The way we talked

Itsaso Arana

She is one of the founders of the performing arts collective La Tristura, with whom she has been creating, directing and performing since 2004. She has shown her work in prestigious theatres and festivals in Spain, France, Poland, Germany and Brazil, among others.

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As an actress, she has starred in feature films such as Tenéis que venir a verla (KVIFF Special Jury Awards), La Virgen de agosto (nominated at the French Academy’s César Awards for Best Foreign Film, and whose screenplay she co-wrote), La Reconquista (Official Selection at the San Sebastian Festival) by Jonás Trueba, and Las altas presiones by Ángel Santos.

She starred in the series Reyes de la noche (nominated for the Feroz Awards for Best Supporting Actress) and Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s Las de la última fila, among others.

In 2023 she released her first film as director and screenwriter, Las chicas están bien, selected in the Official Selection of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Violeta Gil

Performing artist and writer. En 2004 she co-founded La Tristura with Celso Giménez and Itsaso Arana. She writes, directs and produces works shown in venues such as the Autumn Festival of the Madrid Autumn Festival, Thèâtre de la Ville de Paris, TEMPO Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Cena Contemporânea de Brasilia, and Kampnagel Summer International Festival in Hamburg, among others.

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CINE, Future Lovers and Renacimiento, her last three stage productions, were published by Punto de Vista editores under the title Nuestro Movimiento.

She teaches theatre and writing workshops in institutions such as La Casa Encendida, La Escuela de Escritores, Centro de Creación Contemporánea Conde Duque and Teatros del Canal.  
 
In 2019, Arrebato published her first book of poems, Antes de que tiréis mis cosas. Her first novel, Llego con tres heridas was published by Caballo de Troya in October 2022. She has translated Let Them EatChaos, by Kae Tempest for Arrerbato and she co-translated Book ofMutter, by Kate Zambrano, with the poet Carlos Bueno for La uña rota. 
 
She is part of the performance poetry research and creation project Una fiesta salvaje, resident in Matadero Madrid. She collaborates with the dance companies La Veronal and Mucha Muchacha as a playwright. She has collaborated with Elena López Riera in the acting work for the feature film El agua, and with Víctor Iriarte in Sobre todo de noche.

© Emily Prior

Celso Giménez

Performance artist and playwright. In 2004, together with Violeta Gil and Itsaso Arana, he created the company La tristura. Some of his works include “Future Lovers“, CINE and Renaissance. His pieces have been presented in various contexts, such as the Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Théâtre de la Ville de París, Cena Contemporânea de Brasilia, the Festival Grec de Barcelona, the Noorderzon Festival in Groningen, Auawirleben in Bern, Kampnagel in Hamburg, the Madrid Community Autumn Festival. 

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During these years he has collaborated as an artistic advisor, writer and stage director with artists such as La Veronal, El Conde de Torrefiel, Mucha Muchacha, Emilio Rivas and La Phármaco.

He is co-writer of the feature films El futuro no nos ha cambiado by Adrián Orr and Anoche conquisté Tebas by Gabriel Azorín, international co-productions to be released in 2024 and 2025 respectively. 

In June 2023, he premiered Las niñas zombi, produced by the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque, the Grec Festival of Barcelona, the Grand Theatre de Groningen and MA Scène Nationale de Montbéliard. 

© Hugo Espejo