SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 17. (EUROPE PRESS) –
‘Hakta’, by Cándido Pérez de Armas, has won the Audience Star at the XVII edition of Festivalito La Palma. With the closing gala and the awards ceremony, a week of filming comes to an end, where more than 90 short films have been submitted to the La Palma Rueda contest.
At the closing gala, hosted by Juanjo Neris and Yolanda Gómez, there were 30 projected finalist shorts that opted for a Star. All of them have been shot in La Palma under the motto ‘Now or Never’, read at the opening ceremony. After the screening of the short films, the different authorities invited presented the awards.
‘Hakta’ won the Miguel Brito Award for the Audience Star for the most outstanding short film. This same short film also won the Special Star award from the jury. The Roberto Rodríguez Star for the most outstanding short film in the Lyra section went to ‘Si ma’, by Saúl Macías and Esther Muñoz. ‘Fría’, by David Sainz, won the Distribution Award, granted by Digital 104, and the new recognition La Palma, Isla Bonita from the La Palma Film Commission was awarded to ‘Luz Roja’, by Anatael Pérez.
Actors and actresses have also been recognized with the Star for the most outstanding actor and the Star for the most outstanding Pilar Rey actress. They were Jacobo Santiago and Natalia Prieto, respectively, the first for the set of performances and the second for his role in ‘Videobook’. And from the performance to the montage, the Estrella Kike Pérez award for the most outstanding edition went to Emilio González.
Among the other nominations, the Estrella La Palma World Biosphere Reserve Award went to the short film ‘Inverso’, by Manuel Noguera; Ángela Blanco and Gaspar González received the Rainbow Star for ‘Una Más’. The Estrella La Palma Isla de las Estrellas, which is awarded to short films that visualize the night sky, went to ‘The Age of the Stars’, by Frédéric Fuso.
The Star for the most outstanding makeup goes to Anacristinafacebodyart, Amaia Eizmendi and Esther Fernández for their work on ‘Hakta’. Likewise, the awards related to sound have gone to ‘Fría’, by Esther Logon and Javi Lería with the Star for the most outstanding sound design and the music by Jonay Armas to ‘Luz Roja’, which is awarded the Music Library & SFX award to its director Anatael Pérez for the most outstanding original music. ‘Hakta’ also collects the Star for the most outstanding photograph.
Like every year, the La Palma Rueda filming contest has relevant professionals in the audiovisual sector who are part of the jury. This edition featured Alberto Jonay García Martín, Andrea García Garrido, Genoveva Asunción Ayala Correa, María del Rosario González Calimano Espinosa, Rolando Díaz and Marta Martín.
Jovita Monterrey, Minister of Culture of the Cabildo de La Palma, assured that “it is an honor that after the events we have experienced, the Festivalito La Palma brings hope to the island, where spaces from all over the island can be seen”.
The Minister of Human Resources, Nayra Castro, who attended in place of Raúl Camacho, explained that the Festivalito La Palma “has created for 17 years an experience that both professionals and amateurs can have. In a week, La Palma becomes the best filming set and both its natural landscapes and its people take on the relevance they deserve”. Casto stressed that the finalist short films this year have a very high level and he has no doubt that many of them will go far in other festivals.
For her part, the CEO of Sodepal, Raquel Díaz, recalled that this 17th edition has included a new award from the La Palma Film Commission “where 3,000 euros are awarded to the filmmaker or amateur so that they can cover their distribution costs, administrative or related to the creation of the short film”.
The mayor of El Paso, Sergio Rodríguez, also had space to express his gratitude, “where El Paso has been the main municipality in which the activities have been carried out, in addition to the fact that several directors have chosen to record in prominent spaces of the same.” The Councilor for Culture of the El Paso City Council, Irinova Hernández, agrees that it is an honor for El Paso to be a space for film screenings with a critical background and where most are made by professionals from the Canary Islands and on the islands themselves.
OTHER SPECIAL MENTIONS AND RECOGNITION
In addition to the Estrella awards, several recognitions were also made to protagonists who did a great job in La Palma Rueda. The public mention for the most outstanding short film went to ‘Di que no’, by Rubén Delgado, as well as the jury’s special mention for ‘Los de siempre’. The special mention for the most outstanding short film at La Palma Rueda Lyra went to ‘Julia’, by Teresa Segura and David Sainz, a short that also obtained the mention for the most outstanding photography and the Gold Pacifier Star at the Festivalito.
‘Si ma’ won the special mention for the most outstanding edition and Salomé Moreno’s short film ‘Mariposa’ was recognized for the mention for the most outstanding music. The special mention for the most outstanding short film at La Palma Rueda Andrómeda went to ‘Pólvora’, by Diego Villalba. The mention for sustainable filming went to ‘Una piñata’ by Rosa P. Almeida and the mention for most outstanding actress was awarded to Esther Muñoz Barreto, in ‘Si ma’, Marta Fuenar and Laura Jiménez, both for their work as a whole. José Carlos Guigou for ‘Desmangallados’ and Vítor Hubara for his performance in the short films in which he participated received the special mention for the most outstanding actor.
“The Festivalito La Palma is unique in the world for prioritizing filming on the island and the coexistence between filmmakers and inhabitants of the island. Here the more than one hundred registered people share their art to create wonderful works full of history and a very interesting”, added José Víctor Fuentes, director of the festival.
Fuentes recalls that this week culture converges with tourism and economic generation, since “it is a ‘km 0’ festival, so most of the resources, suppliers and services are local.” Thus, the pioneer filming festival in the world culminates and one of the most important in the Canary Islands due to its philosophy, its attractiveness and being a space where art is visualized but where it is also created.
With the end of the gala, the Sonora Festival was also ended, which featured the last two concerts by Dyatlov and You, bringing dark electronic music to El Paso.
