Sitges film festival honors 'Truman Show' director with award
Australian filmmaker Peter Weir receives honorary prize, while event premieres superhero parody, 'Superlópez'
The Sitges Film Festival might be drawing to a close, but there is still plenty going on at the international event on the Catalan coast. On Thursday, for example, the festival paid tribute to the prestigious Australian filmmaker Peter Weir.
The director of the celebrated 'The Truman Show' was awarded the Grand Honorary Prize, recognizing his career in fantasy film, which includes creating a movie that, even 20 years later, still rings true in an era of social media and live retransmissions of our daily lives.
Before receiving his prize, Weir said that he is still "fascinated" that his award-winning movie "remains so alive 20 years since its release," although he also gave much of the credit for the film's success to its scriptwriter, Andrew Niccol.
In reflecting on the movie, Weir compared it to how wine matures. "When we shot it, it was meant to be seen at that time, but what has happened is what happens to some wines, which mature in the bottle and end up being better as the years go by."
Yet, Weir regretted that the audiovisual industry has seen a "huge" change in recent years, with a "decline" in cinema audiences in favor of television. While admitting this provides "a marvelous opportunity" for writers and actors, he also said it is not so good for directors.
Premiere of 'Superlópez'
Thursday also saw the premiere of Javier Ruiz Caldera's movie 'Superlópez,' a live action version of the 1970s comic book. "Superlópez was born as a parody of Superman over 40 years ago and we have parodied today's superhero films," said the movie's star, Dani Rovira.
Apart from the director and the star of the movie, also in Sitges for the premiere of 'Superlópez' were actors Julián López and Alexandra Jiménez. The film is a joint production between Zeta Cinema, Telecinco Cinema and Gran Superproducción Aie.
Rovira added that in making the movie they decided to stay away from "the impeccable and infallible" American superheroes. "If there is one wonderful thing we have in Spain it is the capacity to make fun of other places," he said.