The Málaga Film Festival, formerly Málaga Spanish Film Festival (FMCE), is an annual film festival held in Málaga, Spain. The festival was established to promote

Spanish cinema Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and help disseminate information about Spanish films. Since 2017, it features an additional focus on

Ibero-America Ibero-America ( es, Iberoamérica, pt, Ibero-América) or Iberian America is a region in the Americas comprising countries or territories where Spanish or Portuguese are predominant languages (usually former territories of Portugal or Spain). ...

n films.

History

The first edition ran from 29 May to 6 June 1998. The guest of honor was

Fernando Fernán Gómez Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007) better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez was a Spanish actor, screenwriter, film director, theater director and member of the Royal Spanish Academy for seven years. He was born i ...

, and the retrospective was dedicated to Montxo Armendariz. The festival's first 11 editions were directed by Salomón Castiel. In 2009, Castiel was replaced by Carmelo Romero, who helmed the festival until 2012. Originally the festival was held anytime from March through June. The festival has numerous screenings of the most important Spanish film releases for the previous year, including documentaries and short films. In 2017, the festival developed an additional scope by opening to Ibero-American productions, resulting into an enlarged official selection. In 2018, director Juan Antonio Vigar made a statement about the challenge of setting March as the definitive date for the festival from the 2019 edition onward. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

nonetheless came to disrupt the schedule of the 2020 and 2021 editions.

Awards

The festival concedes competitive awards as well as honorary awards. The main prize is the 'Golden Biznaga' for best picture (awarded to the Best Spanish picture, and also, in a different category, to the Best Ibero-American picture). Other awardees, such as "Critic's Choice" and "Best Direction" receive Silver Biznagas. In addition the festival hosts panel discussions and round-tables on topics of current interest in Spanish cinema.

Golden Biznaga

The Golden Biznaga for Best Spanish Picture was awarded as follows:

Informational notes

References

External links