THE AUTHOR OF THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, THE SOUTH, DREAM OF LIGHT AND CLOSE YOUR EYES WILL BE IN HUESCA ON JUNE 12 TO RECEIVE THE AWARD THAT RECOGNIZES HIS ENTIRE CAREER
“HE IS A CULT DIRECTOR WITH A FILMOGRAPHY PLAGUED BY MASTERPIECES, AN INTERNATIONAL REFERENT LIKE BUÑUEL OR CARLOS SAURA HIMSELF WERE,” AFFIRMS ESTELA RASAL, DIRECTOR OF THE FESTIVAL
Huesca International Film Festival confirms the presence of Víctor Erice to receive the Luis Buñuel Award at its 52nd edition. The event, which will take place from June 7 to 15, announces this second tribute, after the already known one for Victoria Abril, and will welcome the Basque master on Wednesday, June 12. An award ceremony where one of the most acclaimed cinematographic careers in the sector will be recognized, a director who has marked generations of filmmakers and who is an exponent of the so-called “New Spanish Wave”. A marked date for the history of the Altoaragonese festival that will be able to pay tribute to one of the most important names in the seventh art globally. “We are very happy to be able to receive him in Huesca and give him the tribute he deserves. We know that there are very few occasions when he accepts this type of award and for that reason we thank him for his generosity towards the Festival. The general public is widely familiar with all his feature films, but the short film (our essence) has been present throughout his career and that is something that makes this award even more complete” explains Estela Rasal, director of the Huesca event.
Accompanying the award ceremony, the organization has scheduled a special screening of his latest work behind the camera: Close your Eyes. A production that premiered last year at the Cannes Film Festival and since then has not stopped receiving praise and recognition such as the Goya Award and the Platino Award for José Coronado as best supporting actor. The film, which also stars Manolo Solo and Ana Torrent (an actress who made her debut under his direction), presents a “metacinema” story about the disappearance of an actor during a filming; “enigmatic”, “poetic”, “exciting” or “melancholic and beautiful”, this is how critics have defined it since its premiere.
Erice joins the tributes already announced in this edition of the Huesca International Film Festival for Clermont-Ferrand, Isaki Lacuesta and Victoria Abril herself; while his name joins a long list of figures who have received this award: Terry Gilliam, Aki Kaurismaki, Bertrand Tavernier, Marisa Paredes, Stephen Frears, Carlos Saura, Ángela Molina, Jean-Claude Carrière, Costa-Gavras, Álex de la Iglesia and the Taviani brothers.
CULT FILMMAKER
Víctor Erice
Born in Valle de Carranza (Vizcaya, 1940), Víctor Erice began his studies at the Official Film School in Madrid in his early twenties, graduating with a degree in Directing in 1963. In his early years, he combined film criticism with various jobs such as production secretary for Basilio Martín Patiño, screenwriter for Miguel Picazo and Antonio Eceiza, and actor in Manuel Revuelta’s Antoñito Vuelve a Casa. His graduation project (Los Días Perdidos) was selected to represent his school at the San Sebastian Film Festival, a festival where he would later win the Silver Shell with the collective medium-length film Los Desafíos, along with Claudio Guerín and José Luis Egea in the direction and Rafael Azcona collaborating on the script.
His first solo feature film was The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), a title that became a cult film and a key work within the so-called “New Spanish Wave”, along with other works by authors such as Carlos Saura, Mario Camus and Jaime De Armiñán. Produced by Elías Querejeta, the film starring Fernando Fernán Gómez won the Golden Shell and marked the acting debut of actress Ana Torrent at the age of just seven.
A decade would pass before he could present his next work on the big screen, a period he dedicated to the world of advertising and television programs. It was in 1983 that The South was released, based on the novel of the same name by Adelaida García Morales and featuring Icíar Bollaín among its actresses. Despite being planned as a two-part work, only the first part was finally shot and was selected by the Cannes Film Festival to compete for the Palme d’Or, receiving critical and public acclaim.
Almost another decade was needed to enjoy his third feature film Dream of Light (1992), a work with documentary overtones about the realist painter Antonio López. Again premiered at “La Croisette”, it won the Special Jury Prize and the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI); a new masterpiece that has been designated on various occasions as one of the essential titles in the history of cinema.
In the second half of the 1990s he founded his own production company Nautilus Films and participated in a collective feature film (Celebrate Cinema 101) with other filmmakers such as Marco Bellocchio, Jonas Mekas and Aleksandr Sokúrov. This marked the beginning of a period in which the short film took a leading role in his filmography. The result of this period is Alumbramiento (2002), again a segment of the Ten minutes older: The trumpet project involving great names such as Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismaki, Jean-Luc Godard, Bernardo Bertolucci and Wim Wenders; later came La morte Rouge (as part of the Erice-Kiarostami: Correspondences exhibition with Abbas Kiarostami himself), Ana, Tres Minutos, Cristales Rotos and Plegaria.
Only in 2023, 30 years after his last feature film, would he return to this format with Close your Eyes; a production that after premiering once again at the Cannes Film Festival, would begin a triumphant trajectory that would take him to the main festivals in the world such as Toronto, San Sebastian, Mar del Plata, Thessaloniki, Turin and Miami; in addition to giving one of its performers (Jose Coronado) the Goya Award and the Platino Award for best supporting actor.
To his credit are other recognitions such as the National Film Award in 1993; the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts in 1995; the Honorary Leopard dedicated to his entire career at the Locarno Film Festival in 2014 and Donostia Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2023.
