THE MACARENA GARCIA ACTRIZ (THE MESIES) AND THE NACHO VIGALONDO DIRECTOR (SUPERSTAR) RECEIVING THE RECOGNIZATION OF THE 24th INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF BENALMADY
KRZYSZTOF ZANUSSI (ÉTER) AND LAMBERTO BAVA (DEMONS) RECEIVED, SPECTIVE, INTERNATIONAL AND SPECIAL
THE OFFICIAL SECTION WELCOMES A PARITARIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SELECTION OF 30 CORTOMETRAJES
The City Council of Málaga has been the place chosen to reveal the programming and the great prizes that the International Benalmádena Film Festival (FICCAB) will deliver in its 24th edition, which is held, the 18-25 Octoberin the House of Culture of Arroyo de la Honey and the Exhibition Centre of Benalmádena Costa.
The full programming is available on the website of the ficcab.org. festival.
Manuel López Mestanza, Vice President of the City Council of Malaga, has emphasized that «the festival, with its long history, is already part of the cultural soul of our province. There are more than two decades in which cinema has been the mirror, memory and horizon for Benalmádena and all of us who love culture. The festival invites us to know other realities that transform us«.
For his part, Jesica Trujillo, Head of Culture, Benalmádena City Council, has emphasized that «Benalmádena is committed to culture, with its own initiatives and supporting associations such as Acibe and its 24th edition of FICCAB«.
Macarena García, Interpretation Award
The actress Macarena García, winner of a Goya with Snow White (Pablo Berger), will receive the Interpretation Award. It is, in the words of the co-director of the festival, Jaime Noguera, "one of the most versatile and talented actresses of his generation. He owns an expressive look and a magnetic presence, García has built a trajectory marked by sensitivity, delivery and a constant search for new interpretative records."
Since he broke into the movies with Snow White by Pablo Berger (a role that served the Silver Concha for the Best Actress at the San Sebastián Festival and the Goya Award for the Best Revelation Actress), his career has evolved brilliantly in both cinema and theatre and television. On the large screen he has highlighted in titles such as House in flames, The call, Advantages of train travel, Paradise or Crystal girls, always showing a Exceptional nature and an emotional depth that transcends the screen.
Nacho Vigalondo, Director's Award
For his part, Director Nacho Vigalondo, known for his work both within and outside our borders, will receive the Management Award. Nominated to the Oscar at its beginning with short film 7: 35 a.m.The filmmaker just released his last feature film. Daniela Forever, starring Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannò. In 2022 it premiered Our flag means death, an American series in which he runs several episodes with Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder, Jojo Rabbit).
In the words of Jaime Noguera, director of the festival, Vigalondo is "an exceptional, multifaceted and uncomplex filmmaker that has made a prominent place in both Spanish and international cinema. With a work that Gender challenge (science fiction, thriller, comedy, drama, fantastic...), Vigalondo has shown that popular cinema can also be smart, risky and full of nuances. "
International Awards: Krzysztof Zanussi and Lamberto Bava
Born in Warsaw in 1939, Krzysztof Zanussi, who will receive the International Award, He is one of the great contemporary filmmakers, an exceptional author who has been able to keep his own voice even to a counter, reaching universal recognition. His cinema, deeply marked by the influence of Dreyer, Bergman or Munk, raises with audacity and sensitivity far-reaching questions about human life, faith, science and destiny.
Zanussi has been awarded numerous awards for his cinematographic work and intellectual work, including the Platinum Lion Award at the Polish Film Festival in 2019, the Trajectory Award at the International Film Festival in India in 2012, and awards at festivals of Venice, Cannes, Berlin, Montreal and Moscowas well as awards at festivals such as Chicago and a Roots of Europe award in 2020 for their commitment to European values.
For his part, Lamberto Bava, who will receive the International Special PrizeIt is an essential name in the history of European fantastic cinema. As the son of the legendary Mario Bava, a pioneer of Gothic horror and Italian giallo, Lamberto grew up among platos, cameras and special artisanal effects.
