The relatives, friends and followers of Carlos Saura and his cinema will be able to say goodbye to the Aragonese director and screenwriter this Monday. The Film Academy has announced that this Monday, February 13, the burning chapel will be installed at its own headquarters starting at 12 noon and that it will remain open until 8 p.m.
It was the same entity that was in charge of announcing his death on the eve of receiving the Goya de Honor, a gala that took place this Saturday in Seville and in which he was paid tribute. "There is a line between Buñuel, Saura and Almodóvar. He was a free man and a great artist. I always remember that he said that he liked to insist on his mistakes because his true personality was in them," recalled the former director of the Academy , Mariano Barroso.
Despite his death, his cinema is still valid. In fact, his latest film, The Walls Talk, was released just a few days ago. The Academy thus highlights "his love of his for the trade until the last moment."
Around 12:20 p.m. the act began with the drums of Calanda, a municipality in Teruel in Bajo Aragón where Luis Buñuel was born and which Saura used when he filmed some scenes of his film Pippermint Frappé, with Geraldine Chaplin, in this town.
On one side of the coffin, a photograph of Saura has been placed, one of his hats, a camera made by him and some glasses, as well as the Goya de Honor and a director's chair.
The first to arrive at the place was Pedro Almodóvar, who left the Film Academy at around 12:30 p.m., to "pay tribute" to a film director with a "very long" career. "He was a man who knew how to reinvent himself, after making a lot of fantastic movies," he highlighted.
Shortly after, the president of the government arrived, Pedro Sánchez, who has advocated to vindicate his work and "enlarge" his art. "If cinema and culture represent the soul of a society, the filmmaker represents our country", he highlighted. The Minister of Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, attended with him, celebrating the fact that "an acknowledgment and farewell in style as it deserved" was possible. "His art of him will not abandon us," he has commented.
For his part, the director of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, has assured that he is "satisfied" with the tribute they have paid and has praised that Saura has been working "until his strength has literally failed him."
