THE AWARD OF THE 47TH EDITION OF THE HUESCA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IS A TRIBUTE TO HER WHOLE CAREER
THE INTERPRETE DEFINES HER FILMOGRAPHY AS “A CONTINUING SESSION WHERE ALL THE MOVIES ARE LINKED”
The Huesca International Film Festival paid tribute to the actress Marisa Paredes with the presentation of the Luis Buñuel Prize in its 47th edition. A tribute to her entire cinematographic career spanning over six decades and which she defined as “a continuous session where all the films are linked”. She took part in more than a hundred Spanish and international productions making her one of the most relevant faces of the seventh art.
The award highlights her contribution as an actress, in such important films as The Flower of My Secret, The Devil’s Backbone and Life is beautiful, to name a few. For her, this tribute has a double meaning, on the one hand it is a prize “that writes your name within a list of world cinema reference” and on the other hand, it is “an enormous responsibility”.
Her beginnings were difficult; Coming from a humble family, she had to fight against the stereotypes of women’s life of the 50s. Still, she made her way to the top thanks to “a dedication in body and soul to the profession,” as the actress herself explained. Paredes told the spectators how she could maintain her career all these years with “the resistance to be able to maintain that dream going on”, highlighting her “ability to strive, to overcome the toughest moments, when they do not call you, that creates insecurity”; but the final balance is clear, they are “many years of work always done with a lot of love”.
She has played in cinema, theater and television, a combination which she defines as a continuous training, “a learning that never ends” and where some referents such as Luis Pascual, José Carlos Plaza in the theater world stand out. Also, she named Fernando Fernán Gómez, from whom she learned to think of her profession as an actress “from honesty, honesty and truth”.
In 1991 she worked in High Heels, an important turning point in her professional life that opened the doors to Europe and Latin America, with many proposals from directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Arturo Ripstein and Manoel de Oliveira. A journey that makes her understand how the cinema language crosses borders, in her opinion ” the more real, the better to identify oneself with; although it may be something very local, however local it may be, it can be a universal message.”
Marisa Paredes has also talked about the role of women in cinema and how it has changed since the 70s. In those times, the interpretation of women had more to do with what happened to men than with her interpretation itself; She believes that “the women’s part within the plot was more superficial”. “Throughout time, women have been claiming their role in society and the cinema is the reflection of what was happening in society.” She has also highlighted the importance of women entrepreneurs in the cinema, which has allowed “to look at women as equals”, something that has not happened in other sectors. “It is a long way, there are still many things to achieve but we are on the track.”
The Huesca International Film Festival is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Government of Aragon, Huesca Provincial Deputation, the City of Huesca, the Anselmo Pié Foundation and Obra Social “la Caixa”, with the collaboration of TUHUESCA.
