Amalia Ulman's path to filmmaking

Art and film can be very intertwined and yet so different, so I was wondering what inspires you and why?

I've never been a huge fan of a specific artist. If anything, I will look for inspiration from specific artworks. But I feel differently about filmmaking, and I do have some heroes in film. I guess it's because, when you make a movie, you have to apply your talents to many different things. This also explains the influence in my work, because I've done a lot of different stuff. The idea of the auteur is something that is appealing to me and I would say that Polly Platt is a big inspiration, some of my favorite films were produced by her. I also have other people I admire, especially because they were immigrants who just arrived in Hollywood, and they had to sort of start over again, like Billy Wilder or Otto Ernst Lubitz. I find those sorts of stories very inspiring.

Are there any movies that you've seen where you thought ‘I want to create something like this’?

Definitely a lot. I started with Asian and European cinema when I was very little and as a teenager, I went full circle to really admiring Hollywood. The 400 Blows was a movie that I found appealing when I was young. The romanization of more American films and the parody of it, from a European perspective I always thought was kind of funny. I saw The Wayward Cloud by Tsai Ming-liang when I was very young and I think that kind of marked my interests, but obviously I didn't know I could even be a filmmaker because it seemed very far away from my possibilities.

I was also pondering over if you have any core memory as a kid or now as an adult, that you keep revisiting and feel inspired by?

One of the things that I'm very grateful to, and have always been, is free access to culture, which is very prevalent in Spain and in Europe in general. In the UK there's very good radio and very well researched shows and stuff. I learned a lot of the things I know today, from those culture radios. I was actually talking to my boyfriend about it yesterday, because there's a story that I go back to a lot, and it’s the story of Ervin Nyiregyhazi, who was a piano player that ended up living in Hollywood and becoming friends with Bela Lugosi. I have very good memories of listening to this as a kid and imagining the whole world, like, a sad, old Hollywood. So, I think that's a core memory.

AMALIA wears TRENCH and SHOES by GUCCI

Do you channel this feeling when working on projects or do you create new memories?

It varies, but I guess I enjoy learning new things. Some instances that I have vivid memories of, is when something captivates my mind and sparks something in me, which is either from books or films. Recently, one thing that really influenced me, because it's a book that I read over time. It’s called The Wall. It's about a woman who lives alone. Something happens and she's in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, and all humans have disappeared. She's only in the company of a dog, cow, and a cat. She's sort of trying to figure out how to survive, and everything is like an inner monologue of her life with these animals. That really captivated me. I think that's something that made me very excited, because I often have that relationship with my animals, where I spend a long period of quiet time, like nonverbal communication with my animals, and the book sort of explains that very well, so I have a very vivid memory of reading that book and yearning for that sort of thing.

Do you have an animal that you feel most connected to?

My dog and cat, I obviously feel a connection to. I find it very beautiful to be completely attached to an animal, being able to exchange all these emotions just through nonverbal communication.

You said you like learning new things. Is there anything that you have recently learned that you were surprised by it could be anything.

The making of my first film was life changing professionally. It allowed me to continue making movies. But Magic Farm, I think, pushed me to learn things that were more influential in my personal life. It pushed me to do something in Argentina, where I'm from. I never lived there, but all of my families still there. It was a good way of learning and also to be closer to my grandmother, and part of my mom's side. My family are from the rural areas of Argentina, and my great grandfather is a Gaucho. My grandma and her sisters like to ride horses, not English riding, but cowboy riding - the unruly riding of horses and taming them as well, while being in the wild, just things like that. I also decided to learn English well, so that was a big learning experience and to learn horsemanship and read about horsemanship in English. I never grew up with horses or dogs, so I never knew how to approach them, so the training of horses and dogs was very new to me. This pushed me to get a dog for the first time in my life.

AMALIA wears DRESS by FEY FEY WORLDWIDE, SHOES by PALOMA WOOL

I was wondering how you would like to be remembered. As an artist, do you create something that you hope will have a long-lasting effect?

That's hard to do. I think the only thing you can aim for, is to do something good. If it's good, it'll have a lasting effect and that means it's not a fad. Especially working in film, it's very important, because film takes so long to make, so you can’t really rely on that factor. I think the only thing you can try to do, is make something good and timeless and that’s true to yourself, and then, you know, if it's popular, it's popular, it is not, it doesn't matter. But I think that's the only way to do it.

Is popularity something that is important to you?

Obviously there's some people that claim they don't give a shit about their audience. But I think the audience is a big part of making movies. People go and sit to watch films in theaters, and I think part of the art of filmmaking is how it's received and trying to tell a story. People can interpret things one way or another, but I think the root of a story is trying to tell the audience something, and you can only try your best to create that. Popularity is tricky because there's so much that has to do with luck in the making of movies in particular. You can make a film, and it's a great film, but it's not the right time for it, you know? and it falls flat, but then it gets discovered 10 years later. Other times you make a film that nobody believes in, but something happens, and that film becomes extremely popular because it touches a subject matter that became popular. But I think that's a part of film making. The main thing should be, trying to make a good film, because you can't really control other events.

