The Ciudad de la Luz award goes to Álex de la Iglesia
Ciudad de la Luz, sponsor of the Alicante Film Festival, is to give its award to the director Álex de la Iglesia. The award will be handed over as part of this audiovisual event, now in its fifth year, which will take place from May 29 to June 8 in various locations and venues across Alicante.
Ciudad de la Luz and the Generalitat Valenciana are once again supporting the Alicante Film Festival which, year by year, is establishing itself nationally as one of the most high-profile cultural dates in the Seventh Art agenda.
Besides collaborating in the Alicante Film Festival, Ciudad de la Luz established this award, presented annually since its creation four years ago to the director who, despite not being a newcomer to the world of filmography, shows as much promise as the audiovisual project itself, as sponsored by the Valencian Autonomous Government.
In 2008, Álex de la Iglesia was the fifth film maker to be presented with the Ciudad de la Luz award. In previous years, this award has been given to other directors such as Miguel Bardem, Achero Mañas, Gracia Querejeta and Bigas Luna.
A well-grounded career
Álex de la Iglesia (Bilbao 1965), began his career in the audiovisual sector with the art directon of short films, such as ‘Mamá’ (1988), by Pablo Berger, and ‘Anything for Bread’ (1991), by Enrique Urbizu.
His first short film as a director was ‘Mirindas asesinas’ (1991). With this work, Álex de la Iglesia beat Pedro Almodóvar and in 1993, his production house, El Deseo Films, produced the Basque director's first feature film, ‘Mutant Action’.
From then on, his new titles were to set him apart as one of the most versatile and established directors in Spain. His film 'The Day of the Beast' (1995) was met by widespread acclaim from public and critics alike. Thanks to this film, the producer and his team took home six Goya awards, including the prize for best direction.
His later films would only serve to reinforce the early success of his career: ‘Dance With the Devil’ (1997), ‘Dying of Laughter’ (1999), ‘Common Wealth’ (2000), ‘800 Bullets’ (2002), ‘Ferpect Crime’ (2004) and ‘Films to Keep You Awake: The Baby's Room’ (2006).
His most recent film as director is ‘The Oxford Crimes’ (2008), starring Elijah Wood and Leonor Watling. This production has amassed nearly 8 million Euros in box office takings, making it the biggest box office hit of 2008 with a total of 1,370,132 viewers.