Perhaps it is this wise handling of his wild side that has brought him success. actress Milena Smith, and it is also what has made her part of the Panthère de Cartier Community as an ambassador for Spain and Portugal. The same could be said of the dancer and choreographer Blanca Li, also with a bold personality and character, brand new addition to the Maison's imaginary.
As a Cartier emblem, the Panthère represents an object of desire and fascination, exuding power, freedom and challenge. Elegant and untamed, it is charged with a magnetism that these two artists in turn perfectly embody.
Blanca Li, perfect incarnation of the Panthère.
"Milena Smit and Blanca Li are two unique women who perfectly represent the values of the Panthère de Cartier collection. Both are women of character with a very marked personality who have managed to develop professional careers, in its different fields, marked by successes and recognitions always with a free, independent and limitless spirit”, comments Nicolas Helly, General Director of Cartier Iberia.
With a short but intense race, Milena Smit became known in 2020 with the film you will not kill, by director David Victori, for which she was nominated for a Goya for Best New Actress. A year later, Pedro Almodóvar signed her for her Parallel Mothers, and the Film Academy nominated her for Best Supporting Actress.
The actress Milena Smit, pure character.
On her interpretation, Pedro Almodóvar assured that she "has an emotional intelligence and sincerity that are not learned in any school." At the 2022 Malaga Spanish Film Festival, Milena premiered her latest film project, Libélulas, director Luc Knowles' debut feature, for which she was awarded the Biznaga de Plata for Best Female Performance. Currently, Milena is immersed in the filming of a series for Netflix based on Javier Castillo's best-seller La Chica de la Nieve, in which she is the protagonist with actor José Coronado.
"For me, being an ambassador for Cartier is a source of pride since the Maison represents empowerment through the singular and each one of the pieces of the Panthère de Cartier collection makes me feel unique and confident every time I step on a red carpet," Smith says.
The dancer and choreographer Blanca Li.
ALWAYS ON THE MOVE
Multifaceted and independent, this is how Blanca Li defines herself, a woman who is choreographer, dancer, stage director for ballets, musicals and operas, filmmaker and audiovisual projects, actress and multimedia artist.
When she was only 17 years old, she traveled to New York to study for five years with Martha Graham, one of the best dancers and choreographers of her generation. In 1993 she settled in Paris and created her own contemporary dance company, with which she has performed in more than fifteen hundred theaters. around the world for 30 years, with different shows.
Her artistic signature is unique and very personal, and combines miscegenation, humor, sense of aesthetics and detail, technological innovation... Currently, Li represents Blanca Li's Le Bal de Paris in different cities in Europe, with whom she she has won the Lion at the last edition of the Venice International Film Festival to the best virtual reality experience.
Cartier Boutique at the Canalejas Gallery in Madrid.
Since 2019, Blanca is also the artistic director of the Teatros del Canal de Madrid. Throughout her career, she has created original works for the Paris Opera Ballet, the Sodre National Ballet of Uruguay or the National Ballet of Spain, among others. She has also collaborated with a multitude of relevant artists from the world of opera, cinema, fashion and music and with the Maison Cartier, to which she has a close friendship.
Among her multiple recognitions and decorations, it is worth mentioning that of C Hevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, from the Ministry of Culture of France, Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, awarded by the President of France and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in Spain, in 2009. She is the first female choreographer who was elected to be a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts. in 2019.
“I am very proud to represent the Panthère de Cartier collection because its aesthetic is both organic and bold like many of the ideas I follow in my creations. Through this wild cat, whose movements are a choreography in themselves, there are many bridges between the freedom of my work as a dance artist and Panthère jewelry that suggests movement and inspires me naturally”, says Blanca Li.