The end of August and the
beginning of September are full of news revolving around film festivals. It is
a beautiful way of saying farewell to the summertime as well as welcoming the
new season, which is supposed to be gloomier and full of daily tasks that all
of us must accomplish. As the sun still shines, lots of people find shelter in
the dark rooms of a cinema, in search of peace and quiet, in search of a new
experience, that of living the lives of other people, with their good and their
bad moments, in short, the experience of leading a new life, at least, for a while. The Venice Film Festival and the
San Sebastian Film Festival are some of the most important festivals which help
us to begin or end September in a light mood and here are some of those memorable
moments that we have enjoyed over the last weeks.
The Spanish director Pedro
Almodóvar was presented with a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement for a long and
illustrious career in the 76th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Almodóvar,
whose last work is Pain and Glory,
was nominated for the festival´s top Golden Lion prize in 1988 for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,
a film that brought him international recognition.
As Almodóvar explained in a
recent interview, films play a very part in our society from a cultural point
of view because, regardless of whether a film is good or bad, a film is always
a good reflection of the cultural times when it was made.
The Spanish actress Marta
Nieto was the winner of the Orizzonti award as best actress for her role in Mother, the film by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
which is a sequel to his
short film also called Mother.
Penélope Cruz, probably the
most international Spanish actress these days, received the Donostia Award at
the 67th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival last week.
The actress has also had the honour of being the
image of this year´s festival.
This year Donald Sutherland has has also
had the honour of receiving the Donostia Award, a life-time achievement award. 