THE AUTHOR OF THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, THE SOUTH, THE QUINCE TREE SUN, AND CLOSE YOUR EYES CAME TO THE ARAGONESE CAPITAL TO RECEIVE THE AWARD THAT HONORS HIS ENTIRE CAREER.
IN HIS WORDS OF THANKS, HE HIGHLIGHTED THE RELEVANCE OF SHORT FILMS, POINTING OUT THAT THIS FESTIVAL HAS THEM AS A HALLMARK
Víctor Erice recibió el homenaje del 52 Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca
Spanish director and screenwriter Víctor Erice, National Film Award winner and Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts, received the Luis Buñuel Award at the 52nd edition of the Huesca International Film Festival. “I am very honored to receive this award named after one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Luis Buñuel, a universal Aragonese,” he said at the Olimpia Theater in the Huesca capital, amidst thunderous applause.
The award-winning director, who has left his mark on generations of filmmakers, admitted to a personal epic surrounding him mainly spread by the press and publicity, but he wanted to underline what Luis Buñuel means, “above all for me, as a moral example, since he always said he couldn’t give advice on the technique of making films but recommended to any filmmaker embarking on the tough task of filmmaking never to betray their moral ideas; in this, Buñuel, his entire work, is a moral example, and I want to remember him in these times when separating morals from the profession of filmmaking is fashionable.”
After receiving the Luis Buñuel Award from the festival’s director, Elena Rasal, and the president of the festival’s foundation, Manuel Avellanas, the author of The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), a key title in the so-called “New Spanish Wave,” The South, and The Quince Tree Sun presented his latest film Close Your Eyes.. “In the manner of an epic legend, it has been insisted that this is the first film I have made in 30 years, but it is not, because I give the same or similar importance to short films, installations, videos, that I have made throughout this time, that is to say that according to the audiovisual count, it seems that only feature films or those with significant figures behind them count, but for me, in my activity as a filmmaker, I have given and I give as much importance to the short films I have made as to the long ones; let this be in honor of this festival that has them as a hallmark,” he remarked.
Regarding the film, he mentioned that Close Your Eyes premiered a year ago in Cannes and is making its way around the world. “For a Spanish film with the limitations that this fact entails, financing, distribution, exhibition difficulties, I think the result is very positive, because I have found commercial distribution in France, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, without referring to attendance at festivals, which is important in these difficult times for attendance at movie theaters,” he said.
He expressed his defense of movie theaters, despite being labeled by large corporations as a sort of niche and insisted that international distributors screen his latest film in theaters for at least a week so that the audience can appreciate it on the big screen, as the Huesca audience has been able to do.
“The embodiment of a film goes through its actors, its formalization, its cinematographic writing, but for me, a finished film legitimately belongs to the spectators, and now, what I would like is for you to make this film your own,” he expressed to those attending the Olimpia Theater.
