10/02/2003

Be sure and see our video interview with Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

It’s not often that you see a major awards ceremony - an emotional event that is a triumph of sincerity and gratitude like the 17th Goya Awards in Spain (broadcast live on TVE1) become a full-blown political controversy.
The protagonists of Spanish cinema revealed all their innermost feelings to the millions of viewers who tuned in at prime time,many of whom share the hopes and aspirations of their favourite film stars.
Marisa Parades, the president of the Spanish Academy of Film and Audiovisual Arts, sleek and elegant in an emerald gown by Sybilla, welcomed the guests by saying that this was an evening of freedom, an evening for Spanish cinema to congratulate itself: the Goyas. “We must not fear culture and entertainment, nor freedom of expression, and least of all, we must not be afraid of satire and humour. What we should be afraid of is ignorance and dogmatism. And we need to be really scared of war.”
The reaction was instantaneous, and the room exploded into a heartfelt round of applause – and the viewers at home realised that event they were watching had just turned a significant corner and become social and political commitment.

“There is another reason why we should relax,” continued President Parades, “the fact that I will not talk about the crisis. We are here to raise our glasses to Spanish cinema, and to the huge interest it generates both at home and abroad. There is talent in our film industry, creativity and illusion. But no money, but perhaps that is something that can be solved with everyone pulling together. We are self-critical and make mistakes in our film industry, just as mistakes are made the world over. Good and bad films are made and occasionally, there are even some miracles, in spite of the might of Hollywood’s productions(...) But we like good cinema, wherever it comes from! What we need is to live together and not invasions, we need fresh air to express ourselves, we need to be allowed to compete under equal conditions. This country has a lot of history, many identities, and the wealth of numerous languages, and we share our exceptional cultural identity with Latin America, so we have to try to agree and defend our film industry together.”

Quite clearly, that was not the moment to address a crisis that necessitates concrete intervention by the government and not facile and unnecessary speeches as has always been the case. This was a night of celebration for Spanish cinema, and only a few times has the quality of the films presented been so exceptionally high. To the point that even the film critics found themselves in agreement.
The president ended her speech with a great one-liner when she asked for a cigarette: “I promise to stop smoking if the film industry’s problems are solved.”