Professional activities in the fields of teaching, consultancy al cultural management:

Cultural advisor for the Mexican newspaper Reforma (2013). She has participated in the Sundance Independent Producers Conference and as a fellow at the Sundance Edition Lab and the Sundance Music and Sound Design Lab. Since 2008, she has been a guest lecturer at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (Mexico City), at the Centro Cultural España, for the Foro de Periodismo El Faro – Ambulante (El Salvador), permanent project advisor for Encuentros del Otro Cine – EDOC (Ecuador), an analyst for Ibermedia in 2016 and 2017, a project analyst for Pro Imágenes Colombia, and a lecturer and designer for the expert course in documentary filmmaking at the University of Cádiz (Spain). She currently runs an extended course/workshop on the Real at Cobertura Photo, Seville (Spain).

In 2018, she organized and ran a weekly cineclub for homeless people in Seville. She organized, coordinated, and moderated the conference ‘Exploring the laberynth in search of audiences’, as part of Documenta Madrid 2024.

She has served on the jury al various festivals and competitions, including the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam -IDFA, the Emmy Awards, Documenta Madrid, Márgenes (Madrid), Guadalajara International Film Festival (Mexico), Alcances, Cinergia (Costa Rica), Prague Film Festival, Amnesty International, Cartagena de Indias Film Festival and DocLisboa.

As director and producer:

Retrospectives of her filmography have been programmed at Alcances, at the Centro Cultural España in Nicaragua (2012) and, curated by Fran Gallo, at the Ourense International Film Festival (2017).

She directed and produced the featured documentary ‘La Pasión de María Elena’ (2003) (The Passion of Maria Elena), with the support of Sundance Documentary Fund. This film won best Mexican feature film at the Guadalajara, Sao Paulo and Jerusalem Film Festivals, and various awards at other international festivals. Supported by Sundance Documentary Fund, Jan Vrijman Fund, Ibermedia and Ford Foundation, in January 2005 directed and produced ‘El Inmortal’(The Immortal). It was screened at the Berlinale, San Sebastian International Film Festival and Sundance. This film was selected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York – MoMA to close its reopening month and won several awards. Her film ‘La Sirena y El Buzo’(The Mermaid and the Diver) premiered at the Forum of New Cinema – Berlinale, followed by a run at festivals such Busan, Guadalajara and the Tokyo International Film Festival, as well others around the world. Palabras Mágicas – para romper un encantamiento (2012) (Magic Words – to break a spell) was screened in the Masters Section at IDFA, in Zabaltegui section at San Sebastian, and at Pusan Film Festival. This film won several awards and opened the program ‘The State of Art’ at MoMA. Also, best film of 2013 by LASA (Latin American Studies Association). She directed Los Invisibles for HBO’s Heroes Cotidianos series. Her feature film ‘Mi Querida España’ (2015) (My Beloved Spain) was released in San Sebastian Film Festival and won several awards in Spain. Her feature film Perplexed Ants was released in San Sebastian and DocLisboa. It won the best work-related documentary in DocLiboa and the audience award and the best director (by CIMA competition) in Alcances.

Mercedes currently combine teaching with the process of developing a new feature film entitled ‘Elegir ser paisaje’ (Choosing to be a landscape).

Filmography

• The Passion of María Elena, 2003
• The Immortal, 2005
• The Mermaid and the Diver, 2009
• Magic Words (breaking a spell), 2012
• My Beloved Spain, 2015
• Perplexed Ants, 2023
• The Levant wind chases the sun as it sinks into the sea, 2023
• Metal Bay, 2023