Spain’s most iconic modern arthouse filmmaker, Pedro Almodovar, will be honored by the country’s most prestigious festival, San Sebastian, with the Donostia Award for career achievement on Sept. 26.
Always a bridesmaid and only now a bride, Almodovar has handed out his share of Donostia awards in the past to the likes of Antonio Banderas and Woody Allen. Now, the iconic director will receive his own Donostia award, joining fellow 2024 recipient Cate Blanchett.
In addition to receiving the award, Almodovar will present his latest film, “The Room Next Door” which will play as a Donostia Award screening after world premiering at Venice on Sept. 2.
Almodovar’s relationship with San Sebastian started in 1980 with “Pepi. Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón,” which broke out at that year’s festival, championed by Diego Galán, a critic of Spanish newspaper El Pais and San Sebastian artistic director over 1986-89 and 1995-2000.
“My career began in San Sebastian in the year 1980, and since then, I have returned to the festival often, with or without a film. And I have always immensely enjoyed myself,” Almodóvar said of today’s announcement. “I have given the Donostia Award to Al Pacino, Woody Allen and Antonio Banderas. This year, they are giving it to me, and I am delighted and grateful. I mean it, it’s an honor. San Sebastian is one of the cities where the cinema is celebrated with enormous enthusiasm. More than ever, at these times, we need the complicity of the spectators and their presence in the film theatres. It is a dream to attend a festival like this, where the cinemas are always full.”
More to come…
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