07/12/2002 - Pedro's Speak to Her wins best film, direction & screenplay. Sergio Castellitto is best actor and Ozon's cast of eight share the best actress nod. Ken Loach wins the Fipresci

“I’m sorry to say that tonight is my night!” Best film, best director, best screenplay, audience award. Pedro Almodovar is delighted to have swept the boards at the EFAs but is quick to point out that this does not mean he is the sole representative of European cinema.
“All of the films nominated deserved to win. It was a good harvest for European cinema and we can be proud of that. Less proud, however, of the situation in Spain: we have encountered numerous problems in producing films and Spanish television is no longer buying domestic films. Regardless of that Spain continues to be a vital market: vitality is part of our nature, and we continue to produce films, otherwise all this energy of ours would be wasted.”
Pedro is not one who gives up easily, and indeed he looks to the future. “I am casting my next film, La mala educaciòn , scheduled to go into pre-production in January and production in April. However I have always had a dream of making a film with two great fellow Europeans: Tonino Guerra and Ingmar Bergman.”
“Almodòvar is more than just a director: he is our conscience.” Victoria Abril, winner of the best European Achievement in World Cinema award, pays an affectionate tribute to her fellow Iberian. “I made three films in five years for Pedro and I lost 6 kilos. I began in Spain. I then moved to Paris, and have made films in Italy and Portugal. Europe has been my market for the last twenty years. But from this moment on I am a planetary actress,” joked the actress.
Europe’s best actor for 2002 speaks Italian. “I am delighted to have won on my home ground," said Sergio Castellitto, nominated for two films: Mostly Martha by Sandra Nettelbeck and L’ora di Religione (My Mother’s Smile) by Marco Bellocchio. “I consider tonight to be an important landmark in my career. Or rather, a new point of departure towards more quality films.” Like Almodòvar before him, Sergio Castellitto spoke about the problems of European cinema. “Objectively speaking, the crisis is only too real. We are all tragic optimists. Europe is not united by its economy but rather by its culture, its diversity and culture. But times have changed and we are having problems relaunching cinema as a popular art. However we have seen a number of positive signs and personally, I welcomed the success of a film like that by Marco Bellocchio as an exceptional event.” Just one hour earlier, Bernardo Bertolucci, speaking during the awards ceremony via a video link from Paris, revealed that, “Something new is happening in the Italian panorama: “cocoons” have opened up to reveal films like Respiro, The Embalmer and Angela. Forms that are new and important: a sort of positive invasion of the body snatchers”.

(Translated from Italian)