You never really know how people are going to perceive things. If you feel unsure about what you are creating, is there someone you turn to for reassurance and guidance?

The one thing that I find more appealing about filmmaking is that next time around, I do have mentors and people that I trust, and I can share my ideas with or get advice from and that's something that I personally find beautiful. I can be too much in my head, sometimes, and when making art it is harder to process, because you feel very lonely, so it’s nice to have that external push. It's nice to have friends telling me, if something doesn't make any sense or, asking what I'm trying to say with this artwork. But in film, I think part of the process is to have so many people involved in reading your script to see how it comes across. As I said before, filmmaking is about trying to tell stories, and if you fail at telling that story, there's always possibilities to fix it, but that's because you're working with a lot of people along the way. I definitely like that aspect. I think it's weird for a lot of people, especially in the art world, that there's so many steps in filmmaking and that it's so collaborative. When people give you feedback, you can decide to take it or leave it.

AMALIA wears TOP by FEY FEY WORLDWIDE, PANTS and SHOES by PALOMA WOOL

Do you have a favorite recollection from creating or being on set for Magic Farm?

I like referencing my own artworks in my films, especially when it comes to set design. I used to do installations, so I reference my installation work sometimes in the design of the sets. For example, in Magic Farm, I was very excited to play with the Kitchen. There are all these references to Paris, and it’s inspired by a series of installations that I did. I think the most beautiful moments are when magic happens and the camera is rolling and you're able to capture something that is kind of crazy and magical at the same time.

Did any aspect of your everyday routine become vital for shooting Magic Farm?

Sadly, I think both in El Planeta and in Magic Farm, because I was in front of the camera a lot, I didn't have the privilege to have any of that. Because I was multitasking so much, I needed to lose my sense of self and just be ready for whatever. That could mean wearing the character's costume, even though I'm sick of it that day. There's no time for me to have any sort of, like, quirks of that kind. If I was only behind the camera, I would probably have more time to indulge in that. I was, mostly just surviving, making sure that everything was going well, as a director and producer, your responsibilities are putting everyone else first. So, every actor's quirk came first and me, I'm just sort of like a doormat you know. The only thing I can do is to make sure that I'm healthy every day, so I can continue doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I have a physical disability, so everything revolves around that for me. I direct with a cane. So maybe that's my quirk.

Can you tell me a little about your next project?

The script has been done for like a long time, so right now it's more about getting back into the groove of thinking about the film. The movie is based on a short story that I wrote called The German Teacher.

Culture

Secret Teahouse Serves High-Frequencies on Brutalist Penthouse

April 27, 2026

Inside the Terre Velasca’s 25th floor hides the CROMO’s Secret Teahouse. The reflective tent, designed by Bogdan Martoiu, is based on the Vietnamese Rong House, a ceremonial space for cultural gatherings. Inside the temporary teahouse, a tea tasting session guides the guest experience of CROMO’s Cyborg Beauty, a Moroccan Mint Tea. Outside, a mini matcha bar served the event’s exclusive Double Tea - a mix of jasmine, matcha, and Oatly. The pop-up event is Milan’s first of many, leading up to the permanent opening later this year. The space was supported through the private membership club Madison House, also home to Terre Velasca in late 2026. Together, the immersive and thoughtful concept reshapes how tea can be integrated into contemporary markets, design, and culture.

CROMO values the ritual and intention behind tea, recognizing it as the ultimate wellness elixir. Tea attributes the radical notion of slowing down in lieu of the modern hustle culture, regulating a previously tense nervous system. The collection of nine high frequency teas are designed to heighten the physical and mental state. Ethically sourced from China, Japan, Kenya and made with low-impact methods, tea takes its purest form here, uniting craft and character across continents. The nomadic teahouse and all who were involved celebrate the present moment by elevating ancient tools for cultivating connection with the self, each other, and nature.

Photos Courtesy of Andrea Zendali

Culture

Indigenous Storytelling Takes the Big Screen

The pilot opens with a small town fair, but within the first two minutes tensions are already at a high, sure to have an audience edging their seats. The series draws from lived experiences, grounding its storytelling in raw emotion. Indigenous cultures observe storytelling as a necessary artform, and stories like Borders are becoming increasingly important to tell in lieu of controversial authoritarian migration and border control measures. The drama blends your typical western aesthetics with the intensity of a true crime, but it keeps its focus on the people living within these dynamics, resulting in an intimate portrayal of characters who represent the southwest’s major minority.

