Carla Simón (Barcelona, 1986) is the new 2023 National Film Award, succeeding Penélope Cruz. The jury of this award, granted by the Ministry of Culture and endowed with 30,000 euros, wanted to recognize the director and screenwriter "for positioning Spanish cinema on the international scene by obtaining the Golden Bear for Alcarràs at the Film Festival of Berlin, one of the most prestigious in the world”.
"This award -they point out- was a milestone in the history of our cinema thanks to a film in which the naturalness and precision in the construction of stories and characters combines realism and fiction with intelligence and rigor with a fully topical look at social problems.In addition, it incorporates in an organic way the diversity of languages that characterize and enrich our society and culture”.
In turn, the jury has pointed out that "Carla Simón also represents a new generation of filmmakers who have managed in a very short time to develop quality cinema committed to their own medium and society, reaching a global audience. Without a doubt, she is one of the benchmarks of the great moment that Spanish cinema is experiencing. At the same time, she has been able to promote the opening of movie theaters at a difficult time after the covid pandemic ”.
"It makes me very happy to be considered someone who started something, but in reality I don't feel that way, we are a whole generation," Simón assured upon learning of the award. And he has pointed out that "every happiness that the awards or premieres of one give us is good for all, because it means that we are here to stay, it is no longer something anecdotal that a woman makes a film, things are changing", For Simón, in At this time "we are facing a historical reparation, not only because there are women making films but also a thematic reparation, by dealing with issues that had not been dealt with before. I feel very lucky to be making films at this time".
After winning the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, Alcarràs achieved almost 400,000 spectators and allowed 14 cinemas to reopen in areas of Lleida and Tarragona. It was the film chosen by the Film Academy to compete for the Oscars on behalf of Spain and also one of the great candidates for the last Goya awards, from which it finally left empty, not without controversy.
The jury for the National Film Award was chaired by Beatriz Navas Valdés, general director of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), and Camilo Vázquez, deputy general director of Promotion and International Relations of the ICAA, acted as vice president. As members have acted Fernando Méndez-Leite, at the proposal of the Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences of Spain; Ignacio López Muro, at the proposal of Literary Authors of Audiovisual Media; Silvia García de Pé, at the proposal of the Union of Actors and Actresses; Patricia Maria Roda, at the proposal of the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA); and Miriam Lorenzo, Gregorio Belinchón Yagüe and Koldo Zuazua Álvarez at the proposal of the ICAA.
