Stink Berlin Marks Camila Zapiola’s Signing with Hyundai Campaign
Renowned for her gift with actors, Camila Zapiola draws out performances that feel layered and authentic, while her keen eye for cinematography, framing, and tone makes her storytelling immediately engaging. Her work is also laced with smart, playful comedy - surprising, yet always revealing something deeply human in the small moments between people.
Her first project with Stink Berlin, created with INNOCEAN Berlin is a five-film campaign for Hyundai, showcasing the brand’s five new electric models through moments of human tenderness and humour, running across the whole of Europe.
Camila’s career is defined by her ability to capture relational rhythm - the pauses, glances, and quiet exchanges. The Hyundai films bring this to life, turning the car into a stage for everyday life: a private sanctuary, a site of unspoken tension, or a space for connection and release.
“My mom is a psychologist, and in a way, cars remind me of her office. They’re intimate, closed, safe spaces that offer the containment you need to just be yourself… or, at times, the discomfort of having to interact with someone you don’t know that well or don’t want to confront," said director Camila Zapiola. "As a mother, I find in my car a place of rest, of freedom, of connection with myself. The car becomes a character.”
This philosophy drives Hyundai’s campaign, each exploring a distinct emotional perspective. What unites these films is how scenes build quietly through light, landscape, and gesture until they unfold into something richer. “These aren’t just scenes in a car,” Camila said. “They’re road trips with emotional movement.”
Casting is central to her process. Camila is emphatic about authenticity and inclusivity, ensuring Hyundai’s audience is reflected on screen, “Without the right casting, we won’t find the humanity these scripts demand. Any hint of cliché kills the charm.”
The Hyundai electric cars IONIQ 9, IONIQ 6, IONIQ 5, KONA and INSTER, whose batteries enable these long journeys, are woven into these narratives, never reduced to product demonstrations but celebrated as integral to the storytelling. “The story itself reveals how the tech works,” Camila explained. “Dialogue and features work hand in hand. The car isn’t just shown off, it becomes the summation of the idea.”
Camila brings equal rigor to the visual craft. Her Hyundai films were designed with a focus on cinematic physicality: the way a car seat holds you, how a vehicle responds before you even finish thinking. To capture this, she worked with top cinematographer Oliver Millar. “I wanted a DoP who can capture both the intimacy of a glance and the majesty of a moving vehicle,” she says. U-Crane chases, expressive tracking shots, low angles, and naturalistic lighting combine to create an aesthetic that is tactile, elegant, and still emotionally resonant.
“Music is half the film for us. From the start, we aimed for a cinematic score - not ad music - one that elevates emotion and moves with the performances. To achieve this, we collaborated with PAPAMUSIC, a Latin American studio specializing in cinematic scoring,” Camila said.
For Camila, the Hyundai project is both professional and deeply personal. “This campaign has that all-too-rare quality of being funny, smart, and distinctive,” she says. “It’s one of those rare ideas that has it all – the concept, the casting, the setting, the tone. It will live or die in the smallest of details, and I relish that kind of challenge.”
Her signing with Stink Berlin marks a natural next step as expanding part of the Stink Global relationship.
See Camila’s reel here.
