The director received the ALCINE Cornerstone Award yesterday, a recognition of filmmakers who took their first steps at the festival, which he won 35 years ago with Mirindas asesinas
Director Álex de la Iglesia received the inaugural ALCINE Cornerstone Award on Friday, the Alcalá de Henares/Madrid Community Film Festival, a recognition given to filmmakers who participated in the festival years ago and are now leading figures in Spanish cinema. “Without this festival, I wouldn't have made films. Many years have passed, but it all started here,” declared de la Iglesia, whose first 16mm short film, Mirindas asesinas, won the Alcalá de Henares Film Festival in 1990.
De la Iglesia accepted the award during the Opening Gala of ALCINE 54, where this year 47 short films are competing for the Diamond Awards in the National and European Competitions and for Oscar® qualification (and for the Goya Awards, in the case of the National Competition winner). He emphasized the importance of festivals in promoting and showcasing emerging filmmakers.
“Thanks to this festival, I had the opportunity to show my short film, to promote it, to have an impact. And thanks to the affection you gave me here in Alcalá, I had the courage to approach some producers and talk to them about other projects I wanted to do,” said de la Iglesia.
In his conversation with the festival's artistic director, Pedro Toro, the Bilbao-born director paid tribute to the late Álex Angulo, star of his early works. “I owe Álex a great deal, I owe him my life, because he agreed to make Mirindas. He also agreed to make an earlier short film that we've lost, a short called North by Northeast, it was a kind of dream running around Bilbao, reminiscent of Death at their hills, and Álex was the protagonist. Then we made this one and later Mutant Action and The Day of the Beast”, he said.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the premiere of one of his cult films, The Community, de la Iglesia spoke about his upcoming film, The Caretaker, also shot on 35mm and starring Carmen Maura. “It’s very different from La Comunidad and it’s more bitter, it’s not a comedy. It has many points in common, because Carmen alone generates that feeling, but it’s another point of view: it talks about Carmen’s confrontation with reality, because there comes an age when you reach a point where you can no longer escape.”
In the section on future films, de la Iglesia mentioned two projects he would like to undertake at some point. “I’d like to make a film about El Empecinado and another about Durruti. I have a script written for Durruti. And El Empecinado fascinates me because he starts from scratch, in a rural setting, and grows as he confronts the French, practically driving them out of Spain. Ferdinand VII is incredibly grateful to him, even starting to build him a monument, and suddenly he’s the first to turn against the king, because he’s a man who can’t be bought off. He really does seem like a fictional character,” he remarked.
Before the gala, which featured music by Ricardo Iglesias and an artistic performance by the painter Zaida Escobar, the Bilbao-born director visited the exhibition ‘Álex de la Iglesia: 35 Years Laughing in the Dark’, accompanied by the artistic director of ALCINE and the Councilor for Culture of Alcalá de Henares, Santiago Alonso. The exhibition traces his career as a filmmaker and illustrator, featuring posters and original pieces from his work and that of his production company, Pokeepsie Films, as well as some of his drawings. It can be visited at the Capilla del Oidor in Alcalá de Henares until November 30th.
