Enrique Gato, creator of Tadeo Jones and the film series starring the popular animated character, will receive the Piedra Angular Award at ALCINE 55. With this distinction, the Alcalá de Henares / Comunidad de Madrid Film Festival, which will take place from 5 to 15 November, pays tribute to a key figure in Spanish animation who, 25 years ago, created in his short films one of the most popular and commercially successful characters in Spanish cinema.
Enrique Gato, born in Valladolid and an adopted resident of Alcalá de Henares, will receive the award on 6 November at the Teatro Salón Cervantes during the festival’s Opening Gala. The event will include a conversation with the audience and a talk with ALCINE’s director about his career and the evolution of Tadeo Jones, from his first short films to the recently released fourth feature, Tadeo Jones y la lámpara maravillosa, currently number one at the box office.
The Piedra Angular Award recognises key figures in Spanish cinema whose work has paved the way for many other creators to take their first steps. And in this 55th edition of ALCINE, dedicated to the moving image that magically gave birth to cinema and to animation, a tribute to Enrique Gato was essential: the creator of the most internationally recognised character in the history of Spanish animated cinema.
Pedro Toro, ALCINE’s Artistic Director, announced the winner of the second Piedra Angular Award —along with other highlights of ALCINE 55, which is already getting into motion— during the two special ALCINE Club screenings that opened its autumn programme. Wednesday’s session was dedicated to El Pisito, marking the centenary of the birth of novelist and screenwriter Rafael Azcona. Yesterday, Thursday, audiences had the chance to see the restored and uncensored version of El Inquilino, by José Antonio Nieves Conde, and learn about its restoration process. Filmoteca Española’s Carlos Saura Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Film Collections carried out the restoration using the uncensored version prepared by the director himself in 1993, which he considered the definitive original version. The restored film also includes additional material that further enriches the work.
The tribute to Gato will begin in October with the ‘Tardeo Jones’ season, an ALCINE Club Kids programme dedicated to his filmography, which will also make room for Indiana Jones, the inspiration behind the character and his universe. The first session, on Friday 2 October, will feature Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) alongside the short film Tadeo Jones (2004), the enthusiastic adventurer’s first appearance. The second session, on Friday 16 October, will be dedicated to the successful Capture the Flag, another of Gato’s animated feature films. ALCINE Club Kids’ Enrique Gato retrospective will continue until 11 December. All films will be screened at Auditorio Gilitos – Laboratorio de Creación Alcalá at 6:30 pm, with free admission until full capacity is reached.
The Piedra Angular Award for Enrique Gato was not the only preview of ALCINE 55 revealed by Pedro Toro. The festival, organised by the Culture Department of Alcalá de Henares City Council, will dedicate its 55th edition to the art of bringing the inanimate to life. Animation will emerge throughout different areas of the programme, with one of its highlights being Un cuarto animado. El cortometraje de animación español (2001–2025), a new book produced by ALCINE, accompanied by a major exhibition featuring materials and original works by more than 30 artists.
“We have brought together the very best of Spanish animated short films from this century to tell the story of Spanish animation through its short films, because what we have witnessed over the past quarter-century has been a genuine boom,” Toro explained. Adrián Encinas, PhD, university lecturer and expert in the History of Animation, is the author of the book and curator of the exhibition. The exhibition will be on view at the Capilla del Oidor from 5 November.
Another preview of ALCINE 55’s programme will come with two special ALCINE Club screenings dedicated to Un poeta, by Simón Mesa Soto, winner of the Jury Prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September at the Teatro Salón Cervantes.
Also as a warm-up to the festival, the Teatro Salón Cervantes will present Ángel Stanich Band’s Stanich rodando! on 5 November, coinciding with ALCINE: an audiovisual, cinema-inspired show created especially for the occasion. Currently touring their latest release, Por La Hierba, Stanich and his band will explore the most cinematic side of their repertoire. Tickets are already on sale via the Culturalcalá website.