Season One is full of characters navigating loyalty, resilience, and power. At the center is a young Damion Thomas, a musician whose life is obstructed by personal loss, forcing him to face challenging realities while chasing dreams of his future. Other characters similarly battle with internal and external conflicts, including Anna Hernandez – who risks everything to protect her family, Tribal Chairman Clayton Johnson – whose leadership is tainted with hidden ties, and John Carlos – a Shadow Wolves leader balancing justice with personal allegiance. The cast builds a populace who reside within the collision of personal decisions and systemic forces. Every choice carries consequences, and every consequence carries karmic debt.

It’s a series full of blood, violence, drugs, but also bravery, heart, and spirit.

The half-hour pilot will premiere in none other than Phoenix, Arizona at the Celebrity Theatre on April 24, 2026. A fitting location, as the border state is infamous for drug activity, yet home to natives who challenge these stereotypes. In addition to the screening, a live Q&A and performances by Indigenous Enterprise, Nataani Mans, and Dead City Punx will enchant the night, redefining the premiere as a moment rooted in celebrating communities and preserving culture.

Culture

A Taste of Chef Woldy Reyes' Residency at Susurros del Corazón

April 23, 2026

There’s an early memory Woldy Reyes returns to often; his dad cooking goat stew outside in their Los Angeles backyard, letting it simmer overnight, using every part of the animal. At the time, it felt out of place and far from the hamburgers-and-hot-dogs version of “American” cooking, but it’s the kind of experience that now quietly shapes everything he does.

Before launching his catering company Woldy Kusina or writing his cookbook ‘In the Kusina’, Reyes was working in fashion, moving through roles at magazines like Elle and Nylon. That background still shows up in his approach; considered, adaptable, and tuned into the environments he’s cooking in. His take on Filipino food leans lighter and more vegetable-forward, balancing tradition with a sensibility shaped by years of cooking for fashion clients and creative spaces.

His latest residency at Susurros del Corazón follows that same logic. The breathtaking setting, where jungle meets the Pacific, naturally pushes the menu toward seafood, while the calm energy of the place offers a welcomed contrast to New York kitchens. For Reyes, it’s less about reinventing his cooking than letting it shift slightly depending on where he is and who he’s cooking for.

By Dylan Andrews
Photos courtesy of Susurros del Corazón, Auberge Collection

At Susurros del Corazón, the setting does a lot of the work for you. Tucked between jungle-covered cliffs and a long stretch of beach, the resort leans into a slower, more open way of moving. It’s part surf retreat, part wellness escape, with an emphasis on good food and communal moments. Its ongoing Los Sabores de Susurros series brings in visiting chefs to cook alongside the in-house team, creating a kind of back-and-forth between different culinary perspectives.

During his weeklong residency, Woldy stepped into that rhythm naturally; taking over the beachside grill for open-fire dinners, hosting a more casual, shareable night at La Boquita, and leading a hands-on lumpia workshop that pulled guests a little closer into the process.

One morning, Woldy and I overlooked the sea at Casamilpa over breakfast to talk about his path from fashion to food, how his Filipino roots shape his cooking today, and what it means to step into a slower rhythm in Mexico.

Did you grow up in New York?

No, in California.

So your Spanish should be great.

You would think so, but I didn't take Spanish in school. My parents spoke some Spanish, but they’re Filipinos and obviously the Philippines was colonized by Spain, so there were influences of Spanish speaking. So it's a different language but there's some familiarity.

After I graduated, I worked in New York. I worked in fashion.

What were you doing in fashion?

So I worked at Elle. This was like a long time ago. And then I worked at Nylon.

How did you find cooking?

I've always had a love of cooking. Food was such an integral thing. I was raised primarily by my grandmother, she just was like a second mom to me and taught me a lot about Filipino cooking.

So it was mostly Filipino food when you started cooking?

Yeah, I think the most important memory I have of food is my dad. Every family gathering, he would make his signature goat soup. It’s a rich, tomato-based dish. He learned it in the Philippines and adapted it in LA. We’d go to a goat farm, pick out the goat, bring it home, and he’d cook it in the backyard over a wood fire.

It was a three-day process. The day before the gathering, he’d cook through the night. I don’t even know if he slept. I remember the smoke, the fire, the sizzling goat meat. He’d make one soup with the meat and another with the innards, using the entire animal.

After serving, he would save the head, and the next morning he’d eat it. That was the chef’s treat.'

How do you eat the head?

So there's pieces of meat in there. He would pick it off the bone and he would eat the tongue.

Nothing went to waste.

Nothing went to waste. And that to me, as a kid living in LA, being first generation, I thought that was embarrassing. Most traditional American cooking is grilling outside, but he's making a stew outside. You don't see it all the time on television and your idea of grilling is hamburgers and hot dogs, but we had to stew.

I didn't appreciate it at the time, but now I can appreciate it. And now, cooking food here or in New York, I'm also pushing what my parents were eating, but modernizing it.

