The Malaga Festival recognizes Julio Diamante with a Biznaga

The Benalmádena International Arthouse Film Week, directed by Julio Diamante, turns 50 and is celebrated with a documentary based on its history.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Benalmádena International Author Cinema Week (SICAB), he Malaga Festival and the Benalmádena City Council have wanted to pay tribute to its director, Julio Diamante, giving him as recognition of his career by the Biznaga of the Festival y The Girl from Benalmádena.

The event was also attended by the director of the Malaga Festival, Juan Antonio Vigar, the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre and the Councilor for Culture of Benalmádena, Elena Galán, and the director of the documentary, Eduardo Trias, who have presented these awards as a sign of gratitude for their contribution to the culture of the province.

This festival emerged in the late sixties and was considered a pioneering event. With only two years he managed to become known throughout the world, which helped the internationalization of Malaga and Spain in the last years of the Franco dictatorship.

Julio Diamante has highlighted his love for cinema, culture and freedom. “It was this love of cinema and Andalusia that is why I decided to take on the direction of the Festival,” says the winner. The Councilor for Culture of Benalmádena, Elena Galán, has expressed her gratitude to the former director of SICAB for his contribution to the youth of the time who were fighting for a fairer, freer and more supportive world: "we hope that it will serve so that the new generations of Benalmádenans will have the Author Film Week and the name of Julio Diamante in their memory."

For his part, the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, has said that with the delivery of this Biznaga historical justice is done. “The documentary tells a story of freedom in a very difficult time to which they managed to give stability to the Festival,” comments the mayor. This film is a production of the Benalmádena city council and the Malaga Festival, which credits Diamante as “a great fighter, promoter, specialist and director who did everything in his power to make it as big as possible.”

The event ended with a discussion in which the film critic Carlos F. Heredero referred to Diamante as “an intellectual in the history of Spain, an expert in other arts such as singing and jazz.”

A story of cinema and freedom

The event began with the screening of the documentary A story of cinema and freedom. Benalmádena International Author Film Week which narrates the evolution of SICAB, which began with a mythical meeting of filmmakers that was organized between 1969 and 1989. It was born during the Franco dictatorship and developed, with two parentheses, during the transition with a total of 17 editions.

Its founder and director in its first two editions was Luis Mamerto López Tapia who knew how to create an attractive event and was a great success. After a year of transition directed by José Luis Guarner, the director for the remaining fourteen years was the filmmaker Julio Diamante who gave it the imprint and personality that made it world famous and consolidated a prestigious festival that continues to this day. It is a story of cinema and freedom that was a window to international knowledge and culture, whose importance and relevance now, fifty years later, is celebrated.