goya Awards The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sc ...

in 2022.

Personal life

She has resided in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

where she is currently based. Following her graduation in 2004, she hitchhiked to Pakistan. From Reus in Spain, the journey took her about a year and inspired her for her documentary ''Unveiled Views''.

Awards

* 2016 Best new filmdirector by the Colegio de Directores de Cataluña. * 2016 Best Documentary for Game Over at the Gaudi Awards * 2022 Best Documentary at the

50th International Emmy Awards The 50th International Emmy Awards ceremony took place on November 21, 2022, at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City, recognizing excellence in television programs produced and aired originally outside the United States, and U.S. prim ...

for The Return: Life after ISIS

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sotorra, Alba 1980 births People from Reus Spanish women film directors International Emmy Award winners Complutense University of Madrid alumni University of Rovira i Virgili Living people