The Spanish audiovisual industry has put the spotlight on the province throughout the ten days of the 21st Almería International Film Festival, FICAL, becoming the capital of cinematography during the Closing Gala. If FICAL has brought together more than 500 professionals from all over the country, many of them have paraded tonight on the blue carpet, with María de Medeiros, actress, director, singer, and as of today, the 29th Star of the Walk of Fame and ‘Almería, Land of Cinema’ award, shining with her own light.
Among other stars attending the Almeria festival were Toni Acosta, Kira Miró, Mina El Hammani, Patricia Montero, Salva Reina, Nathalie Poza, Ana Álvarez, Fernando Tejero, Adriana Ugarte, Petra Martínez, Daniel Guzmán, Martín Cuervo, Carol Rovira and Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, the wonderful presenter of the gala.
With the President of the Provincial Council, Javier A. García, as host, accompanied by the Mayoress of Almería, María del Mar Vázquez, and the Regional Minister of Agriculture, Carmen Crespo, among other authorities, a ceremony was held, with a spectacular staging, very exciting in the presentation of awards, and where glamour and love for cinema could be breathed on all four sides in the Auditorio Maestro Padilla. A gala where the TV Series Honour Award was presented to ‘Amar es para siempre’, which has been on screen for more than 2,500 episodes. Viewers were able to follow the ceremony live on Interalmería TV, Andalucía TV and the Canal Sur website, and later on they will be able to do so on TVE.
And like any festival’s Closing Gala, the nerves of the candidates were transformed into an explosion of joy among the winners, and the big winners in the National Series Competition were Movistar Plus +’s ‘Apagón’ with four awards, and ‘Apagón’ by Movistar Plus +, with four awards, and ‘No me gusta conducir’, by TNT, with three, while in the ‘Ópera Prima’ competition, the first prize went to ‘Suro’, the story of a couple who move to live in the countryside, with the cork trade all around them. In addition, the drama ‘5 lobitos’ was the feature film with the most awards, with three. Elena López Riera, for ‘El agua’, was recognised as the best director.
María de Medeiros and ‘Amar es para siempre’.
Women have shone especially brightly at the 21st edition of FICAL. Both on screen and on stage. Thus, after Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Elena Anaya, and last night Loles León, today the tribute was paid to the Portuguese María de Medeiros, a benchmark in international cinema and the brand new ‘Almería, Tierra de Cine’ award winner. With one hundred and twenty credits between cinema and television, she has filmed under the orders of Quentin Tarantino in the iconic «Pulp Fiction». With Manoel de Oliveira in «A Divina comedia» or in «Huevos de Oro» by our own Bigas Luna. In the province she filmed ‘Honoluly Baby’ in 2001. The actress confessed that «before filming, I knew Almería from having spent some time there as a holidaymaker. It is a wonderful province for filming».
The FICAL award is in addition to the numerous prizes she has received, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actress in Venice for «Tres hermanos» by Teresa Villaverde, a Portuguese Golden Globe for «Adam and Eve» by Joaquim Leitao, and the Gérard-Philipe Volpi Cup for Best Actres. Maria de Medeiros is also a committed woman, which is why she was named «Artist for Peace» in 2009.
The award-winner was visibly moved and grateful, «I am very moved by the recognition and by so much affection. I have always felt this bond with Almería, because I am amazed by the city and the province, and it is an immense honour to consolidate this mark today». About her presence in Almería during the filming of ‘Honululu Baby’, the actress said that «being here with an Italian film confirms that Almería is a land of absolutely international cinema, I feel like it was yesterday, but 21 years have passed».
Another magical moment was the presentation of the TV Series Honour Award to ‘Amar es para siempre’, for which a large representation of the team travelled to FICAL, including actors and actresses José Antonio Sayagués, Manu Baqueiro, Ángeles Martín, Sebas Fernández, Carlos Serrano and Daniel Cabrera.
Many actors, actresses, technicians, scriptwriters, directors and directors have been and continue to be incorporated into this series. It is an inexhaustible source of talent that one day was born from the hand of Diagonal TV, its producer, and which is now so successfully broadcast by Antena 3. The public has warmly applauded this television production, which has received the TV Series Honour Award.
Quality of the first works
FICAL began with short films and, as stated in its slogan ‘Cortos. Feature Films. Series. Films. Almería’, it has been adding sections. Twelve films have been selected for the national ‘Opera Prima’ competition, and all professionals agree that the quality has been of the highest in a spectacular year for Spanish cinema.
