Born in Spain, Pilar graduated in Hispanic Philology from the University of Zaragoza in 2003. In 2006, Pilar graduated in Cinematography at the Madrid Film School (ECAM).
In 2009, she directed Niño Balcón, a short film that enjoyed an extensive trajectory in national and international festivals, winning more than 25 awards and more than 150 selections.
During this period, Pilar combined her film projects working as a screenwriter for television and as co-screenwriter of the feature film Chaco, by the Bolivian director Diego Mondaca, premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2020.
Her professional career took a 180o turn when in 2013 she was one of the 16 filmmakers selected by the Hungarian film director Béla Tarr to participate in his collaborative project film.factory in Sarajevo. At the film.factory she had the opportunity to work and learn filmmaking from some of the most important critics, directors and theorists of the contemporary film industry.
During this period, she has written and directed the short films Noć (2015) and La Noche de todas las cosas (2016), which was part of the official section of the Busan International Short Film Festival. She also directed the medium- length film ‘Zimsko Sunce’ (2017), which received a special mention from the BiH films jury at the last Sarajevo Film Festival and was premiered in Spain at the Alcalá de Henares Film Festival 2017 and at the Festival Márgenes, and the creative documentary Horta (2017), which had its world premiere at the prestigious Doclisboa’17 and was selected in DocumentaMadrid, D’A Festival de Cine de Autor, Festival de Cine de Málaga and in the Frames of Representation at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, among others.
In 2020 Pilar premiered her first feature film Las Niñas at the Malaga Film Festival, with which she won the Golden Biznaga for Best Film. After its screening at the festival, it reached commercial cinemas to great public and critical acclaim.
Since its premiere, it has not ceased to accumulate awards and recognitions, including 4 Goya Awards (Best Film, Best New Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography), making history by becoming the first director to win the awards for Best New Director and Best Film for the same project.
In 2022 she premiered La Maternal in the official section of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, for which its leading actress, Carla Quílez, won the Silver Shell for Best performance. The film has recently been released to great critical acclaim and has been nominated for the Feroz Awards for Best Director (Pilar Palomero), Best, Best Leading Actress (Carla Quílez) and Best Supporting Actress (Ángela Cervantes) and also de Goya awards for Best Director, Best Films and Best Supporting Actress. At the Gaudí Awards, actress Ángeles Cervantes won the award for Best Supporting Actress.
That same year, she directed the series Venga Juan, and in 2023, she co-wrote the feature film Unicors with Álex Lora and Mariana Mínguez, which premiered at the Málaga Film Festival.
In 2024, she will premiere her third feature film, Destellos, at the San Sebastián Film Festival, competing in the official selection. She is also preparing her next feature film, Juana.