A documentary about the actress’ Alzheimer’s receives the award
One of the most emotional moments of the night was when they presented the Gaudí to the documentary Mentre sigais tu, l’ara i aquí by Carme Elias, which narrates the Alzheimer’s process suffered by the actress. Carme Elias showed her courage and went on stage with the director, Claudia Pinto, to say thank you. “I want to thank the opportunity to tell how hard this disease is and to support many families who are going through the same thing,” he said.
A gala with humor, vindication and recognition of Catalan cinema
Comedians Ana Polo and Oye Sherman were the mistresses of ceremonies for a gala that had everything: from political claims to proclamations for gender equality, through a few tears of emotion and praise for the exceptional year of Catalan cinema. The presenters joked about the criticism that Catalan cinema receives for the subsidies it receives, and recalled that other sectors, such as the automotive industry or the airlines, also receive them, and much bigger ones. In addition, they called for the presence of Catalan in cinemas: “It is more difficult to find a crocodile in a cinema than a film in Catalan.”
The most outstanding awards of the night
Creatura was the first to receive a Gaudí as a revelation interpreter for Clàudia Malagelada. NOW. Bayona picked up the Best Film Europe award for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and thanked the audience for making his film the center of conversation. He played down the importance of the fact that only European films competed (it has less than 20% Catalan production) and stated: “Our main language is cinema, many thanks to the academy”.
Estibaliz Urresola, best new director for 20,000 species of bees, made one of the most extensive and meaningful speeches, where she thanked the award, called for the immediate end of the war in Gaza and claimed cinema as an “instrument of social transformation “, but starting with making cinema without abuse and with equal opportunities for women and all marginalized groups.
Mercè Pons and Maria Molins, actresses in films by Ventura Pons, paid a small tribute to the filmmaker, who died recently.
The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès; the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, were among the attendees and heard the praise of the president of the Catalan Film Academy for the audiovisual policies that have allowed such a good year. Judith Colell also denounced the precariousness of much of the profession and called for applause for the pioneer women of Catalan cinema, one of whom, Rosa Vergés, received the Gaudí d’Honor.