Welcome back to the Metropolitan Culture Corner after our summer break! We start off the 2024 fall season with an interview with film producer and visual artist Mara Adina. Born in Transylvanian, Romania, she now splits her time between London and Barcelona.
Together with her sister, director Ilinca Calugareanu, she started the film and documentary production company Vernon Films in 2012. Their film projects have been screened at major film festivals such as Sundance and the Clermont Ferrand International Film Festival, and on platforms like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max, among others.
Aside from her success in the world of cinema, Mara is also an accomplished abstract painter. Her work is characterized by intense colors, layered textures and broad brush strokes. Mara’s first solo exhibition was here in Barcelona this past spring, titled Feel with Abandon, and she has another in the works as we speak.
Last time, we interviewed soul singer Clarence Bekker, known as one of the most dynamic and explosive front men in all of Spain. Over the years, he has been a part of a number of notable musical projects, from Swinging Soul Machine to Barcelona’s own 08001, to the international musical project and non-profit organization Playing for Change. This last one took him on the road all over the globe, and the project’s videos have racked up over 200 million views. But even before that, he had singles on the UK charts back in the 1990s; today, he’s known as the face of the Clarence Bekker Band, which has toured Brazil, Morocco, Japan, Italy, Spain, Australia and beyond.
Stay tuned to Metropolitan’s YouTube channel and social media to make sure you don’t miss a single episode of our monthly interview series! We’ve got a great lineup in store for you in 2024. You can also watch the full archive of previous interviews on our official YouTube channel, or listen to all the MCC interviews as free podcasts on Soundcloud. Be sure to follow Metropolitan on Facebook: @BCNMetropolitan, Twitter: @bcnmetropolitan and Instagram: @barcelonametropolitan.