“Cinema has given me everything,” said an excited Pedro Almodovar upon receiving this Thursday the Donostia Award given to him by the San Sebastián Festival, for a career that has led him to be the most internationally recognized Spanish filmmaker.
“For me, cinema is a blessing or a curse, I don’t imagine any other type of life than writing and directing without pause,” said the 75-year-old director from La Mancha, who said he had felt “so many emotions” since his arrival in the city. Basque, in northern Spain, that “it is almost impossible to really enjoy it without breaking down.”
“I believe that this job is the best in the world and that it was worth it for me to dedicate myself to it without limitations,” said Almodóvar, who thanked the President of the Government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, for his presence at the ceremony “supporting culture.” ”.
“Cinema has given me everything, much more than I could imagine,” said Almodóvar, who went on to name all the “enormously talented” performers who have worked with him, such as Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas. , Cecilia Roth and Rossy de Palma.
“A vocation”
The award was presented to him by British actress Tilda Swinton, who recognized Almodóvar’s “unparalleled contribution to world culture.”
The Donostia was one of the few awards that Almodóvar was missing, who has two Oscars, five Goya awards, five Baftas, four Césars and the Spanish National Cinematography Award, among many others.
Earlier this month he won the Golden Lion at Venice with his first English-language feature film “The Room Next Door,” starring Swinton and Julianne Moore.
Before collecting the trophy, Almodóvar took stock of his career in a press conference.
“I never thought about my talent. What I thought was that I have a vocation (…) and if I don’t manage to make films, I will be the most unfortunate person in the universe,” said the director, who recalled having attended the San Sebastián Festival for the first time 44 years ago, with his first film “Pepi, Luci, Bom and other girls of the bunch”.
“I have had a career of 23 films, some better than others, and all of them are mine and belong to me (…) and that is a privilege,” said Almodóvar.
Leigh’s reunion with Jean-Baptiste
In the race for the Golden Shell, the festival’s highest award, entered this Thursday “Hard Truths”, by British director Mike Leigh, who returns to work with actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste after “Secretos y Lies”, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1996.
Leigh, known for portraying the troubles of the ordinary life of the British working classes, focuses on Pansy (Jean-Baptiste), a woman who lives angry and fighting with her dentist, her doctor or a furniture saleswoman, but without being able to communicate. with his family.
Pansy is “a symbol of the difficult times we are living in. In fact, if I’m honest, I think that Pansy’s condition (…), Pansy’s problems, are universal,” Leigh explained at a press conference.
“She needs help, that’s totally true, what we don’t do in the film is give those answers,” said British filmmaker Leigh, who stated that his film “is not a documentary about mental health.”
For Jean-Baptiste, who was nominated for an Oscar for “Secrets and Lies,” working with Leigh again “was a gift.”
“Hard Truths” competes with fifteen other films for the top prize in San Sebastián, among them “Los Flashes”, by the Spanish director Pilar Palomero; “Conclave”, by the German Edward Berger; “On Falling”, by the Portuguese Laura Carreira and “Le dernier souffle”, by the Greek-French Costa-Gavras.
In the Horizontes section, which awards the award for the best Latin American film, “Maybe what they say about us is true,” by Chileans Camilo Becerra and Sofía Paloma Gómez, and “The Skin in Spring,” by the Colombian Yennifer Uribe Alzate.
The festival closes on Saturday with the awards ceremony.
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2024-09-29 14:11:28