This will be awarded on October 24th at the opening gala of the Films by Women Madrid Festival
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Year after year, the Films by Women Madrid Festival works to enhance and recognize the cinematographic work of women professionals in our country; thus, giving visibility to new female references and rewriting the history of our cinema in terms of equity. The festival strongly believes that previous knowledge constitutes the first step in women’s inclusion and recognition. In this 6th edition, the Professional Career Award 2023, granted by the Festival's Programming Committee, will be handed to Catherine Gautier. She was part of the Filmoteca Española programming team since January 1975 and was named Deputy Director and Programme Manager of the Cine Doré - Filmoteca Española in 1989, a position she held until the end of 2016. For this reason, we owe her many of the best film series that we have been able to enjoy for more than 41 years at the venues of the institution. The work she carried out in other cinematic areas, such as preservation, restoration, and research in Spanish filmography around the world is also highly noteworthy. These areas are less considered than others, but without them, cinema would not be able to exist nowadays. However, although they are fundamental functions, they are still mainly forgotten and keep receiving poor resources. Over the years and throughout her career, Catherine Gautier has been offering us her vision of cinema. She has given voice to new cultural references and raised the visibility of women filmmakers of all times, genres, and nationalities. For all these reasons, we consider that she is an essential professional in the history of Spanish cinematography that richly deserves the Professional Career Award of the 6th edition of the Films by Women Madrid Festival. |
"El Cine Doré, mi segunda casa"
Catherine Gautier, excerpts from the article “El Cine Doré, mi segunda casa” (El Doré. El cine de los buenos programas. Ed. Filmoteca Española, 2019, Madrid)
“I believe that to reach a balance in the composition of a program made up of a mixture of nationalities, historical periods and genres, is an essential success factor. I tried every month, even every day, to encourage the regular attendance of the public at the venues, to reach different audiences and different tastes. The history of cinema and the history of taste are alive entities in permanent evolution and must remain untouched by sectarianism and academicism”
“I dreamed of inebriating on cinema without borders, silent, arthouse, marginal, melodramatic, in short, on moving films. I must admit that, like many viewers, I didn’t yet know that a cinematheque, or a film museum, in addition to being a projection room, also has the primary task of preserving the cinema heritage of its collection”
“I myself organized the program six days a week for 12 months reaching 1,300 screenings of about 800 different films and an audience of 140,000 to 200,000 spectators a year”
Read the full article
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París, 1952. She studied Spanish Philology, English Philology and Cinema, complementing it with regular attendance at the French Cinematheque. When she was 19 years old, she moved to Madrid, where she studied Image Sciences. In 1975 she joined the diffusion team of the National Film Archive of Spain. In 1982 she acquired Spanish citizenship and since 1989 she held the position of Deputy Director of the Filmoteca Española -Spanish Cinematheque-, where she was responsible for the supervision of deposits and acquisitions, the recovery of Spanish cinema heritage abroad and the programming of the Cine Doré in Madrid.For years she was responsible for finding copies of films not available in Spain -often as a detective-, as well as managing exhibition rights. Consequently, she could organize several hundred thematic sessions and comprehensive retrospectives of worldwide cinema authors from all decades. She also was a regular collaborator and advisor to various institutions and festivals, including the San Sebastian International Film Festival, such as a member of the Programming Commission of the FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) and part of the Executive Committee of the ACE (Association of European Cinematheques).
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Previous edition Awards
In previous editions, the Professional Career Award was handled to Isabel Coixet, director, 2022; Cecilia Bartolomé, cinema pioneer, 2021; Eva Valiño, film sound engineer, 2020; Teresa Font, film editor, 2019; and Belén Atienza, film producer, 2018.
Isabel Coixet (2022), Cecilia Bartolomé (2021), Eva Valiño (2020), Teresa Font (2019), Belén Atienza (2018)
The awards |
The award will be presented at the festival's Opening Gala on Tuesday, October 24th at the Palacio de la Prensa. It will consist of a jewel-award designed by Chus Burés, a selection of cinema accessories –courtesy of Cinetools– and a mobile phone, courtesy of Xiaomi Iberia.
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