The ceremony for the 25th José María Forqué Film Awards (handed out by EGEDA, an organisation that manages Spanish audiovisual producers' rights) was held on Saturday night in Madrid, with TV presenter Elena Sánchez and filmmaker Santiago Segura acting as the hosts. The event saw the victory of The Endless Trench [+lire aussi :
critique
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interview : Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño e…
fiche film], a co-production between Spain and France directed by José Mari Goenaga, Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi. The drama about a man tucked away for decades inside a wardrobe, hidden away for fear of being caught by the Franco regime, which previously picked up three gongs at the most recent San Sebastián Film Festival, won out over a clutch of solid rivals: Fire Will Come [+lire aussi :
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interview : Óliver Laxe
fiche film] by Oliver Laxe, While at War [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alejandro Amenabar
fiche film] by Alejandro Amenábar and Pain & Glory [+lire aussi :
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interview : Antonio Banderas
Q&A : Pedro Almodóvar
fiche film] by Pedro Almodóvar.

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La Mancha-born Almodóvar did not attend the ceremony, on account of him being in the USA, engrossed in the pre-Oscars campaign, but his brother, producer Agustín Almodóvar, was present and collected the prize awarded to Antonio Banderas, who was voted Best Actor of 2019 (after he also garnered the same trophy at the latest Cannes Film Festival). Banderas was unable to attend to accept his Forqué Award in person because he was in Málaga (his birthplace) performing in the musical A Chorus Line, which he himself has produced and is starring in.

Meanwhile, actress Marta Nieto did come up on stage to claim her well-deserved Forqué, which she won – as she also did at last year’s Venice and Seville Film Festivals – for her intense turn in Madre [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rodrigo Sorogoyen
fiche film] by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, thus trouncing her rivals: Greta Fernández (who was in the running with A Thief’s Daughter [+lire aussi :
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interview : Belén Funes
fiche film]), Belén Cuesta (The Endless Trench) and Pilar Castro (Advantages of Travelling by Train [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]). In addition, the great Gonzalo Suárez – an author, filmmaker, and magnificent artist and intellectual who is now 85 years old – attended the ceremony in order to pick up the EGEDA Gold Medal for his faultless, daring and tireless career in film. Standout titles from his oeuvre include Rowing With the Wind, Epílogo and The Detective and Death, among countless others.

Ara Malikian: A Life Among Strings [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], a co-production between Argentina (courtesy of Chino and Ricardo Darín) and Spain helmed by Sebastián Borensztein, was dubbed Best Latin American Film, plus the short The Swimmer by Pablo Barce also earned itself a gong during the event, which marks the start of the film awards season in Spain.

Lastly, Seventeen [+lire aussi :
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interview : Daniel Sanchez Arévalo
fiche film], the latest outing by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, received the Film and Values-based Education Award, which is handed out in conjunction with the FAD – the Help for Drug Addiction Foundation. Furthermore, the president of EGEDA, Enrique Cerezo, conferred a Special Mention upon the Parliament’s Culture Committee for reforming the Intellectual Property Law.

To mark its jubilee edition, the Forqué Awards also set out to recognise the work that best represents Spanish film output of the last few years, and the winner was Pan’s Labyrinth [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Guillermo del Toro: the movie – co-produced by Spain, the USA and Mexico – was the big winner at the 2007 edition. This fantasy film won out over the other nominees, which were Thesis by Alejandro Amenábar, Marshland [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alberto Rodríguez
fiche film] by Alberto Rodríguez, Solas by Benito Zambrano and Lucky Star by late director Ricardo Franco.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Best Fiction Feature
The Endless Trench [+lire aussi :
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interview : Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño e…
fiche film] – José Mari Goenaga, Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi (Spain/France)

Best Actress
Marta Nieto – Madre [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rodrigo Sorogoyen
fiche film] (Spain/France)

Best Actor
Antonio Banderas – Pain & Glory [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Antonio Banderas
Q&A : Pedro Almodóvar
fiche film]

Best Documentary Feature
Ara Malikian: A Life Among Strings [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Nata Moreno

Best Short Film
The Swimmer – Pablo Barce

Best Latin American Film
Heroic Losers [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Sebastián Borensztein (Spain/Argentina)

Film and Values-based Education Award
Seventeen [+lire aussi :
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interview : Daniel Sanchez Arévalo
fiche film] – Daniel Sánchez Arévalo

EGEDA Gold Medal
Gonzalo Suárez

Special 25th-anniversary Award
Pan’s Labyrinth [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Guillermo del Toro (Spain/Mexico/USA)