Irene Zoe Alameda

Irene Zoe Alameda
Born Madrid, Spain
Occupation Writer and filmmaker
Website
www.irenezoealameda.com

Irene Zoe Alameda (Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish writer, filmmaker and music composer of film soundtracks and pop-music. Author of four books, five short-movies and two music albums, with the synthpop Reber,[1] where she performs as Galatha and where she has written all the songs, and directed all their music videos. She is currently a columnist of the online paper El Cotidiano. Obtained additional national fame in Spain in 2013 while writing under the nickname Amy Martin for the Foundation IDEAS, in a literary experiment that was part of her second novel WA. Últimos días de Warla Alkman[2] (Edhasa, 2013).[3]

Biography

A writer and filmmaker, she holds a PhD in literature from Columbia University. She previously studied Hispanic philology at Complutense University of Madrid and spent four semesters as Erasmus at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, where she was later hired as a lecturer of Spanish. Some former work-colleges of hers dispute that she has been studying and working in Germany.[4] Those allegations were considered "false" by Irene Zoe Alameda, who promised legal actions in an interview in Vanity fair to respond to those allegations. The fact is that the University of Bonn shows that Irene Zoe Alameda was a former student and she is included in the list of U.Bonn alumni.

After she completed her studies in Germany and the US, she was anEl País op-ed contributor,[5] and she worked as a professor at Suffolk University, the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and at the Spanish National Research Council.

She has also worked as a scriptwriter, assistant director, producer, composer and art director in several short films. She has written, directed, produced and composed the original soundtrack for all her short films: Tarde de homenaje (USA 2002), Buen Viaje (Spain 2008),[6] Uniformadas (Spain 2010) and Jaisalmer (India 2012). The documentary Jaisalmer (India 2012) is her latest cinematographic work.

Her short film Buen Viaje[7] has received several awards and has been shown in several film festivals both in Spain and around the world, such as the Malaga Film Festival, the Iberian Film Festival of Badajoz, the Torrelavega Film Festival, Cinesul do Brasil, Festroia-Portugal, San Diego Latino Film Festival, the Bogota Film Festival and the Rochester Film Festival.

Her short Uniformed (Uniformadas) has received some international awards, such as Best Short Film at the Film Femmes Méditerranée (France, 2012), Ebensee (Austria, 2012), Milano (Italy, 2011), Festival de Cine de Alicante (Spain 2011), Malescorto (Italy, 2011), Laguardia Film Festival (Spain, 2011), Inquietarte (Spain, 2011), Festival del Mar (Spain, 2011), FICII11 (Chile, 2011), and Pecca de Oro (Spain, 2011), and her script was awarded at the Mediterranean Short Film Festival (Morocco, 2011) and Laguardia (Spain, 2011). It was also candidate to Best Short Film at the Spanish Film Academy’s Goya Awards (2010).

In addition to her cinematographic career, she has published several short stories and four books: the novels Sueños Itinerantes[8] (Seix Barral, 2004), WA. Últimos días de Warla Alkman[9] (Edhasa, 2013), and the essay books The Neopicaresque Novel in the Post-War Era (Michigan University Press, 2004) and Artista y Criminal[10] (Castalia, 2011). Her novel Itinerant Dreams was critically acclaimed and the author was said to show “portentous registries, incommensurate ambition, unstoppable verbal potential and an invisible style capable of depicting the mental unhinging of our time” (Francisco Solano, EL PAÍS).[11] Also her multimedia novel Warla Alkman has been critically acclaimed: "Reaching the end of Warla (and her brother) is worth it. The last pages are excellent and they justify the search of the hero, that doomed character dancing on the border of an abyss" (José de María Romero Barea).[12] She has also translated into Spanish the book of poems Escena de amor en limusina y compañía (New Model Books, 2002), and the novels La fiera indomable (Martínez Roca, 2007) and Obras Selectas de T.S. Spivet (Seix Barral, 2010).

She has released a music album, Who Reads Future? (2012) with the band of synthpop Reber,[13] where she performs as Galatha and where she has written all the songs.

She was the director of Instituto Cervantes in Stockholm, Sweden, for 12 months (2009–2010).

WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman

Irene Zoe Alameda worked on her second novel "WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman" for 9 years. It combines traditional literary texts, music, videos, bidi codes and internet links to actual sites, all created by a single author.

In January 4, 2013, the publisher of the novel, Daniel Fernandez (President of Edhasa and President of Spanish Editor’s Association) announced that the publication of WA. WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman would be one of the major literary events of the year. In his own words, Warla Alkman was “a risky, but extremely brilliant metaliterary novel”.

Ideas Foundation

On January 23, 2013, the newspaper El Mundo published a scoop informing that the novelist Irene Zoe Alameda had been using the nickname Amy Martin. Articles and reportages using this nickname had been published by the Ideas Foundation (a think tank) in the online section of its webpage entitled “Amy Martin Global Observer”. Alameda issued a public statement and recognized to the Spanish newspaper El País that she was the author behind "Amy Martin". She explained that this was part of a performance to create real characters and go beyond the limits of reality and fiction, in her forthcoming new novel WA. WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman.

