Álex Catalán's excellent digital photography in 'La isla minimal' achieves a Goya

The film, Goya for best photography, was shot digitally with an ARRI Alexa camera that responded perfectly despite the humid, hot and cold conditions.

Álex Catalán received the Goya for best Cinematography for The minimal island, the film, without a doubt, the winner of the night. For this professional, with a long career, it is his first Goya, which he receives with pride and joy for a job in which “we have all given our best and the result is there.”

To his credit, he has been in charge of photography in more than forty productions, among which his latest works stand out. Nightfall in India, Who Killed Bambi?, Group 7, The Sleeping Voice, Also the Rain y Room in Rome.

Catalán had to face the challenge of making the Guadalquivir marshes another character in the plot and capturing the mystery that the story distills in a play of lights, shadows and waters. "The first thing I thought when they approached me about the project was how little time we had and the limited budget. The theme, the story and the site were very appreciated."

The film was shot digitally with a camera ARRI Alexa responded perfectly despite the humidity, heat and cold conditions because "it is a reliable brand. I have to say that I like filming on celluloid better because in a real aesthetic comparison it offers greater beauty. However, the advantages of digital are beginning to outweigh the disadvantages."

When asked if we would have seen another island with celluloid photography, Alex Catalán has no doubts. “Evidently it would be different since the textures, the dust, the skin tones would be more noticeable… The cinematographic sensation would be of higher quality,” he confessed to Panorama Audiovisual.

A long career

The long career of this director of photography began in the mid-eighties when his sister, a focus puller by profession, gave him the opportunity to work as a camera assistant on the filming of an ONCE advertisement in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where he discovered the intensity of a professional shoot.

He began his work activity as a cameraman and illuminator for TVE in Seville, where he worked for 12 years. He attended schools in Madrid, London, Los Angeles and Cuba. His relationship and interest in the world of cinema grew, sharing his beginnings with the director Alberto Rodríguez, with whom he has continued working since then.

Before taking home this Goya, Álex Catalán also managed to convince the Jury of the last edition of the San Sebastián Festival with his photography.

He is currently awaiting the release of his latest work. A perfect day, with Fernando León de Aranoa as director.

Access to the GOYAS 2015 SPECIAL.