Juana Robles (b. Tortosa, Spain 1983) is an experimental filmmaker based in Kilkenny, Ireland. Her work is focused on analogue filmmaking and the use of everyday and poetic documentations to capture intimate events, when collaborating mostly with outsiders and artists with unconventional trajectories. She's interested in using the materiality of analogue film together with experimental and process based methods to dissolve the medium in order to highlight alternative ways of seeing and experiencing.
Part of her practice and main interest is to make experimental cinema more accessible to the public and to enhance the development of experimental film and video forms. Between 2015 and 2018, she worked at the Videoex International Experimental Film Festival and Videocompany in Switzerland. From 2018 to 2021, she worked freelance as a programmer at the Lausanne Underground Film Festival (LUFF) in Switzerland. She is also actively involved in the Out of Focus initiative, a cinema takeover at the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny, which she co-founded with Kilkenny-based artist Michael Higgins. Out of Focus aims to showcase alternative cinema works often overlooked by conventional cinemas and mainstream avenues, providing a platform for artists to exhibit their work in a professional cinema setting. This initiative features screenings of experimental, innovative, and unconventional films, followed by moderated discussions with the filmmakers, fostering a deeper engagement with their creative processes.
Having grown up in Switzerland she holds a MA in Spatial Design from the University of the Arts, Zurich (2014), as well a BA in Visual Communication from the School of Art and Design, Lucerne (2008) and attended three semesters a specialist training class for camera, film editing and design at Studio 1 Film School in Schlieren (2016). In 2013 she was awarded interdisciplinary residency at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing.
Juana Robles moved to Ireland in 2019. Her latest film release founded by The Arts Council of Ireland "Alicia", was accomplished mid January 2024 in Atelier 105 post-production residency at Light Cone in Paris.
2024
Arts Council Ireland
Film Bursary Award
Atelier 105, Light Cone, Paris
Post-production residency
2023
Arts Council Ireland
Film Project Award
2022
International Festival of Analog/Experimental Cinema- KINOSKOP
"Anastatica"
Audience Award
Experimental Film Festival Barcelona
"Anastatica"
Best experimental short
Arts Council Ireland
Film Agility Award
2021
Arts Council Ireland
Film Project Award
Arts Council Ireland
Film Bursary Award
Videoex Experimental film & Video Festival Zurich, Switzerland
"Nightshades"
First Price Swiss Competition
2020
Arts Council Ireland
Film - Professional Development Award
Paris Festival for Different and Experimental Cinema
"and a porcelain cat"
First Price ex aequo
Videoex Experimental film & Video Festival Zurich, Switzerland
"and a porcelain cat"
First Price Swiss Competition ex aequo
MUFF Milwaukee Underground Film Festival
"and a porcelain cat"
Honorable Mention
Super Off International Super 8 Film Festival
"and a porcelain cat"
Honorable Mention