José Ángel Delgado and Sara Fernández presented the awards recognizing the work of actors in various productions linked to the historical genre, such as El río que nos lleva, Amar es para siempre, Hotel Almirante, and El florido pensil.
Following the gala that opened the Zaragoza International History Film and Series Festival on Friday, hosted by Ana Benavente, the documentary ‘Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre. Descubriendo Pompeya y Herculano’ (Discovering Pompeii and Herculaneum) by Silvia Pradas from Aragon was premiered
Tomorrow there will be a day of special screenings outside of the competition from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Ibercaja Foundation Patio de la Infanta and the Cervantes cinema.
El río que nos lleva (The River That Takes Us), Ovejas negras (Black Sheep), Amar es para siempre (Love Is Forever), Hotel Almirante, Amar en tiempos revueltos (Love in Troubled Times), and El florido pensil (The Flowery Pensil). These are some of the historical productions in which Juanjo Artero (Madrid, 1965) and Ana Turpin (A Coruña, 1978) have participated. Their work in these productions has earned the actors the Saraqusta 2025 Awards at the fifth edition of Saraqusta Film Festival, which they collected on Friday, April 25, at the gala that opened the event organized by the Zaragoza City Council and Cosmos Fan at the Ibercaja Patio de la Infanta Foundation in Zaragoza.
The awards were presented by Sara Fernández, Councillor for Culture, Education, and Tourism for the City of Zaragoza, who was accompanied by the festival director, José Ángel Delgado. “With the presentation of the Saraqusta Award to Juanjo Artero and Ana Turpin, we are giving special recognition to the work they have both done in daily television series, which the festival wants to highlight, as these are productions that, although fictional, have a real historical framework, and that fits in very well with the philosophy of the festival,” explained Delgado
“It is an honor to receive this award that recognizes historical audiovisual works, a genre that has been present in my life since childhood, when an actor’s subconscious is formed. The next role in my career will be historical, I am sure of it,” said Juanjo Artero. Ana Turpin, emphasized that “I have been fortunate to bring to life characters from the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War and post-war period, the wonderful 1920s, and 19th-century Andalusia. I think a festival dedicated to remembering our historical memory is very necessary so that we always know where we come from and can decide where we want to go.”
The opening gala, hosted by journalist Ana Benavente and also featuring actor Alfonso Palomares, was attended by figures from the audiovisual and cultural industry, such as award winners Artero and Turpin; film director Antonio del Real, who received the Saraqusta Award last year; Mirella R. Abrisqueta, producer, director, and member of the jury for this fifth edition; director Gaizka Urresti; and director Silvia Pradas, director of the documentary ‘Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre. Descubriendo Pompeya y Herculano’ (Discovering Pompeii and Herculaneum) which premiered today at the festival (out of competition).
Councilor Sara Fernández emphasized that the festival “is growing year after year in terms of content and response from the audiovisual sector, the people of Zaragoza, and visitors to our city. Zaragoza has been a city of cinema since the early days of this art form, and Zaragoza City Council wants to promote it by facilitating film shoots and collaborating with events such as the Saraqusta Film Festival, an event with national and international impact.”
THE ONLY AWARD OUTSIDE THE COMPETITION
The Saraqusta Award is the only one outside the competition and each year it highlights the work of professionals in the audiovisual industry who have participated in screenings about notable events or figures in history. Artero and Turpin are not the only ones recognized with this award in this edition. The festival will also pay tribute to the career of Nastassja Kinski, a German actress based in the United States who has worked in Hollywood and brought characters to life in more than 60 films. She will be the first foreign woman to receive the Saraqusta Award. To date, the figures from outside our borders who have been honored with this award are actors Joaquim de Almeida and Fabio Testi.
Nastassja Kinski’s big break in the industry came thanks to Roman Polanski in Tess, the film that will bring the festival to a close on Friday, May 2, at 9:00 p.m. at the Cervantes cinema. Her notable roles in historical films include Spring Symphony, Revolution, The Claim, and An American Rhapsody.
THE STORY OF ROQUE JOAQUÍN DE ALCUBIERRE, OPENING DOCUMENTARY
The opening of the Saraqusta Film Festival featured the premiere of ‘Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre. