The filmmaker Cecilia Bartolomé, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts

The award also recognizes the work of Manuel Alejandro, Eduardo Cardenal Gómez, Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas, Jorge Herralde Grau, 'Victoria Eugenia (Betty)', Mansilla+Tuñón Arquitectos, Tomás Marco Aragón, Victorino Martín Andrés, Gerard Mortier, Alicia Hermida, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Festival PhotoEspaña, Joan Pons Álvarez, Juanjo Seoane, Sybilla and the Teatro Principal de Mahón

The Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, José Ignacio Wert, has awarded the Gold Medals for Merit in Fine Arts. This award distinguishes people and entities that have stood out in the field of artistic and cultural creation or have provided notable services in the promotion, development or dissemination of art and culture or in the conservation of artistic heritage.

Through the Royal Decree approved last Friday, the Council of Ministers grants the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts, in its gold category, to Manuel Alejandro, Cecilia Margarita Bartolomé Pina, Eduardo Cardenal Gómez, Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas, Jorge Herralde Grau, 'Victoria Eugenia (Betty)', Mansilla+Tuñón Arquitectos, Tomás Marco Aragón, Victorino Martín Andrés, Gerard Mortier, Alicia Hermida, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, PhotoEspaña Festival, Joan Pons Álvarez, Juanjo Seoane, Sybilla and the Teatro Principal de Mahón.

The film director, Cecilia Margarita Bartolomé Pina, born in 1943 in Valencia, is one of the pioneering women of Spanish cinema. Director, screenwriter and producer, she was one of the first women, along with Pilar Miró and Josefina Molina, to graduate from the Official School of Cinematography in the sixties. His debut work Let's go, Barbara! (1978) is considered by critics to be the first feminist film in the history of Spanish cinema. In 1980 he directed the documentaries After…part one: You cannot be left alone y After…part two: Tied and well tied (1981), both about the stage of the Spanish political Transition. His next job would be Far from Africa (1996). He has also made the documentary chapter Carrero Blanco Special: the beginning of the end (2005), for the Spanish television series Cuéntame. She received the 2012 Women of Cinema award at the 50th edition of the Gijón International Film Festival.