AWARDS Spain
Carmen Maura honoured in Locarno
by Vitor Pinto
25/07/2007 - Spanish actress Carmen Maura will be honoured with the Excellence Award 2007 during the upcoming Locarno Film Festival. This year, the same prize will also be presented to veteran French actor Michel Piccoli. Previous winners include actors Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe.
One of the most celebrated actresses in Spain, Maura begun her career in the late 1970's to soon become a symbol of Madrid's Movida movement thanks to several works with Pedro Almodóvar. The collaboration between the two was interrupted after the massive success of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, to be re-established in 2005 with Cannes winner Volver [trailer, film focus].
In the meantime, Maura established her reputation both in Spain and abroad, working with international filmmakers such as André Téchiné (Alice et Martin) and Amos Gitaï (Free Zone [trailer]).
Maura will soon be seen in Antonio Hernández's El menor de los males, set to screen in the upcoming Montreal World Film Festival (see news) and in Alfosnso Arau's El día que me quieras.
Within the framework of the Excellence Award, Locarno will screen Alex de la Iglesia's dark comedy La Comunidad, for which Maura won her third Goya in 2001.
