Spanish actress Maggie Civantos opens up about spirituality, creativity and her directorial debut, channelling her own retreat experience into a bright horror film.

There is something magnetic about <a href="https://www.instagram.com/maggiecivantos/?hl=en">Maggie Civantos</a> that goes beyond the recognisability of her face. She is not simply the award-winning actress international audiences have come to admire in some of the most significant Spanish series of recent years, nor is she merely stepping into a new role as a director, making her debut behind the camera. She is a presence that moves along two parallel tracks: that of the stage and that of inner life. Civantos lives between artistic practice, psychology and collective experience, finding in art a possible source of healing and illumination. L’OFFICIEL IBIZA met her to talk about her projects, spirituality and her directorial debut.
L’OFFICIEL IBIZA: Actress, spiritual coach, director. How do those three roles come together in you?
MAGGIE CIVANTOS: I am an actress; I have worked as an actress for almost my entire life. But a few years ago, I began to connect theatre with therapy and spiritual coaching. I started organising gatherings and exploring that world. I opened a retreat in Málaga and, after years of work that brought me great joy, I decided to sell it. Before closing that chapter, though, I felt I wanted to do something more, so I decided to make a film there. It is a horror film based on my experience with spirituality, and I think the subject is very timely because spirituality is almost a trend today and, if it is not approached with care, it can become a slippery terrain. My idea is that creativity can truly help to heal. Spirituality means listening to yourself, connecting with your essence, with something greater. It is not a religion. It is energy, it is magic. I cannot define it exactly, and that not knowing is beautiful.
LOIB: How did you approach your first directing experience? And how difficult is it to take on a new challenge without fearing other people’s judgement?
MC: I had never directed before, even though I had wanted to for a long time, and in the beginning I was not supposed to be the one doing it. Suddenly the director left the project, and I had 24 hours to decide. I meditated, listened to my heart and understood that I wanted to do it. For me it was a beautiful inner process: stopping saying ‘I can’t’, stopping being afraid of failing. When you are connected to your essence, you start believing in yourself. And creativity can be a tool for finding yourself, for trusting your intuition and for encountering that magical something that exists in all of us. Not just in artists.
LOIB: Pain is often seen as a source of inspiration for creativity. What do you think?
MC: Creativity should also be able to come from happiness. Of course, we have a dark side and that has to be embraced too, but it cannot be the only way of expressing oneself. Spirituality can help in that sense: when you are present, in silence, in your essence, you begin to ask yourself questions. Today it is dangerous not to ask them. With AI and social media, we no longer know what is real. More than ever, we need to be connected to our truth. Creativity trains you for that: to unmask yourself.
LOIB: What are your simple tools for reconnecting with the self through creativity?
MC: After meditation, writing. Putting everything on paper and listening to the subconscious. Active meditation is also very powerful. And then there is nature, a hugely powerful tool available to everyone. Music is fundamental for me too. Dancing, moving the body, awakening the chakras with music. In short, I would say: listen to your intuition and suspend judgement. Intuition is the essence of creativity. You cannot communicate heart to heart if you are judging yourself or others. It is all right to be vulnerable.
LOIB: Let’s talk about the film: what can you tell us?
MC: It is in post-production, and we are working on sound and colour. If all goes well, we will start taking it to festivals this year. The character I play is the retreat leader... a little mad, and just to avoid any misunderstanding, I should say that I am not like that in real life! But in fiction you also have to push to extremes and be able to laugh at yourself. The idea came from a concern of mine: I have seen vulnerable people take part in very expensive retreats with unrealistic promises. That dynamic frightened me. I shared that concern with the screenwriter, and we thought it could become a bright horror, a genre I discovered and find fascinating for its luminosity and intense colours, despite the classic iconography of the genre.

“After meditation, writing. And then there’s nature and music, dancing, moving the body, awakening the chakras with music. Listen to your intuition and suspend judgement. Intuition is the essence of creativity. You cannot communicate heart to heart if you are judging yourself or others. It is all right to be vulnerable.”

LOIB: You have closed your space in Málaga. Is that an ending or a beginning?
MC: Both. For almost six years I organised retreats there. At first, I did not feel capable of leading them, so I invited others. Then I understood that I had to and could do it myself. Two years ago, I started leading workshops and it was incredible. I realised that I do not teach anything: I encourage people to discover themselves. Now, however, I feel it is time to fly. I will take my workshop to other cities: Miami, Rome and beyond. It is called Movement, Expression, Presence. Movement to awaken the body and the subconscious, expression to communicate what is happening inside, presence to make it all possible. It is a workshop, not a class. Each person is their own teacher. We only have to remember that.

Maggie, Unmasked

Tags

Related Articles

Ibiza

GLOW: Golden Hour at the W Hotel

Ibiza

Fashion with a Mission

Ibiza

High Octane

Recommended posts for you

Ibiza

Maggie, Unmasked

Ibiza

The Art of Being Alive

Ibiza

A Legacy Reimagined

Ibiza

Dreams in Colour

Ibiza

Fashion Without Limits

Ibiza

Five Years, Now Fixed

Ibiza

El Silencio: Front Row for the Eclipse

Ibiza

Waves of Feeling