Director Isabel Coixet received the European Achievement in World Cinema award, presented by the European Film Academy to honor her long and influential career. The accolade is a recognition of an impressive contribution to the global film landscape, highlighting her enduring impact on storytelling, visual craft, and cultural exchange across borders.
The recipient of the award this year was a celebrated Spanish filmmaker whose latest feature, Un amor, marks a milestone as she becomes the first Spanish director to be honored with this specific distinction. Past recipients of the European Achievement in World Cinema read like a who’s who of cinema luminaries, including Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche, Lars von Trier, Roman Polanski, and other renowned figures. Earlier Spanish honorees include Antonio Banderas (1999), Victoria Abril (2002), and Pedro Almodóvar (2013), underscoring a continuing national presence in international cinema.
Born in Barcelona, Coixet’s early breakthrough came with Too Old to Die Young in 1989. That debut opened doors and earned her the first nomination for Best Director Revelation at the Goya Awards, signaling the arrival of a distinctive voice in film. Her career soon took her across the Atlantic; in 1996 she traveled to the United States and wrote and directed Things I Never Told You, a project that premiered at the Berlinale and helped establish her international reputation among filmmakers and audiences alike.
In 2000, Coixet founded Miss Wasabi Films, a production company focused on music videos and documentaries that later evolved to support feature projects with a distinctive sensibility. The following years brought a string of notable titles, including My Life Without Me (2003), The Secret Life of Words (2005), Elegy (2008), and No One Wants the Night (2015). In 2018, her film Library earned multiple Goya Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, reinforcing her standing within Spain’s premier film awards and her global credibility as a storyteller who can blend intimate human drama with wider social resonance.
Her documentary Yellow Roof (2022), which revisits a group of students who filed a sexual abuse complaint, premiered in 2020 and earned recognition at the San Sebastián and Gaudí festivals in the Best Documentary category. The investigative footprint of the film prompted a renewed examination by authorities, contributing to a reopening of related investigations at a drama school, a testament to how cinema can intersect with justice and accountability in the public sphere.
Coixet has also received honors beyond Spain, including the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2015 and the National Film Award in 2020. With a prolific trophy cabinet that includes nine Goya Awards, she stands as one of the most decorated figures in Spanish cinema, a creator whose work continues to influence and inspire collaborators around the world. Her ongoing contributions extend to cultural leadership as the honorary president of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA). The industry awaits her next moves with anticipation, as Isabel Coixet remains a guest of honor and a guiding voice for contemporary filmmaking. Her presence at the 36th European Film Awards Ceremony in Berlin on December 9 underscores the enduring esteem in which she is held by colleagues and audiences alike.