The jury has chosen as the winner ‘Suro’ by Mikel Gurrea, a raw story with several dramatic layers, which focuses its narrative on Helena and Iván, a couple who set out to build a new life in the cork oak forests, but their different views on how to live on the land emerge, challenging their future as a couple, including in this relationship the phenomenon of immigration.
The second prize ‘Opera Prima’ went to ‘Cinco lobitos’, an intense and realistic story about motherhood, directed by Alaúda Ruiz de Azúa. Cinco Lobitos’ offers viewers a story that is easy for anyone to identify with, as it revolves around how motherhood changes the lives and rhythms, not only of the parents, but also of the previous generation, the grandparents, establishing new roles, new functions, new roles and, above all, another way of feeling and facing life, with new understandings and misunderstandings in the face of new circumstances.
The Cosentino Award for Best Director went to Elena López Riera for ‘El Agua’, a mystical tale about femininity. In her first feature film, Elena López offers a very authorial vision, where the director focuses on a village in the south of Alicante, almost on the border with Murcia, where legend has it that some women are born with water inside them. The river Segura wants to take her away, and you can’t refuse because the river gets angry and sweeps everything away. Ana (the main character) refuses, she wants to rebel and thinks that she is too young to comply with this legend, even though she is marked.
The award for Best Screenplay went to Alaúda Ruiz de Azúa, for ‘Cinco Lobitos’, with a brilliant text.
As for the actors, the Torrecárdenas Award for Best Actress went to Laia Costa for ‘Cinco Lobitos’ and the Eduardo Fajardo Award for Best Actor went to Pol López, for ‘Suro’.
FICAL always brings luck to the award winners, who then continue their days of wine and roses during the Goya Gala. So many successes are predicted for the award-winners and also for the rest of the Opera Prima films that have been screened to great public acclaim at the festival.
National Series Competition
Cinema would not be the same without music, and the FICAL Closing Gala also had its moments to recover from so many emotions, with performances by Juls Cattaneo and La Cheffe. Brilliant.
After the short films and opera primas, the series have been incorporated into FICAL, with the best miniseries or original series being recognised tonight. Apagón. Season 1′ by Movistar Plus + was the big winner with four statuettes, including Best Miniseries or Original Series. Inspired by Podium Podcast’s hit original science fiction podcast ‘The Big Blackout’, the starting point is a storm that hits the Earth causing a widespread blackout. From there emanate five stories of characters struggling to adapt to a world without electricity.
This series also won the award for female interpretation, Patricia López Arnáiz; male interpretation, Luis Callejo; and Mini Series showrunner, Fran Araujo. The most popular series was Atresmedia’s ‘Los herederos de la tierra’.
The award for Most Popular Series went to ‘Los herederos de la tierra’, by Atresmedia. Based on the novel by Ildefonso Falcones, it takes the audience to late medieval Barcelona in 1387 and focuses on the adventures of Hugo Llor, a boy who spends most of his time on the streets.
In addition, the series have been recognised according to genre, comedy or drama. In the case of comedy, the Best Series was ‘No me gusta conducir. Season 1’, by TNT, about the adventures and misadventures of a forty-something driving school teacher. This series also won the award for Best Male Comedy, which went to Juan Diego Botto, and Showrunner, to Borja Cobeaga. In the female acting category, the winner was the wonderful Petra Martínez, for her mischievous character in Mediaset’s ‘La que se avecina’.
In drama series, the best series is ‘La Unidad. Season 2’, from Movistar Plus +. The best female performance went to Adriana Ugarte, for ‘Heridas. T1’, by Atresmedia, and the award for best actor in a drama series went to Luis Zahera, for ‘Entrevías, T1’, by Alea Media and Mediaset. The best showrunner is Dani de la Torre and Alberto Marini, for ‘La unidad. T2’, by Movistar Plus +.
With the screening of the ‘Opera Prima’ and award-winning shorts, tomorrow, Sunday, from 17.00 hours at the Apolo Theatre, the spotlight of the 21st edition of FICAL will be turned off, but cinema continues to shine in a province committed to the seventh art. As Cayetana Guillén Cuervo pointed out, «this year the European Film Academy has awarded the title of «Treasure of European Film Culture to the Tabernas Desert», «La Unidad», «Los Farad» and «Entre Tierras» have recently been filmed, and the director Víctor Erice has just shot his eagerly awaited next film «Cerrar los ojos» in Almería. Well-deserved applause». And just as importantly, it is generating work for professionals in the province, as TESA members acknowledged at a round table.
So, once again in Almería, the lights are shining brighter than ever, announcing that ‘Almería is a land of cinema’. And when you look at Almería, you see cinema.