Carmen Beltrán and her group of “bailaoras” have made a beautiful choreography for Mëstiza’s new album Spanish Chica. A world of feminine energy in a visual journey from day into the night. This is a homage to Carlos Saura’s Flamenco. There’s also Arabic and Latin electronic music influences.

A fusion of flamenco heritage, Arabic inspiration and avant-garde electronic music.

Director’s Vision for ‘Spanish Chica’

Spanish Chica is a 16-minute visual film created for the new album by Mëstiza.

Conceived as a journey from traditional flamenco and Spanish folklore into nightlife and contemporary club culture, the film moves through different emotional states under the choreography of Carmen Beltrán. Although each song has its own identity and protagonists, I wanted the film to flow as naturally as possible from one track to another — carefully shaping transitions so the boundaries between songs almost disappear, like in a well-crafted music session.
While developing the project, I kept coming back to Carlos Saura’s Carmen (1983). The film was a big reference from the beginning — not only because of flamenco itself, but because of the way Saura transformed rehearsal, performance and Spanish tradition into something cinematic, modern and alive.

This project was also deeply connected to the idea of craftsmanship. At a moment where image-making is becoming increasingly artificial, it felt important to create something physical and handmade. No AI was used in the process. Everything was built through choreography, light, camera movement, costume, texture and the energy of the people involved.

We shot the entire film during one long day in Aranjuez, Spain, after an intense pre-production process that nearly collapsed several times before finally coming together.

Spanish Chica belongs just as much to the collaborators I’ve shared so many battles with over the years: producer David Oeo, cinematographer Enrique Millán, steadicam operator Diego Comendador or fellow director Paul Stein among many others. The film exists because of that collective effort.

Beyond the visual side, the project also comes from something I strongly believe in: flamenco and Spanish folklore are living cultures. It feels like for a while they were treated as outdated or nostalgic, but today they feel stronger than ever. Their fusions, mutations and evolutions are shaping contemporary culture again.

The film doesn’t approach Spanish tradition as nostalgia, but as raw material — something alive, in constant transformation.