PEPE ESCRICHE AWARD
CINEMATECA PORTUGUESA
The Portuguese Film Archive-Cinema Museum is the national body, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, whose mission is to safeguard and promote the country’s film heritage. It was founded in the early 1950s by one of the pioneers of European film archives, Manuel Félix Ribeiro, and became an autonomous institution in 1980. Since 1956, the Cinemateca has been a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). Also in 1956, the Cinemateca’s first screening room was inaugurated, dedicated to its exhibition activities. In 1996, the Cinemateca opened a modern conservation centre on the outskirts of Lisbon, which is currently the base for all preservation, technical research and access activities, including the use of new technologies. The Cinemateca has played a decisive role in the creation and development of the network of European institutions dedicated to the preservation of European film heritage, being a co-founder of the European Association of Film Archives (ACE) and participating in various international cooperation programmes.
PEPE ESCRICHE AWARD
The Pepe Escriche Award was established in 2009, as a tribute to one of the forerunners of the festival, who also led it for over thirty years. José María Escriche passed away in 2008. The Huesca Film Festival Foundation decided to celebrate this homage to honour the understanding between different cultures through cinema. This prize is awarded to organizations, institutions, personal or collective initiatives related to cinema and audio visual arts and is authored by sculptor Isidro Ferrer.
People and institutions awarded from the first edition are those as follows: La Escuela de San Antonio de los Baños (2009), World Cinema Fund (2010), María Lourdes Cortés (2011), Morelia International Film Festival (2012), Spanish Film Archive (2014), Cine en construcción (2015), Pilar Martínez-Vasseaur (2016), Ibermedia (2017), the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (2018), Egeda (2019), Bergman Chair (2020), CIMA, Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (2021), Instituto Cervantes (2022) and Ventana Sur (2023).