However, far from living only in the shadow of his father, he was able to transform that inheritance into his own style, developing a career that allowed him to become a one of the great protagonists of Italian terror of the 1980s and in a real renovator of the fantastic television in the following decade.
International and Joint Official Section
For the Official Section, received More than a thousand short films from countries such as Iran, South Korea, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Serbia, Colombia, Argentina and Spain. It should be noted that twenty of the short films presented had their origin in Malaga, all of them choosing to win the more than 3,000 euros that FICCAB grants.
In total, they will compete 30 short films, with parity in the direction, in addition to there are 5 short that choose the Best Malaysian Short. There are 7 international shorts, from the United Kingdom, Mexico, Romania, France, Iran, Denmark and Belgium. The national short films include the return to the short film by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Javier Marco and Javier Fesser (all of them from the Best Short Film Award in the FICCAB in previous editions). Pipiolos (with Marta Etura), Unsalvable (with Pedro Casablanc and Javier Pereira) and Predator.
The official section also has the debut in the direction of Eduard Fernández with The other and Vanesa Romero with Sex at 70; animation with Bye. by José Prats (nominated for BAFTA) and Poor Martian, of Alex Rey; and other works starring Fernando Tejero, Almudena Amor, Álvaro Cervantes, Eva Llorach and Carlos Santos, among others.
More cinema and parallel activities
In addition to its Official Section, dedicated to short film, FICCAB will devote special projections to its honors as Eter (Krzysztof Zanussi) or Demons (Lamberto Bava), a very special projection with the presence of the cult director Lamberto Bava, accompanied by actress Fabiola Toledo, and the author of the book Demons: The Nightmare Returnsby Pedro José Tena.
As part of the presentation of the publication Benalzine, dedicated George Bud Ornstein, and the presentation of Film and Architecture cycle, Carlos Zamarreo and Héctor Márquez will present one of the essential films of the Bond saga and architectural modernity as Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton). The other two films that form the cycle are the documentary Aalto, of the Finnish director Virpi Suutari and Playtime, Jacques Tati.
Another of this year's publications in FICCAB is the book by Juan Antonio García Borrero (one of the most recognized critics and researchers of contemporary Cuban cinema). Dictionary of film relations Cuba / Spain in collaboration with the Spanish Film Academy, the International Festival of Social Film Castilla-La Mancha, and the Digital Encyclopedia of the Cuban Audiovisual, for the first time proposes a transnational history of the film links between Cuba and Spain.
Manuel Tallafé will present on Friday 24 the film "Mi adorado Monster" (Víctor Matellano), which tells in a creative way and in a comedy tone, with small tenets of drama, the gestation of one of the cursed films of Spanish cinema: The resurrected, a film by Arturo de Bobadilla, of tortuous and chaotic production, which took twenty-three years to premiere.
The special sessions also include Andalusian documentaries such as Lorca in Havana (José A. Torres and Antonio Manuel), to be held in collaboration with the Cineclub Más Madera Cinephorum, or Black and white rainbow (Kike Mesa). Lorca in Havana is about Federico García Lorca's trip to Cuba in 1930. We discovered his imprint on the music, poetics, the dramatic scene and the current narrative of the island, since no other poet in the world has been as acclaimed, read and represented in Cuba as he has.
Arcoiris in black and white is a documentary that tells the story of the LGTBI collective, exploring their struggles, achievements and the evolution of their rights over time, making a journey from the near to the universal. Through experiences and experiences of personalities, activists, artists, journalists and prominent connoisseurs of the LGTBQ + collective history.
One of the most celebrated activities will be the workshop, taught by Minichaplin, Today the soundtrack is you, "a total, fun and creative experience, to prove that cinema is much more than image. And that what it sounds is precisely for us to feel even more what we see." In addition, various schools will participate in the Film Matinals.
Along with a selected short series, a special programme sponsored by Acosol (a public company for the management of the integral cycle of water dependent on the Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Costa del Sol) dedicated to the smallest, will be focused on water as an essential resource and focused on the importance of sustainability. A number of teaching materials will therefore be distributed to the smallest.