So you're working at Elle in fashion. At what point did cooking become a professional pursuit?

So when I moved to New York, I lived in a very small studio apartment that didn't allow me to cook a lot. And I lived in that apartment for four or five years.

But then I moved to Brooklyn. I got a bigger apartment, there's a full kitchen, and I started cooking again and thinking, Oh, I want to pursue this professionally. But I was still working full-time at this point, working for a fashion designer. So I was cooking for a designer, and then I'm also working full-time in visual merchandising, PR, a bunch of different things for this other designer. At the same time, I was assisting a stylist. All simultaneously. So it was all creative, but working different parts of my brain. When you're in New York, you're doing a bunch of different things trying to make a living.

But I wanted to start a catering company, and the reason why I wanted to go that route was to build a customer base, and then eventually open a restaurant. So that was the initial goal. So in 2016 I decided to quit working for the designer and build my catering company. And luckily, when you intern at magazines, you build friendships and connections. I would tell my friends, "I'm starting a catering company." And they were like, "Oh, could you do our press preview? Could you do these smaller events where they needed catering?"

One of my first clients was Christian Louboutin, and then I did an event for Celine. When you are in fashion, there's always catering. And so that was my first clientele I focused on because that's who I knew and the relationships that I had. And now, 10 years later, it's starting to diversify.

Do you think cooking for the fashion industry changed the way you were cooking? Did you feel like you had to adapt to people in the fashion industry more?

In the very beginning.

They were obviously watchful of what they ate, and so I understood their eating habits. So it was a way to be creative and figure out how to make something delicious based off of all these restrictions that they have. And also, when I was assisting a stylist and we would be in studios, we would see the catered food. So I was always observing what types of food are being presented and what they are not eating. When you're on set, you want something nourishing and fresh and not something heavy.

So a lot of your cooking was adapting to other people?

I think when I started cooking a lot more, obviously making it my full-time job, I got more comfortable in myself in terms of embracing my queerness, embracing my Filipino identity. And then I started to explore the food that I grew up eating, and then trying to fuse it in slowly, I didn't want to scare off anybody. So it was just a sprinkle here or a sprinkle there, and then started to evolve from there. So it's taken some time to get to that place where I'm there to educate because normal traditional brand dinners are pretty much safe.

Very safe. They don't want to piss anyone off, don't want to have anyone complaining.

So I'm hoping that when people do reach out to me and work with me, they know that I'm not doing an Alfredo and that I'm doing something completely different. And if they're not open to what I'm making, then…

It's not the client for you. How long is this residency?

It's only a week, but then I'm going to Columbia for another one evening dinner.

Have there been things here that have taught you anything?

They taught me to be chill. Chill and also the sense of camaraderie. The people that work here, everyone, they're embracing each other. And I feel like that's similar to what I do when I work with other people, is that I give them a hug.

I can imagine the kitchen culture is so different to New York.

Oh, very different. Obviously, primarily it's different because I don't speak the language.

But even as people, I mean, Mexicans are so warm and I think New York is…

I do have to say, when I work on things in New York, when I work with other chefs, there are some chefs who just take the initiative and then they don't consult me. And then it's not how I wanted it. And so why did you take the initiative?

Is that almost an ego thing?

Probably. Here, they ask me, "Oh, can you show me?” before they proceed to make sure that is exactly how I want it. And then it becomes more collaborative.

But there's also amazing things about New York.

I could imagine sous chefs there or just people in the kitchen there being so keen to get themselves ahead that they lose the collaborativeness and teamwork.

I feel like you learn people's personality in the kitchen and how they maneuver. Again, New York is competitive. Everybody is trying to do something, make something happen. And sometimes when you are in a place where there is the Head Chef, you just kind of have to be submissive because you have to follow directions and if you're not following directions, then you're just going to go sideways.

And I feel like you don't last long in a kitchen.

You don't last in a kitchen.

I've gotten back into cooking in the last year and a half, and it's so much nicer. It feels like such a nice ritual at the end of the day.

It is a nice ritual. I think that's part of why I don't do it.

I mean, when it's your job and you're doing it for work, it's a different thing.

It's interesting because often people say, "I really love cooking. I want to transition into doing full-time." Well, there's a difference. You're passionate about home cooking, but then when you turn it into your career, you either are going to love it or you're going to hate it.

I'm still doing it. I think I enjoy it and there are a lot more positive things that I enjoy. I obviously don't cook as much for myself.

What's your strategy when accepting jobs? Are you going to say yes no matter what and figure it out?

I'll just figure it out. I think that's always a challenge. I enjoy that part of it. It's like, I can cook anywhere.

Yeah. It must feel like everything's possible at this point. I mean, people have been cooking way before we had electricity and stuff.

Everything is possible.

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Amalia Ulman's path to filmmaking

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