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This award will be presented to the director of photography, present at the festival with his latest work 'Las gentiles', on November 8th, in recognition of his long career, which includes the Goya for 'La isla mínima' in 2015.
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Canal Sur confirms, for yet another year, its collaboration agreement signed by Antonio Muñoz, Deputy Mayor of the City Council, and Juande Mellado, Director General of RTVA, aimed at the promotion and broadcasting of the festival.
Seville, November 2nd. As part of the RTVA's collaboration with the Seville Festival, the event will host the presentation of the Canal Sur Televisión Lifetime Achievement Award to cinematographer Álex Catalán on November 8th at a gala to be held at the Lope de Vega Theatre, followed by the screening in the Official Out of Competition Section of the debut of Violeta Salama, from Granada, with Alegría, produced in partnership with RTVA, a luminous debut film in which she depicts the coexistence between Jews, Catholics and Muslims in the city of Melilla, where she lived for a time.
The announcement was made this morning in a ceremony at Seville City Hall attended by the Delegate for Urban Habitat, Culture and Tourism, and Vice-President of the Institute of Culture and the Arts of Seville (ICAS) Antonio Muñoz, and the Director General of Radio Television of Andalusia (RTVA), Juande Mellado, who signed a collaboration agreement on the promotion and broadcasting of the 18th edition of the Festival.
At the event, attended by the Director of the Festival, José Luis Cienfuegos, RTVA confirmed that it will provide extensive coverage to the most important events and activities held in the city during the Festival. Likewise, the general director of RTVA, Juande Mellado, highlighted RTVA's commitment to Andalusian cinema and the Andalusian audiovisual industry, which is reflected in the more than 150 works co-produced since 2019 with an investment of 14 million euros, 11 of these films being part of the Festival's programme. Among them, the feature film Las gentiles, the sixth film by Santi Amodeo, which competes in the Official Section, and in which Álex Catalán, Canal Sur Radio and Television's 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, participates as director of photography.
Alex Catalán byt Antón Goiri
Alex Catalán, winner of the RTVA Lifetime Achievement Award
Director of photography Aléx Catalán (Pobo de Dueñas, Guadalajara, 1968) first came into professional contact with images 30 years ago as a press photographer and camera assistant. He attended image schools in Madrid, London, Los Angeles and Havana and worked for 12 years as a cameraman and lighting technician for Televisión Española. Since 2000, when he focused professionally on directing photography, he has shot around thirty feature films, including works that have earned him seven Goya nominations for his work on After, Grupo 7, La isla mínima, Un día perfecto, 1898 Los últimos de Filipinas, Yuli and Mientras dure la guerra.
His work is particularly linked to the group of Andalusian filmmakers of the so-called CinExín Generation, a group of filmmakers that also includes the directors Alberto Rodríquez and Santi Amodeo, with whom he has regularly collaborated. All of them brought to the forefront of Spanish cinema the projects and films that were being made in Andalusia at the end of the 20th century, and contributed to giving strength to an incipient audiovisual industry, a task in which Canal Sur has played a fundamental role. The new RTVA Award winner has worked with leading Spanish film directors: Alejandro Amenábar, Montxo Armendáriz, Icíar Bollaín, Benito Zambrano and Fernando León de Aranoa. Since 2000, he has been the director of photography for more than 30 films, including La isla Mínima, Grupo 7, El hombre de las mil caras, La voz dormida and 1898: Los últimos de Filipinas. His latest works include Historias Lamentables by Javier Fésser, the series La Fortuna, the first series by Alejandro Amenábar shot in Spain and the United States, and the aforementioned feature film Las Gentiles.
Catalán also won the Jury Award for Best Cinematography at the 62nd San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Goya Award for Best Cinematography for the film La isla mínima, directed by Alberto Rodríguez. He has also received twice the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos Medal for best cinematography for the feature films También la lluvia and La isla mínima, and five Teo Escamilla Awards for best technical-artistic contribution, awarded by the Asociación de Escritores Cinematográficos de Andalucía. His work has received international awards, including the Best Cinematography Award for the feature film Camino at the 24th Guadalajara International Film Festival (Mexico), and the Special Jury Mention for Cinematography at the Tribeca Film Festival, New York, for the feature film Grupo 7. He combines cinematography in feature films and documentaries with advertising work in SPOTs of recognised quality such as those for Campofrío, ONCE, Loterías del Estado, Banco Santander and Estrella Damm.
Canal Sur Radio and Television at the Seville European Film Festival
A total of eleven films supported by Canal Sur will be screened at the Seville Festival. Thus, in addition to Las gentiles in the Official Section, Violeta Salama's Alegría will also be screened out of competition; La Hija, by Manuel Martín Cuenca, in a special session dedicated to the great Andalusian filmmakers, while Canto Cósmico. Niño de Elche, made by Marc Sempere and Leire Apellániz, is programmed in the New Waves Non-Fiction section. On the other hand, the Andalusian Panorama section hosts up to seven films carrying the RTVA seal of approval. These are:
- La vida Chipén, by Vanesa Benítez Zamora ,
- Algo Salvaje. La historia de Bambino, by Paco Ortiz,
- Curro Romero, maestro del tiempo by Curro Sánchez Varela,
- Storm, by Jesús Ponce,
- 6 toreros yankees 6, by Nonio Parejo,
- Pico Reja, lo que la tierra esconde, by Remedios Malvárez and Arturo Andújar, and
- Horacio, el último alcalde, by María Rodríguez and Mariano Agudo.
Canal Sur's participation in the Seville Festival is proof that Andalusian radio and television is one of the main driving forces behind Andalusian cinema, as is its support for the more than 20 film festivals held in Andalusia. Canal Sur Televisión broadcasts more than 400 films a year and hundreds of documentaries and participates in the financing of a large number of audiovisual projects.Since 2019 it has allocated almost 14 million euros for more than 150 works, including feature-length fiction films, feature-length documentaries and short documentaries as well as animation. To this figures we must add the new announcement endowed with 800,000 euros that will be distributed among the best projects presented through Canal Sur Produces cinema, a tool that provides more transparency and facilitates the Andalusian audiovisual industry free concurrence and participation in co-production with the RTVA.
