(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Accepting the 6th Lumiere Award at Lyons Lumiere Festival in France Pedro Almodovar bared his heart as Quentin Tarantino a year before about what really drove his filmmaking career over the last 35 years.
Reading his acceptance speech translated by Juliette Binoche he was accompanied on stage by his brother Agustin Almodovar his producer of nearly 30 years standing and emblematic actresses from his films: Marisa Paredes (High Heels The Flower of My Secret) Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In) and Rossy de Palma (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). In the audience Keanu Reeves and director John McTiernan Michael Cimino Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) Berenice Bejo (The Artist) Isabella Rossellini Vanessa Paradise Gaspard Ulliel (Saint Laurent) Italy’s Valeria Golino Jaime Rosales and among industry figures Pathe’s Jerome Seydoux Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval Pierre Ange Le Pogam Samuel Haddida Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Barker.
Spanish directorPedro Almodovar receives the Lumiere Award as French actress Juliette Binoche looks on
“I was born in the ‘50s a good time for cinema but I fear a terrible time for Spain. If I’d been born in America maybe Spielberg would have phoned me and given me a Super-8 camera to play with. But in Spain after the Civil War I only had my own life and my family’s to initiate myself in the world of fiction. Fiction for me was the world of my home’s patio the neighbors my sisters taking lessons in the coolness with their friends the cats the gypsies the flamenco-singers at the August fair the twist hanging and skinning a still bloody rabbit my mother talking to her neighbors in the street door in the coolness of the long summer nights talking about stories of suicides incest or singing all together. Fiction was for me all that happened in and outside the big screen of the open-air cinema a wall a fetish object.”
Earlier in most probably the other highlight of the award ceremony Canadian director-actor Xavier Dolan winner of a Cannes and French actors Tahar Ramin (A Prophet) and Guillaume Gallienne three young stars of French-language cinema read a text written by Almodovar describing his reaction to his mother’s death: My Mother’s Last Dream set on a sunny day Almodovar’s first without his mother. “I’m called Pedro Almodovar Caballero. Don’t forget the second name” the article ends. “It’s a text I can’t think of without crying” Almodovar admitted on stage in Lyon. Many of Almodovar’s films have performed better in France than Spain. Running two hours hosted by Thierry Fremaux the Lumiere Award ceremony was also as sustained homage to Almodovar’s impact on Spain and a Spanish culture that connects more readily with sentiment often by song.
Two Hollywood figures that Almodovar had helped to stardom Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz both spoke via videos. “I thank you for breaking the restrictions of the Spanish cinema in the ‘80s” said Banderas from the set of Altamira in Northern Spain. “You’re so special to me you’re so generous in your mind and heart. I’m so lucky to have you in my life” added Cruz. “Spain has changed rapidly but Pedro has helped that change.”
Director-actress Agnes Jaoui sang - and well Piensa en mi featured in High Heels; France’s Camelia Jordana delivered a rendition of Cucurrucucu Paloma performed so memorably by Caetano Veloso in Talk To Her.
Young Spanish flamenco star Miguel Poveda sang three songs including Volver; Lumiere - and Cannes - director Thierry Fremaux introduced early Lumiere films shot in Spain. “There are great Spanish films before The Executioner Poachers but you hit Spanish cinema like a cyclone a tornado” said Bertrand Tavernier. “I’m normally funny entertaining like a striptease artist but I’m too bowled over” said Almodovar. But he did think of one joke. Almodovar has come very close to winning the Palme d’Or with Volver. “For me Thierry” Almodovar said brandishing the Lumiere Award “this is my Palme d’Or.”