Anna Marie de la Fuente Spanish producer Maria Zamora of Elástica Films, who has championed emerging and mostly female filmmakers through most of her 20-year career, received this year’s annual National Cinematography Award at the 72nd San Sebastian Festival on Saturday, Sept.
21. On hand to introduce her were filmmakers Elías León Siminiani, Paula Ortiz and Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. Siminiani, who worked on two documentaries with Zamora in the span of 10 years, said: I’ve seen her career rise like a hot air balloon.
After we stopped working together, she promptly snagged a Berlinale Golden Bear for ‘Alcarràs,’ a San Sebastian Golden Shell for ‘O Corno,’ a Goya for ‘Libertad’ and a Cannes Directors’ Fortnight award for ‘Creatura,’” he quipped. “Indeed, in these uncertain times, we need a stabilizing force like Maria,” said Ortiz, a multi-Goya nominated filmmaker whose film “La Virgen Roja” (previously titled “Hildegart”), Elástica’s co-production with Prime Video, premieres on Sept.
22 in San Sebastian. Before presenting her the prestigious honor, which includes a cash award of €30,000 ($33,500), Urtasun noted that Zamora had been “developing, over two decades, an extensive catalog of elective affinities.
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