It was born with the idea of lengthening the summer season a bit, but year after year, for the last eight years, the Begur Film Festival has been consolidating itself as a reference cinematographic proposal in the Empordà. The eighth edition of the contest will start tomorrow and will offer in the official section a good sample of the comedies that are about to hit the billboard. In addition, it will award its Honor Awards to three figures from Spanish cinematography: Carmen Machi, Carme Elías and Fernando Esteso.
"Machi will come to Begur to collect the award. Esteso will not be able to travel due to health problems and Elías will send a message, but he prefers not to leave home after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease", explains the director of the Festival, Clara Dato , which organizes the contest together with a team of volunteers. The contest will feature other stars such as Fernando León de Aranoa, who has just presented Feeling it a lot, the documentary about Joaquín Sabina, at the San Sebastián Festival and who will collect the Empordà International Award in Begur.
Begur also has awards for the film industry. He will pay tribute to the producer Enrique Cerezo, who will receive another Honor Award, and will deliver the Industry Award to Cristina Galvarriato. Those attending the Festival will also have the opportunity to get to know one of the Spanish actresses who marked the cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. Teresa Gimpera, from Iguala, will present the book Així és la vida together with its author, Toni Vall, in a vermouth colloquium moderated by the critic Oti Rodríguez Marchante.
Gimpera shared the poster with another of the essential actors of Spanish cinema, José Luis López Vázquez, in films such as Careful with the ladies (Julio Buchs, 1968). Begur will also remember the famous protagonist of Atraco a las tres (José María Forqué, 1962) with a mini cycle and the presentation of the book El Universo de José Luis López Vázquez, by Albert Galera.
The contest looks back and also towards the future. "This year we are launching a section, Feminine Gaze, dedicated to short films directed by women, which will be reinforced with a colloquium in which Gimpera and the directors Judith Colell and Carla Simón will participate," explains Dato, who is "very excited" about this new proposal.
In addition, Begur has involved the shops, restaurants and schools of the municipality in its Festival. Dato points out that the children of the Begur schools "have free tickets to go to the cinema from the beginning, but from now on they will also be able to sign up for a film workshop to shoot a short film that will be screened in next year's edition".
