Fernando Colomo and Beatriz de la Gándara, EGEDA Gold Medal at the 26 José María Forqué Awards

The duo will be recognized for almost three decades of joint dedication to film production. The award will be presented to them at an in-person gala to be held on January 16 in Madrid.

The filmmakers Fernando Colomo y Beatriz de la Gándara will be distinguished with the Gold Medal of EGEDA in the 26th edition of the José María Forqué Awards. The award recognizes their work together for more than 25 years, which highlights “a firm commitment to new filmmakers who have become great figures in our industry, as well as great tenacity and perseverance to carry out their own projects,” in the words of Enrique Cerezo, president of the Board of Directors of EGEDA. The delivery gala will take place in person on January 16 at the IFEMA Municipal Palace in Madrid.

Beatriz de la Gándara and Fernando Colomo have been working together since 1993 and have produced more than twenty works in which a clear commitment to new talents is evident. Throughout their career, they have supported the debut films of great names in Spanish cinematography such as: Mariano Barroso (My soul brother, 1992), Icíar Bollaín (Hello. Are you alone?, 1995), Daniel Calparsoro (Jump into the void, 1995), Azucena Rodríguez (between red, 1995), Alfonso Albacete and David Menkes (More than love frenzy, 1996), Chema de la Peña (Shacky Carmine, 1998), Inés París and Daniela Fejerman (My mother likes women, 2001), Vicente Molina Foix (Sagittarius, 2001) Santiago Zannou (The one-armed trick, 2008).

Within Fernando Colomo's own filmography, the symbiosis of both has played a key role. A joint work that has resulted in some iconic works such as: Rosa Rosae, The Barbarian Years or Alegre ma non troppo, the latter with Penélope Cruz, Rosa María Sardá and Jordi Mollá and which, among other recognitions, won the grand jury prize at the Paris Festival or the award for best script at the Peñíscola Comedy Festival. A talent association that lasted for decades and that also gave rise to films such as The Butterfly Effect, Eso, Al Sur de Granada, The Next East, Rivals or The Picasso Band.

Two pillars of Spanish cinema

Fernando Colomo has a long and fruitful career as a director, screenwriter, producer and even as an actor. Nominated five times for the Goya awards, Colomo took his first steps in the audiovisual industry at just 16 years old, signing his first short films. paper tigers It will be his debut feature that will attract attention and place him in a prominent position that he will consolidate with his next work: What's a girl like you doing in a place like this? (1978); Both films feature the iconic actress Carmen Maura in their cast.

During the 80s and in the midst of the effervescence of The Madrid scene chains titles like I'm in crisis (selected at the Venice Film Festival), The sky line, The joyful life (for which Verónica Forqué obtains the Goya award for best actress) or Get down to the Moor (with which he was nominated for the Goya for best adapted screenplay); At the same time, he does not leave aside his production work and bets on the talent of Fernando Trueba in his first feature film. First film (1980). In 1985 he made the international leap through the blockbuster The dragon knight starring Harvey Keitel and Klaus Kinski.

Comedy is a genre that has marked his entire career and during the 90s he continued to achieve great success with critics and audiences in film and television with feature films such as Rose Rose, Alegro but not too much (two films in which Javier Cámara debuts), The Butterfly Effect, The Barbarian Years, Havana Quartet one to the series The girls of today.

With the new century, his creativity continues unaltered and he immerses himself in projects that combine all types of formats and platforms. Tapes like South of Granada, The Picasso band, The tribe, Isla Bonita o Before burning They reiterate their ability to reach the public and specialized critics. His latest work is Polyamory for beginners, starring Karra Elejalde, Quim Ávila, María Pedraza, Toni Acosta and Luis Bermejo, which finished filming this past November.

From television to cinema

For her part, Beatriz de la Gándara began her career in television as a journalist and scriptwriter; At this stage he carried out multiple works in documentaries such as Europa, Europa by Pedro Erquicia, which won the Ondas Award. His experience in this genre leads him to take the next step and create his own production company. With Pandora TV he carries out some outstanding work such as Water and sand maps, the lives of Jane and Paul Bowles for TV Documents from TVE or From Madrid to Madrid, New Mexico for Telemadrid.

In the 90s he switched to fiction with Colomo and from then on he was a key piece in his filmography; titles as iconic as The butterfly effect (1995), The barbaric years (1997) o South of Granada (2002), bear the seal of Beatriz herself. While, on the other hand, it also explores its catalytic capacity for new talents.

He has combined works such as thriller Evelyn (Isabel de Ocampo) with comedies like The night my mother killed my father (Inés Paris) o Before the Burning (Fernando Colomo), both awarded the audience prize at the Malaga Festival. His passion for the seventh art and his commitment to the industry even led him to temporarily occupy the presidency of the Film Academy in 2014.

Fernando Colomo and Beatriz de la Gándara take the baton from other great figures who have been recognized with this award such as Pedro Masó, Elías Querejeta, Eduardo Ducay, José Luis Borau, Fernando Trueba, Agustín Almodóvar, Santiago Segura, Carlos Saura, José Frade or Gonzalo Suárez last year.

The awarding of the Gold Medal will be one of the most emotional moments of a gala that will be broadcast by TVE's La 1. Adú, Akelarre, Rosa's wedding y The girls are the competitors for the Best Fiction Feature Film Award in a year where one of the great novelties is the introduction of three new categories corresponding to the series section. In this section Anti-disturbances, The Money Heist, Patria y Poison They will fight to win their main recognition.