Director Carla Simón receives the National Cinematography Award and vindicates independent cinema

Iceta affirms that "censorship and culture do not rhyme" and highlights the "power that women's gaze is acquiring today" in cinema

SAN SEBASTIÁN, September 23 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The filmmaker Carla Simón received this Saturday, from the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, the National Cinematography Award, defending independent cinema, "its creative freedom and its artistic evolution", which "when it connects with the viewer is capable of making it grow" and has called for its defense.

The award was presented within the framework of the 71st edition of the San Sebastián Festival, in an event in which institutional representatives such as the first vice president and minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, were also present; the Minister of Culture and Linguistic Policy and spokesman for the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria; the mayor of San Sebastián, Eneko Goia, among others, as well as personalities from the film industry such as the president of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez Leite, or the director of the San Sebastián Festival, José Luis Rebordinos.

The excited film directors Meritxell Colell and Elena López Riera were in charge of introducing the winner, who in her speech expressed her gratitude to her colleagues, work team and family for "letting me cut stories about them, but also for accepting that for a long time now my passion has been making films.

"Dedicating so much time to a passion like cinema is wonderful, but it also has a very high personal cost, because we are often absent from those we love," said the Catalan filmmaker, who defended that "making films is an act of communication with the other".

Along these lines, he stated that cinema "has obsessed me since I discovered it." "Now that I am a mother and my time to create has become very precious. I have realized that I would not be as happy without making films," Simón explained, while pointing out that, for her, "making films is a a way of uniting, a way of being in the world" and has highlighted the importance of "enjoying every moment of the creative process".

Carla Simón also wanted to show her gratitude to all the directors who "have paved the way" for us to "formalize our right to tell stories" and has cited filmmakers such as Agnès Varda, Josefina Molina, Pilar Miró, Iciar Bollaín and Isabel Coixet, among other.

Thus, she has been convinced that "we are facing a timid democratization of our profession" and in the current "times of change", which are "fragile", she has considered that "now, more than ever, we must continue protecting cinema independent". "A cinema with soul, which is the result of a search, a risk, some challenges, some doubts, a game that does not come from within because it expresses something honest, something that has to do with our existence."

"A cinema that, in addition to exporting our cultures and our languages ​​abroad, creates certain jobs and generates wealth or attractions, justifying without a doubt the aid it receives. That is why it seems important to me to remember the importance of protecting independent cinema, its creative freedom and its artistic evolution," he stated.

For his part, Miquel Iceta, who began his speech in Catalan, making an ironic allusion to the intervention of the deputy Borja Sémper in the Congress in Basque "with the translation followed", has highlighted the career of Carla Simón, who in 2022 achieved the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin Festival for 'Alcarrás'.

"With only two feature films you have marked the history of recent cinema in our country: a brief career but already indisputable in its solidity and personality, also recognized for national and international success," he stated, while highlighting that "the magic of Carla's cinema is that she is showing us what is happening, that is her merit.

Along these lines, he has influenced the international recognition of his films and has asked himself: "is it true that they have to tell us from outside the good things we do in our country?", and has hoped that "the day will come when We do not need to have the reference, the stimulus of an international award to give the value of the things we do.

Iceta has also highlighted the importance of the "power that women's gaze is acquiring today" and has maintained that cinema, cinema "is being enriched by a contribution that perhaps has had to overcome too many obstacles to be noticed, to be valued in its fair measure".

In this way, he highlighted that women "have been slow to arrive, but they have arrived stomping", while recalling that there are 14 women awarded the Cinematography Award, in their 40 years of life, compared to 38 men. "There is still a lot to do, what we are trying to do is remove obstacles, is to allow it to be seen, because for too long it was not seen because it did not allow itself to be seen," she stated.

After highlighting that filmmakers like Carla Simón "have incorporated their own, unique perspective, which has enriched and made what our cinema is universal", she insisted on the value of women and made reference to the Spanish Women's Soccer Team " who won again in Sweden in the double way that we are accustomed to, winning on the field of play and winning above all in society and the world as a whole, and there they once again taught us a lesson that makes us happy.

The Minister of Culture has also alluded, without quoting her directly, to the controversy that arose around the screening of the film 'Don't Call Me Ternera', and has maintained that "it may be that, because ignorance knows no limits, someone believes that "Censorship and culture rhyme, and no, censorship and culture do not rhyme." "Where there is censorship, there is no culture," he added.

The jury of the 2023 National Cinematography Award, meeting on June 1, unanimously awarded the award to Carla Simón "for positioning Spanish cinema on the international scene by winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, one of the most prestigious in the world".

Furthermore, the jury highlighted that the Catalan director also represents "a new generation of filmmakers who have managed in a very short time to develop quality cinema committed to their own medium and society, reaching a global audience."