CANAL SUR REWARDS THE FILMMAKER FROM ALMERIA, CREATOR OF MOVIES AS 'EL AUTOR, 'LA MITAD DEL ÓSCAR AND 'CANÍBAL'
As every year, in the framework of the Festival of Seville has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement, prize granted by RTVA to the director Manuel Martín Cuenca (El Ejido, Almería, 1964). In the event they have accompanied the award-winning Antonio Muñoz, director of Urban Habitat, Culture and Tourism of the City of Seville, and Juande Mellado, general manager of the RTVA.
After collaborating with directors such as Borau and Cuerda, Martín Cuenca began directing his own films in the late 1990s. Creator of films such as 'El Autor', 'La mitad del Óscar' and 'Caníbal', the director has appreciated the award by emphasising the support of Canal Sur throughout his filmmaking career: "Without your help and that of the institutions, I could not have made my films" , has confessed before dedicating the award to the people who work with him: "It goes for performers, writers, producers, technicians... a director is nobody without his team."
For his part, Antonio Muñoz has explained that Andalusia and Seville have always been related to cinema but in recent times we can talk about an Andalusian and Sevillian audiovisual industry. "Thanks to authors like Martín Cuenca, in addition to RTVA's support and funding, jobs related to the film industry have grown exponentially," the delegate said.
Juande Mellado, director of RTVA, has insisted on the "more than consolidated" relationship between Canal Sur and the Seville Festival: "Proof of this is the extensive and full coverage of our journalists during the festival and of course the gala that is held tonight in the Teatro Lope de Vega". Mellado has stated that the versatile filmmaker receives the award for his "brilliant film work and has highlighted the network's commitment to Andalusian cinema, with an investment last year of almost 9 million euros and the collaboration with 68 works audiovisual projects from 60 Andalusian producers.
Martín Cuenca, who was part of the jury at the Seville Festival in 2013, is from El Ejido (Almeria), where he spent his childhood and youth. He studied Hispanic Philology at the University of Granada and graduated in Information Sciences at the Complutense of Madrid. In 1988 he entered film as assistant director, scrip and casting director, collaborating with directors such as Felipe Vega, Alain Tanner, Mariano Barroso, José Luis Cuerda, Icíar Bollaín or José Luis Borau, among others. In 1999 he began writing and directing his own films in both documentary and fiction. During these years he also worked as a teacher of directing and interpretation in different film schools in Spain and Cuba.Apart from the writing of a novel and several books on film he has written and directed the short films 'El día blanco' (1991), 'Hombres sin mujeres' (1998) and 'Nadie (Un cuento de invierno)' (1999), with which he won numerous national awards.
In 2001 he wrote and directed the documentary feature film 'El juego de Cuba', which won numerous international awards, including The CinemaFe of New York and the official section of Amsterdam. In 2003 he participated in the San Sebastian International Film Festival in the Zabaltegui section with her first fictional film as director and co-writer, 'La flaqueza del Bolshevik', with which he received very positive reviews and was nominated for five awards from the Circle of Film Writers and Goya for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best New Actress, won by María Valverde.
Two years later, in 2005, the San Sebastián Festival, his second fictional film as director and co-writer, 'Malas temporadas', which also won numerous international awards, such as the award for his Best Leading Actress, Nathalie Poza. In 2009 he premiered at the Malaga Festival of Spanish Film a new documentary film, as director and co-writer, 'Últimos testigos: Carrillo Comunista', which was nominated for the Goya for Best Documentary and won the Turia Poster Award for Best Documentary of the Year.
In 2004 he founded La Loma Blanca PC, with which he collaborated on several films as a producer. This company produced in 2010 'La mitad de Óscar' in which he also worked as a director and co-writer. In 2009 he founded the publisher Lagartos Editores, with which he supports young Andalusian authors, and launches a collection of film books: Lagartos de cine, which edits film texts from heterodox films such as 'La soledad', 'Lo que sé de Lola', 'La flaqueza del bolchevique' or 'Mujeres en el parque'.
After 'Cannibal', which won a Goya Award and 8 nominations, his last work, 'El Autor' (which was presented at the 14th edition of the Seville Festival) surpassed this number with two goyas and 9 nominations, in addition to seven Asecan awards from Thealuz Cinema. He is currently preparing his next project, 'La hija', which he plans to shoot in Andalusia. He is a member of the Spanish Film Academy and the European Film Academy.
