SHE SPOTLIGHT: Clara Cantos on Dreaming at Full Volume and Telling Stories That Stay With You

Clara Cantos

Actress / Director Based in Paris, France @clara.cantos

In this SHE SPOTLIGHT, with Clara Cantos, an actress and director whose work is shaped by emotional honesty, lived experience and a belief in stories that disturb gently and stay with you.

Moving between acting, writing and directing, Clara is currently developing an original fantasy drama screenplay that is ambitious, dark and female at its core.

Her work is rooted in connection, courage and making space for stories that might otherwise go untold.

Clara, tell us about your journey into the industry and the kind of stories you want to tell.

I came to acting the way most people come to therapy, out of necessity, and then could not leave.

As a child in a rough moment of life, the stage was the first place I felt safe. Then I noticed it made the people around me feel something too. That was the revelation: stories do not just save the one telling them.

I grew up in 90s Spain, a glorious contradiction of old patriarchy and wild freedom, and that tension shaped me. The adventurer in me, yes. But also this stubborn, burning sense of injustice towards women and children who do not get to speak. I carry their silence with me whenever I step in front of a camera or behind one.

My cinema education began with the Spanish and French classics, the kind that linger. Then British humour taught me to laugh at the wound before it heals. Then American action films reminded me that sometimes, you just want to watch things explode beautifully.

What are you building right now, and why does it matter to you?

For a long time, I thought the goal was simply to work. And I did, I worked, and worked, and confused busyness with meaning.

Then something shifted. I started writing and directing the stories I had been waiting for someone else to tell. I became more intentional about the projects, the collaborators and the energy I bring into a room. The universe, to its credit, has been paying attention.

Right now I am developing an original fantasy drama screenplay, ambitious, dark and female at its core, that has already received multiple writing awards. The world is built. The story is ready. The next mountain to climb is funding. I do not mind mountains. I am a Spanish climber.

What is something about your journey that people may not see from the outside?

I am, by all appearances, relentlessly optimistic. Dynamic. The one who holds the room together.

What people do not see is that for most of my life, I was last on my own list.

Then my mother fell ill. Nine months, the same time it takes to bring a life into the world, and she was gone. In those nine months, we repaired what had been broken between us. And I learned, slowly, painfully and permanently, to love myself.

Everything since has been different. Richer. The creativity more honest, the human connections more real, the ambition more grounded in something true. I started going to places I had never dared, in my work and in my heart.

Life is very short. We might as well dream at full volume.

What does Cannes represent to you at this point in your journey?

For a long time, Cannes felt like a sacred temple. The kind you admire from a distance, convinced the door is locked.

Then you arrive. And it was open the whole time. You just need to push it.

Now Cannes means presence to me. Not the chaos and running around between meetings. The moment of real attention between two people, that is where everything I care about has ever started.

I go with open eyes, open heart, and I take the dressing up very seriously. My inner child does not want to miss the fun of the game.

What does building collective power mean to you in practice?

Being an actress can feel lonely. But it does not have to be. Cannes is living proof that teamwork makes the magic. There is always someone in the same stretch of uncertainty, someone whose casting you would celebrate like your own. The community exists. Sometimes we just forget to use it.

I love being the connective tissue, pulling out the tip, the contact, the question that opens a door. I go to Cannes to find collaborators for stories worth telling, theirs, mine, ours. People who believe that great work is born from trust, generosity and joy on set, not in spite of them.

I believe in stories that disturb gently and stay forever. In all women, and women who speak up about the things they cannot stop thinking about. In the particular magic of finding your people at exactly the right moment.

“Life is very short. We might as well dream at full volume.” - Clara Cantos