Alice Waddington

Alice Waddington is the director of sprawling, feminist and inclusive worldbuilding fantasy films. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, and semi-fluent in Catalan and Euskara.

Born in Bilbao as the daughter of a psychologist and a teacher. As a child, Waddington grew up knowing her grand-uncle had been assassinated by terrorist group ETA, politically splitting her family and igniting a lifelong passion for creating diverse stories that fought against intolerance and ideological polarization. Waddington acquired her stage name at 16 while assisting DOP Quique López ('Sótano', 'Ander'). Her dream of becoming a writer-director seemed unlikely: She studied advertising in the Public UPV, simultaneously shooting fashion films for Spanish fashion magazines. She worked as an advertising creative, producer and video editor at the agencies Leo Burnett Iberia and Social Noise... and as a market shopkeeper.

In 2015, she wrote and co-produced a short film, 'Disco Inferno' which obtained nominations in 70 international film festivals including Palm Springs, Fantasia, Sitges or Fantastic Fest, which first awarded her as Best Director and Silver Feature Film Project of its film market. Twelve other international festival wins ensued. The short film toured Japan, China, the US and Canada with 'Best of the Fest' showcases for two years.

Waddington's first feature 'Paradise Hills' (2019) was produced by Spanish company Nostromo Pictures ('Penny Dreadful', 'Buried'). A science-fiction YA thriller written by Academy-Award nominated Nacho Vigalondo ('Colossal', 'Timecrimes', 'Extraterrestrial'). Starring Emma Roberts, Awkwafina, Eiza Gonzalez, Danielle Macdonald, Milla Jovovich and Jeremy Irvine-- based on an original story by Waddington. Said feature became the second Spanish debut film to ever be screened at Sundance Film Festival (2019). Twenty other international genre festivals such as Fantasia, Sitges or Mórbido, followed suit.

With the support of Guillermo del Toro and Spanish producers Nostromo Pictures, she put together "Paradise Hills" as a project. She now lives in Los Angeles. Her second feature 'Scarlet' is set at at MGM-Orion ("Till", "Women Talking"). She is also developing genre thrillers such as "Dept H" with frequent collaborator Netflix US. In 2022, Waddington's first episode of TV for Amazon Spain premiered at Sitges Film Festival: "La Pesadilla" is a remake of heritage IP "Historias para no Dormir". Other writer-directors in this reboot include international genre powerhouses Paco Plaza, Nacho Vigalondo - a frequent collaborator of Waddington's-, Rodrigo Cortés or Gaspar Noé.