Belén Atienza will receive the Elías Querejeta Award

Created to recognize outstanding producers of Spanish cinema, the Film Academy will present the Elías Querejeta Prize to Belén Atienza on September 23, within the framework of the San Sebastián Festival.

A pioneer of big-budget films with an international vision in our cinema, Belén Atienza has made a career putting into practice the principle of what for her is the essence of production: bringing a story to the screen with a team and the vision of a filmmaker.

Pan's Labyrinth, Alatriste, Che: Guerrilla and Che, the Argentine, The Orphanage, The Impossible, People in Places, A Monster Comes to See Me, The Secret of Marrowbone, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom y The snow society (which earned her her first Goya) are just some of the many projects of this Madrid professional, distinguished with the Elías Querejeta Prize.

"I want to deeply thank the Academy for this precious recognition. Elías Querejeta is a totem of our cinematography, a reference not only for all production companies, but for all of us who dedicate ourselves to cinema. Receiving an award that bears his name is overwhelming to me, but I also feel it as an encouragement to continue looking for stories, to continue making them ambitious and for them to reach the public," says this professional who, when she was informed of the decision of the institution's Board of Directors, felt “surprise, joy, pride and responsibility.”

Created by the Film Academy to recognize producers who take risks in the creative development of their craft, betting on the internationalization of Spanish cinema and the careers of new filmmakers, this award has gone in its second edition to this lawyer by profession whose cinematographic training has been passionate.

Right hand and creative partner of Juan Antonio Bayona, with whom he forms one of the most successful professional tandems in Spanish cinema, worked in Sogecable y Telecinco Cinema, where he had the opportunity to learn about the international market, pre-sales, manage different budgets depending on the projects, see the trials and errors", and founded together with Enrique Lopez Lavigne the production company Apaches Entertainment.

Atienza looks back and remembers the people “from whom I have learned and with whom I have shared a journey throughout these years.” From his father, "a great film buff. If I dedicate myself to this world it is because of him"; of the producers Jose Vicuna, “the one I started with”, Maria Angle, “who gave me the first opportunity”; Enrique Lopez Lavigne y Sandra Hermida; from his colleagues at Telecinco Cinema Alvaro Augustín y Ghislain Barrois; and, above all, 'Jota' "with whom I have learned a lot and with whom I have enjoyed making films."

For the Madrid production company, a project does not go ahead without a relationship of understanding, respect and shared passion with the director. "You have to find the project, know how to develop it into something that lives up to that idea, get the necessary means so that the director can develop its full potential and get the best out of that story. With an industrial panorama that is more complicated than in previous years, it is important to find the right partners," says Atienza, for whom the producer is "the mother of the project. He creates it, raises it, makes it believe and puts it out into the world," he adds.

Defender of continuing to create films for the big screen, and in favor of the history of cinema being part of the school curriculum, her table is full of proposals and new projects. He is currently co-producing the debut feature of Martin Mauregui, crazy old woman, with Carmen Maura; with Sandra Hermida the feature film directing debut of Elena Manrique, End of party; and the three have the new project in pre-production. Isaki Lacuesta.