This has also been an atypical summer: we´re trying to go back to normal but we know – or most of us know – that the current situation is still far from being normal. In this context, holding events such as film festivals seems a step further towards achieving the sought-after normality. The 74th Cannes Film Festival which is usually held in May took place last July but the 78th Venice International Film Festival and the San Sebastian International Film Festival have taken place this September according to schedule.
In relation to these festivals, I would like to draw our attention to some relevant facts which have happened these days. For instance, the fact that the film “Madres paralelas” (Parallel Mothers) by Pedro Almodóvar got a ten-minute standing ovation from the audience who watched the premiere of the film or that the actress Penélope Cruz won the “Coppa Volpi” for best actress for her performance in that film. However, the anecdote that really gripped my attention the most was related to the director Paolo Sorrentino whose film The Hand of God is based on his own life. When he was a teenager, his parents were killed by a gas leak. Sorrentino should have been with them but he preferred to watch Diego Maradona play for his local team, Napoli, and that fact – attending the local stadium – saved his life. The Hand of God is Sorrentino´s most personal film and the director´s response to one of his friends who once told him that he never dealt with personal issues in his films.
In San Sebastian Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp have been awarded the Donostia life-time achievement accolade and this year the festival has decided that there will be only one award for the best leading performance regardless of whether that performance belongs to an actor or an actress. This decision has been a bit controversial and obviously, arguments for and against this view can be found so deciding which view to support is up to you!
One of the films that has been premiered at the 67th edition of San Sebastian International Film Festival is Maixabel, directed by Icíar Bollaín. Maixabel tells us a story based on real events which is part of our recent history, the one that has to do with terrorism. As the director of the film points out, during the shooting of the film the cast of actors felt a very special emotion as they were aware that this was not an ordinary film.
Finally, I ´d like to pay attention to the fact that the Spanish director Mario Camus died yesterday at the age of 86. At the 33rd Berlin Film festival, in1983, he won the Golden Bear for his film “La Colmena” (The Beehive), based on the novel by Camilo José Cela. He also directed “Los santos inocentes “(Holy Innocents), the drama based on the famous novel by Miguel Delibes or the TV series Fortunata and Jacinta, a TV adaptation of Benito Pérez Galdós´s classic as well as Lorca´s La casa de Bernarda Alba. In 2011 Mario Camus won an honoray Goya award and it was then that he claimed that a film does not belong to a single author but to an entire team of 50 people who really make the film. The film-maker donated his personal archive to the Centre of Education for adults in Santander, the city where he was born.
This September is full of news as it used to be. We can´t deny that we missed the red carpets, not the carpets themselves – of course – but what they bring about so let´s hope the future is full of red carpets again!!
