Elena López Riera was born in Orihuela, Spain, in 1982. After completing a doctoral thesis on contemporary Argentine cinema, she taught comparative literature at the University of Geneva, Carlos III University of Madrid, and Valencia. Her first short film, Pueblo (2015), premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival; Las visceras (2016) premiered at the Locarno Festival; and Los que desean (2018) won numerous international awards such as the Pardino d'Oro for Best Short Film at the Locarno Festival and the Special Jury Mention at the San Sebastián Festival, among others. El agua, her first feature film, had its world premiere at the Directors' Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival 2022. It was subsequently selected, among others, for the Contemporary World Cinema Competition at the Toronto International Film Festival, and in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section at the San Sebastian Film Festival. It received two nominations at the Goya Awards (Best New Director and Best Leading Actress), and nominations for Best Film and Best Editing at the Quartz - Swiss Film Awards.