Lila Pla Alemany

My UWC friends force me to question my prejudices and ideas and greatly enrich my life

Lila Pla Alemany from Barcelona, Spain is a Film Executive Producer and Writer, having recently co-founded an independent film production company: Santamandra Produccions. She has written and produced several films, documentaries and TV programmes for clients such as Amnesty International, Foundation of Children with Cancer, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Catalan and Spanish Governments, including a documentary feature film that was nominated to Best Catalan Film in 2007.

Lila attended UWC of the Atlantic from 1995 to 1997. She feels that her UWC education encouraged her to develop strong and informed opinions by placing greater emphasis on developing critical thought, and she particularly appreciated the “multicultural and open-minded environment”.

“I made amazing friends from many backgrounds and nationalities who keep challenging the way I look at all aspects of life: from politics and history to family and love. My UWC friends force me to question my prejudices and ideas and greatly enrich my life.

“A UWC education also meant that I am very aware of my own privileged position and that in all projects I work on I try to make a positive difference, no matter how small.”

After graduating from UWC, Lila studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford and graduated with first class honours. Her early career mainly focused on research and project management in various international and governmental organisations such as the World Bank, Amnesty International and the ‘Universal Forum of Cultures’. She later successfully completed an MSc in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics, before making her way into the film industry where she now uses the power of film to transmit the positive values and ideas she has developed.

One such example is a feature documentary film she wrote and produced about one of the bloodiest chapters of the Spanish political transition: On 3rd March 1976 in the Basque city of Vitoria, police gassed and machine gunned a peaceful demonstration of workers, killing five people and injuring over a hundred. The film premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival and was very influential in helping the victims obtain an official apology from the Spanish Government 32 years later.

“I ended up choosing to work in film and media as I found they were very powerful tools for social change”, says Lila. “A good story well told – whether a feature film, a documentary or other form of media – can truly make a difference in how one sees the world.”