Alicante (EFE) Wheel.
The Alicante Film Festival kicked off this Friday with the opening gala held at the city’s Teatro Principal, in which three of the most important figures in Spanish cinema were honored, sources from the organization have reported in a statement.
ALEJANDRO AMENÁBAR, LUCENTUM AWARD
Alejandro Amenábar has received the Lucentum award, which values great directors; Karra Elejalde has been awarded the Honor Award, which honors actors and actresses who have a great film career, and Nathalie Poza, with the City of Alicante Award, which distinguishes the career of young actors and actresses on the national scene.
The actor Luis Larrodera was, once again, the presenter of the gala, and offered a review of the program for the festival week in which all kinds of activities related to the seventh art are held, such as feature film and short film screenings, round tables, masterclasses or workshops, among others.
BLANCA PORTILLO AND DANI ROVIRA, SURPRISE VISIT
The Madrid actress Nathalie Poza, who plays Violeta in “La Boda de Rosa”, received the Cuidad de Alicante award from actress Blanca Portillo, a surprise that moved the award-winner and made the entire audience stand up.
Portillo dedicated a few words to the honoree: “20 years ago I met a star full of light, Nathalie Poza, and I don’t know anyone more committed to her characters who are full of contradictions like she is. And she is my role model.”
Subsequently, it was the Basque actor Karra Elejalde who received the Honor Award from actor Dani Rovira, another surprise for the honoree, who assured that he felt “great satisfaction and pride, but above all thanks for this award.”
To close the inaugural gala, the actress Belén Rueda was in charge of presenting the Lucentum Award to Alejandro Amenábar, who thanked the Alicante Film Festival for the tribute.
“I am closely linked to this land, one of my first awards when I was making short films was given to me in Elche and this encouraged me to continue. Later my parents came to live in Santa Pola ”, she recalled.
Amenábar has indicated that he has resisted collecting this award, because he did not want to see that he had such a career, but this, he has said, “is a cycle that opens” and has stated that he wants to shoot the next feature film in the Valencian Community, and in Specifically, in Alicante.
The Alicante Film Festival has the support of the Provincial Council of Alicante, the Alicante City Council, Alicante City & Beach, Casa Mediterráneo, À Punt, the Valencian Institute of Culture and other collaborating companies.