Screenwriter, director and television producer Carmen Vidal, went from living in Ibiza to New York to realize her dream of becoming a film director 16 years ago. This year, she has been nominated again for three New York Emmys.  

"There are more women in positions of power in Europe than in the United States," said Vidal.

To date, the filmmaker is the winner if eight New York Emmys and a Student Academy Award. She is a Spanish-American screenwriter, director and television producer and her projects have screened at international festivals, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, on PBS, the UN, LeMonde.fr and the ARTE television network.

She trained in Audiovisual Communication in Barcelona, and continued her education in Prague, later traveling to New York and Cuba, where she specialized in the art of images.

The multidisciplinary artist has touched all areas of the industry: directing, editing, cinematography, script writing, video clips, short films, documentaries and commercials.

"Every day is different, I can be shooting or developing and writing a new project, going to meetings with production companies, working from home editing, traveling outside," she told MagasIN.

Vidal has spent the last five years of her life working as a content producer and director on television magazines New York and Latinas on CUNY TV, where she brings to light the life of Latinos in the city from a diverse perspective.

Throughout her career, she has addressed different social issues that have earned her recognition and awards. Her feature film Exilios (2020), shows the historical memory and story of three exiles from the Spanish Civil War who rebuilt their lives in Mexico. 

Her life as a migrant woman, foreinger, living with Trump in power, allows her to have a critical and empathetic lens. Within the industry, historically led by white men, her path has been full of obstacles she has faced with the best attitude. 

She is currently working on a program that showcases the Latino community in the most pluralistic and diverse way possible. Trying not to fall into stereotypes, she proudly says, "we have art, literature, from interviews with Vargas Llosa or the opera singer Juan Pons, to transgender women in Queens who are sex workers, we talk about migration and indigenous populations, or a Latino restaurant in the Bronx where they make between 3,000 and 5,000 meals a week for people in need after the pandemic." 

On Oct. 30, Vidal will likely be adding more trophies to her case.