On November 13, the Closing Gala of the Cine por Mujeres Festival took place at Palacio de la Prensa in Madrid, hosted by journalist and comedian Nerea Pérez de las Heras and attended by many actresses, female movie directors and prominent authorities, among them, the Chairwoman of the Senate, Ms. Pilar Llop, and the Minister of Culture and Sports, Mr. José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes.
During the evening, Ms. Beatriz Gimeno, Director of the Institute for Women and Equal Opportunity, presented the Award for Best Spanish Film, awarded by critics and bloggers of the Association Premios de Cine Blogos de Oro, who handed it to the film Role & Role by Director Chus Gutiérrez, for “showing the reality of how women are portrayed in film and art, for the way she stresses that media have a part of responsibility when it comes to changing society, and for reviewing the history of feminism”.
Chus Gutiérrez posing at the entrance to the Closing Gala where she was awarded for her documentary Rol and Rol with the Best Spanish Film Award decided by the association of film critics Blogos de Oro and by courtesy of RC Service
Then, Ms. Marta Rivera de la Cruz, Councilwoman for Culture at the Regional Community of Madrid, presented the Award for Best Film of the Made by Women Film Festival 2020, selected by an international jury, who “highlighted the high quality of the movies in competition and the diversity of standpoints, stories, cultures and characters they have offered us, thus expanding our perception on human beings and the world we live in”. The winner was the film The Orphanage by Afghan female Director Shahrbanoo Sadat, for “the courage of its Director when she tells, through the microcosm of an orphanage in Afghanistan, a universal story about the lack of protection of children in times of war, with a fresh and moving standpoint”.
The Orphanage by Shahrbanoo Sadat won the Award for Best Film selected by an international jury and for courtesy of Free Your Mind and Subtitula’m
This 3rd edition of the Festival closes its doors with a spectacular increase in the number of viewers, despite the pandemic and the reduced capacity. 2,062 people attended the 11 screening halls and the “Sold Out” sign was posted 4 times.
On the other hand, 1,217 people attended the online training activities, especially devoted to female Animation Directors and to female Cinematography Directors in Spain.
Finally, we have managed to attract the attention of 15,263 viewers on Filmin, becoming a reference Festival on this platform.
Shahrbanoo Sadat thanks the award for Best Festival Film from her terrace in Kabul
In summary, taking into account that more than 20 journalists attended the in-person press conference, and 51 additional reporters followed it on streaming, a total of 18,613 people accompanied us throughout the 12 days of the Festival.
These figures guarantee we are one of the festivals with the greatest progression and consolidate us as one of the most solid bets on the cinematographic and cultural scene in Madrid.
Don’t miss the next edition in 2021!
