SPANISH FILMMAKER ISAKI LACUESTA, WINNER OF TWO GOLDEN SHELLS AND A GOYA AWARD, RECEIVED THE 52ND HUESCA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL’S CIUDAD DE HUESCA CARLOS SAURA AWARD.
ERIC ROUX RECEIVED THE PEPE ESCRICHE AWARD FROM THE FESTIVAL ON BEHALF OF THE CLERMONT-FERRAND FESTIVAL.
Spanish filmmaker Isaki Lacuesta, winner of two Golden Shells and a Goya Award among many other accolades, proudly received the Ciudad de Huesca Carlos Saura Award at a very French gala held at the Teatro Olimpia, hosted by actors Manuel López-Vigo and Minerva Arbués. “Carlos Saura has always been a reference for me, for many people of my generation, so it is a great honor,” said the director of films such as A Year, a Night, Entre dos Aguas, Next Skin shot in Huesca locations, and Saturn Return, which can be seen on June 15th as part of the festival’s closing ceremony.
Isaki Lacuesta received the award from Carlos Saura’s widow, filmmaker Lali Ramón; his daughter Anna Saura; and the mayor of Huesca, Lorena Orduna. “I met Carlos Saura once, at the Malaga Film Festival, I was with Raúl Arévalo and we both approached the maestro to try to thank him for his cinema, and he wouldn’t let us, he interrupted us, he said thank you, but he wouldn’t let us tell him how important his filmography was to us and why it was important.”
The award-winning director said that “Carlos Saura was important because he never stopped exploring, he always reached absolute levels of excellence, originality and creativity, and when he could have continued down that path, what he did was invent a new filmography, change his style, change his geography; when it seemed that he was a filmmaker dedicated to working on the roots of the country and on the politics and aftermath of the Civil War, he suddenly discovers new layers and becomes a traveling filmmaker and goes through Portugal, Argentina, Mexico.”
Huesca is a city that represents great personal ties to the now-awarded filmmaker. “My father lived here as a boy and it was like a scene from Saura, when I was a child I would walk down this street asking where his school was and today we have discovered that he went to the same school as Saura, today we have made a strange connection there, and maybe now I can say like Saura that Huesca is the center of the universe.”
Isaki Lacuesta, one of the most promising careers in contemporary cinema, has also highlighted the importance of short films, the raison d’être of the Huesca International Film Festival, and encouraged those competing in the festival to continue with this format. “Perhaps the only thing I detest is those who see this format as a platform to then make feature films. I remember Borges, one of the greatest writers in history, who only wrote short stories, and never saw them as a platform to make novels but as an end in itself; I believe that the short film is a work of art, that has value in itself, so long live the short film, something that Saura also taught us, that over the years he went back to it.”
The Teatro Olimpia in Huesca also hosted, at the opening gala under the direction of Elena Gómez, the presentation of the Pepe Escriche Award for the Clermont-Ferrand Festival. Eric Roux, president of the association “Sauve Qui Peut le Court Métrage” – the entity in charge of organizing the French event – received the award on behalf of the people who work there, the spectators and the volunteers who bring it to life in each edition.
“Receiving this award is extremely moving, but in addition, the Huesca Festival and ours share essential and timeless values: we want to democratize culture and make art accessible to everyone; for us, Huesca is a model of inclusion and diversity, it has managed to open up to the whole world, bringing a universal message, and it is the same thing that we want to do from Clermont-Ferrand,” he stressed.
The director of the Huesca International Film Festival, Estela Rasal, welcomed this new edition of the event and highlighted the importance of culture as a generator of economic impact, an export driver, a brand image, and a true industry in the business and social environment, but beyond that, “it helps us to evolve as human beings, it confronts us and unites us, it is everywhere, in the street, in our homes and it is not a privilege, it is a right.”
The opening day culminated with the national premiere of Alumbramiento, a film directed by Pau Teixidor. An initiative organized in collaboration with Adicine and for which two of the film’s actresses were present: Sofía Milán, the leading actress, and Alba Munuera, the supporting actress. It is also a tribute to the Aragonese Laura Gómez-Lacueva in one of her last works before her tragic death.