Elvira Lindo, Manuel Bellido and Alexis Morante Awards
The awards announced today are in addition to those to be awarded to the writer Elvira Lindo, the journalist Manuel Bellido and the director and screenwriter Alexis Morante.
The festival recognizes the brilliant trajectory of the writer, journalist and writer, for a work that has marked several generations, since it announces that journalist Manuel Bellido will receive the Special Prize for four decades by spreading the Spanish cinema and the evolution of Andalusian cinema from the first Goya de Benito Zambrano to the international success of Alberto Rodríguez.
The El Cine as a Language of Peace award has also been given to the director and writer Alexis Morante, in recognition of his career and his commitment to a cinema that promotes values of respect, solidarity and understanding between cultures.
Bulgaria and Algeria, invited countries
As is the case, in the search for the most complicated films, the FICCAB is set this year in the production of short films of an African country, our forgotten neighbour of Algeriain addition to the reality of the short gender of countries such as Bulgariain collaboration with the Antena Desk office in the Balkan country.
Another guest country is Korea, to whose culture (especially the KPop phenomenon) the festival will devote a special day for young people with dance competitions, Korean writing workshops and special projections in which they will draw lessons and various activities.
This special day is organized with the collaboration of the non-profit association Hallyu, which aims to make the Asian culture known in different areas of Andalusia and that includes in its work children and adolescents from different fields, including those diagnosed with ADHD, psychomotor problem, immaturation, autistic spectrum disorder, etc.
About Macarena García
Macarena García debuted in the cinema with Pablo Berger in Snow White, for which he obtained the Silver Concha for the Best Actress at the San Sebastián Film Festival, in addition to the Goya for the Best Revelation Actress. Later on, she has starred in titles such as House in Flames - for which she has been nominated for Best Women's Performance in the Goya Awards and Best Secondary Film Actress in the Union of Actors and Actric-; The Art of Return, by Pedro Collantes — presented at the 77 Venice Festival within the Biennale College—; or La llamada, by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi.
He has also worked in other films like All are dead, directed by Beatriz Sanchís; Palmeras in the snow, directed by Fernando Gomez Molina —for which she was nominated for Best Secondary Actress at the Union of Actors Awards—; or Advantages of travelling by train, directed by Aritz Moreno.
It has been formed with Juan Carlos Corazza, Andrés Lima, Fernando Piernos, Lorena Bayonas and Ivana Chubbuck, among others. At the same time, he has received singing lessons.
He also starred in the work "La llamada en el Teatro Lara," directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, for which he obtained the Silver Photograms for the Best Theatre Actress.
Macarena has worked in series such as The Messiah, by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi —that had its premiere at the 71st San Sebastián Festival and for which it has received a nomination for Best Starring Actress at the Feroz 2024 Awards—; The last row, by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo; Paraíso, by Fernando González Molina; Paquita Salas, by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi; or The Ministry of Time, created by Pablo and Javier Olivares.
About Nacho Vigalondo
Nacho Vigalondo has just released his latest feature film Daniela Forever, starring Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannò. In 2022 he released Our flag means death, an American series in which he runs several episodes with Taika Waititi.
In recent years he has directed numerous series such as Just Before Christ (2019) for Movistar +, The Neighbor (2019) for Netflix or Pooka (Into the Dark) (2020) for Hulu in the US From 2019 to 2021 he also presented Vigalondo Midnight Madness for TCM Spain and for a year the late night show Los Felices Twenty of Orange TV.
In 2007, he directed his first feature film Chronicles, presented at the Sitges Festival, for which he was nominated for Best Revelation Direction at the Goya Awards. In recent years he has written and directed the Exaterrestrial feature (2011), Open Windows (2014) and Colossal (2016) starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis with which he won several international awards that include Best Film in Fantastic Fest.
He has acted on projects such as The Other Side of Berto Romero or in the latest series created by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, The Messiah (2023). Also with Suma Content has just opened a new project, Superstar, would be created by him and directed with Claudia Costafreda.
His first short films as director received numerous awards at festivals around the world; he also received an Oscar nomination, among other awards, in 2004 with short films 7: 35 in the morning.
