Lola Arias

Lola Arias (born 3 December 1976) is an Argentine writer, theatre, and film director known for her diverse creative pursuits spanning multiple artistic media. In 2024, Arias won the prestigious International Ibsen Award.

Education Lola Arias obtained a degree in literature from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, followed by further specialization in dramaturgy at the Escuela de Artes Dramáticas in Buenos Aires. Additionally, she undertook playwrights' residencies at the Royal Court Theatre in London and Casa de América in Madrid.

Works Her collaborative projects often involve marginalized groups, including war veterans, refugees, and individuals from the sex worker community, encompasses a wide array of mediums, including theatre, film, literature, music, and visual arts. Arias's approach to storytelling is to blend reality with fiction. and Familienbande (Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich, 2009), an exploration of contemporary family dynamics.

Arias's work That Enemy Within (HAU, Berlin, 2010) engages identical twins in a discourse on identity. The Year I was Born (Teatro a Mil, Santiago, 2012) is based on stories of individuals born during Pinochet's dictatorship. Melancholy and Demonstrations (Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, 2012) delves into Arias's mother's depression, while The Art of Making Money (Stadttheater Bremen, 2013) confronts themes of fiction and compassion through the lens of beggars, prostitutes, and street musicians. The Art of Arriving (Stadttheater Bremen, 2015) discusses starting anew in a foreign land, with Bulgarian children in Germany as the focal point. while Atlas des Kommunismus (Maxim-Gorki Theater, Berlin, 2016) weaves together the stories of women from East Germany. What They Want to Hear (Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich, 2018) reconstructs the predicament of a Syrian archaeologist entangled in German bureaucracy, while Futureland (Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, 2019) involves unaccompanied minors who migrated to Germany. Ich bin nicht tot (Staatstheater Hannover and Theaterformen Festival, 2021) features individuals over sixty-five contemplating their societal roles amid the pandemic.

Mother Tongue explores reproduction in the twenty-first century through performances in Bologna, Madrid, and Berlin, while Happy Nights (Theater Bremen, 2023) invites audiences into immersive spaces to contemplate themes of sex, money, lust, and pain alongside dancers and sex workers.

Her theatrical works have been featured at Festival d'Avignon, Lift Festival in London, Under the Radar in New York, Theater Spektakel in Zurich, Wiener Festwochen, Festival Theaterformen, and Spielart Festival in Munich. Her performances have been staged in Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, REDCAT in Los Angeles, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Parque de la Memoria in Buenos Aires, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and MoMA Museum in New York.

Films Arias's debut feature film, Theatre of War (2018) – adapted from her stage production Minefield – was presented at the 68th Forum of the Berlinale Film Festival, receiving the CICAE Art Cinema Award, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Best Director Award at the 20th BAFICI Festival. It was also awarded the Movistar+ Prize for Best Documentary Film at Documenta Madrid and the Silver Condor Award for Best Adapted Script. Her short film Far Away from Russia (2021) was commissioned by the Manchester International Festival. Her second feature film, Reas (2024), premiered at the 74th Forum of the Berlinale Film Festival, reimagines the musical genre within a documentary framework, interweaving the narratives of cisgender women and transgender individuals who have experienced incarceration. The film blends their personal stories and encounters with music and choreography.

Her films have been screened at international film festivals such as Berlinale, San Sebastian, and BFI. Her second feature film Reas got the Best Documentary Award at the Luxemburg Film Festival.

Curatorship In the field of visual arts and curating, she initiated My Documents, a lecture-performance series featuring artists from diverse backgrounds presenting their personal research. She conceived Audition for a Demonstration, a durational performance involving spontaneous auditions for re-enacting past demonstrations. Notable exhibitions include Stunt Double (Buenos Aires, 2016), consisting of four installations reconstructing the past 40 years of Argentinian social and political history through reenactments, interviews, and protest songs, as well as Ways of Walking with a Book in Your Hand (Buenos Aires, 2017), a site-specific project for readers in libraries and public spaces.

Music She collaborated with Ulises Conti on the albums Love is a Sniper (2007) and Those Who do not Sleep (2011).

Publications Her publications include Love is a Sniper (2007, Entropía), The Postnuclear Ones (2011, Emecé), and My Life After and Other Plays (2016, Penguin Random House), along with a bilingual edition of her play Minefield (2017, Oberon Books).

Works Las impúdicas en el paraíso (poetry collection, 2000) La escuálida familia (theater, performed at the Teatro Rojas, 2001) Estudios de la memoria amorosa (theater, performed at the Centro Experimental del Colón, 2003) Poses para dormir (theater, 2004) Trilogy Striptease, Sueño con revólver, and El amor es un francotirador (theater, Ed. Entropía, 2004) Reas (2024)

Actress Cien pesos (2003, short) Potestad as Adriana's mother (2003) La prisionera as Isabel (2006) as Alicia (2008)

Awards 2014 Konex Award Diploma of Merit as one of the five most important figures in Argentine letters in the discipline "Teatro: Quinquenio 2009–2013" 2024 The International Ibsen Award