Six graduates won an award yesterday at the XII edition of the Gaudí Awards given by the Acadèmia del Cinema Català: Best Screenplay (Belén Funes and Marçal Cebrián), Best Direction (Belén Funes), Best Non-Catalan Language Film (Belén Funes), Best Editing (Ana Pfaff), Best Art Direction (Sylvia Steinbrecht), Best Production Direction (Oriol Maymó) and the Audience Award (Aritz Cirbian) went to the ESCAC Talent.
La hija de un ladron, the opera prima by graduate Belén Funes, was one of the night’s winners with three awards: screenplay, direction and film. Funes made her awards debut by winning all three for which she was nominated. The film is co-written with Marçal Cebrián, who also won the award, and features Neus Ollé as DoP and Enrique G. Bermejo and Sergio Rueda in sound, also graduates.
This is the first time in the twelve-year history of the Gaudí Awards that graduates have won the award for Best Screenplay. As for direction, Belén is the third graduate to win it, after Mar Coll for Tres dies amb la familia (2010) and J.A. Bayona for Lo imposible (2013) and Un monstruo viene a verme (2017).
Els dies que vindran, the other winner of the night with also three awards (film, actress and editing) earned the graduate Ana Pfaff her second Gaudí for Best Editing after winning it a couple of years ago for Estiu 1993 (2018). Ana Pfaff took the stage again to collect the award for Best Short Film to Suc de Síndria, of which she is also the editor.
Sylvia Steinbrecht was the second graduate of the evening to take the stage, picking up the award for Best Artistic Direction for Elisa y Marcela. This is the second time that a graduate has won this award, after Laia Colet won it for Eva in 2012.
Graduate Oriol Maymó won the award for Best Production Direction for Quién a hierro mata, becoming the first graduate to win in this category.
Finally, the film 7 raons per fugir, produced by Aritz Cirbian, Xavi Toll as delegated producer, Anaïs Urraca in editing and Laia Casanovas in sound, won the Audience Award. Since the creation of this category, the award has always gone to a film produced by a graduate; La Llamada produced among others by Toni Carrizosa and Viaje al cuarto de una madre, by Mar Medir.
La inocencia, the opera prima by graduate Lucía Alemany, co-written with Laia Soler and with Joan Bordera as DoP, was nominated in 7 categories and won Best Supporting Actress for Laia Marull.
With these 7 Gaudí Awards obtained in this edition, ESCAC graduates have obtained a total of 46 Gaudí Awards to date.
Photograph by ACC- Martí Pujol.