According to "El Mundo", she could have received 3,000 euros for each article.[14] In 3 years, she could have obtained 35,000 euros for 14 articles about all kind of topics: Nigeria politics, Fukushima or hapiness tips.[15] In response to the media controversy, the Executive Vicepresident of Ideas Foundation, Jesus Caldera, affirmed that "there was nothing illegal".[16] As announced by Irene Zoe Alameda she donated all the money obtained while working with a nickname "to make sure that everyone understands that this was nothing but a literary experiment" .[17]

As Amy Martin, she had also coauthored the book 55 Terms For Progress / 55 Términos Para El Progreso (Spain, Fundación Ideas, 2011) and collaborated with newspaper Público.These works are available in her webpage Irene Zoe Alameda

In her latest interview about the novel, the writer Irene Zoe Alameda explained that her performance was a real attempt to eliminate the barriers between truth and fiction. She wanted that her novel WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman became a major novelty and transcended the limits of traditional literature. She wanted to go beyond the traditional format of the novel and create a Digital Hybrid Global Fiction (Dhyglofiction). As she explained, this is why she combined new techniques of expression, and decided to create alter egos as real characters, including the pop star Galatha and the best-selling writer Amy Martin.

The media controversy around that performance delayed the publication of the novel from April to November 2013. But finally the multimedia novel WA, últimos días de Warla Alkman was presented in two public events held at FNAC in Madrid and Barcelona in January 2014, with the participation of Juan Cruz, the deputy director of El Pais, and the writer David Barba. https://cubanuestra2eu.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/presentacion-en-madrid-de-wa-ultimos-dias-de-warla-alkman/).

The novel received mixed support by literary critics. For example, in the review published by El Cultural from newspaper El Mundo, Ricardo Senabre criticized the novel for being "pretentious, without interesting results, and with scarce notes of erudition at random places". He also admitted "with no doubt, the author of this novel has talent". Other critic, Jose de Maria Romero Barea affirmed that "The major finding of this novel is the character of Warla Alkman herself", and added that certainly "Irene Zoe Alameda belongs to the group of writers that looks for new ways of breaking with the limits of literary tradition"

Books

Films

Music and Reber band

Irene Zoe Alameda is also a music composer and a performer. She is the author of the movie soundtracks in A Tribute’s Evening, Have a Nice Trip and Uniformed.

In 2011 she founded electropop band Reber, composed of two musician siblings Galatha and Golem (musical alter egos of Irene Zoe Alameda and her brother Daniel Alameda). Their first album Who Reads Future? was released in July 2012. Their songs There UR, Julia, Think of Me and The Protester played in radio stations in Spain. The group gave concerts in Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastian. Their futuristic videos are followed by thousands of fans around the world in the Reber channel in YouTube.

A new single called Mad City and a new video were released in December 2014 ), as part of their new album The Future Maker which was presented in February 2015, and given for free download to fans on Valentine’s Day.

Awards

Year Award Festival Film
2013 Best Short Documentary Certamen Soundub, Madrid – Spain Jaisalmer
2012 Best Short Film – Audience Award Film Femmes Méditerranée, France Uniformadas
2012 Best Short Film Festival of Nations, Ebensee – Austria Uniformadas
2011 Best Script Mediterranean Short Film Festival, Tangier – Morocco (Centre Cinématographique Marocain) Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film Malescorto Film Festival, Italy Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film Inquietarte Festival, Spain Uniformadas
2011 Second Award Pentedattilo Film Festival, Reggio Calabria – Italy Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film Festival de MILANO – Italy Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film Festival del Mar – Mallorca, Spain Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Movie – Critics Award, and Best Short Film (Third Award) Festival de Cine de Alicante – Spain Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film, Best Script, Best Cinematography Laguardia Film Festival, La Rioja – Spain Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film FICIIQQ – Chile Uniformadas
2011 Best Short Film Pecca de Oro, Seville – Spain Uniformadas
2010 Candidate to Best Short Film GOYA Awards – Spanish Film Academy, Spain Uniformadas
2010 Honorary Mention Rochester Film Festival, UK Buen Viaje
2009 Best Short Film Calasparra International Short Film Festival, Spain Buen Viaje

External links

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References

  1. ↑ "'Reber'".
  2. ↑ "'WA. Últimos días de Warla Alkman'" (in Spanish).
  3. ↑ http://www.abc.es/espana/20140116/abci-martin-caja-201401152140.html
  4. ↑ http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/01/29/espana/1359456471.html
  5. ↑ "Irene Zoe Alameda: 'Artículos escritos por Irene Zoe Alameda'". elpais.com (in Spanish).
  6. ↑ "Buen viaje".
  7. ↑ "El 'Buen viaje' de Cayetana Guillén Cuervo". elpais.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  8. ↑ "'Sueños itinerantes', el estreno de Zoe Alameda". elmundo.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  9. ↑ "'WA. Últimos días de Warla Alkman'" (in Spanish).
  10. ↑ "'Artista y Criminal'" (in Spanish).
  11. ↑ "'También la verdad se inventa'". elpais.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 October 2004.
  12. ↑ "'¿Es necesario recurrir, una vez más, a detectives y escritores para contar una historia?'". mundiario.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "'Reber'".
  14. ↑ http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/10/14/espana/1381758498.html
  15. ↑ http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/01/24/actualidad/1359016518_632137.html
  16. ↑ http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/01/23/espana/1358969393.html
  17. ↑ http://vozpopuli.com/actualidad/23861-amy-martin-devuelve-hoy-los-34-973-72-euros-que-cobro-de-la-fundacion-ideas-del-psoe
  18. ↑ "'WA. Últimos días de Warla Alkman'".
  19. ↑ "'Time'".
  20. ↑ "'Jaisalmer'".
  21. ↑ "'Uniformadas'" (in Spanish).
  22. ↑ "'Buen Viaje'" (in Spanish).
  23. ↑ "'Tarde de homenaje'" (in Spanish).
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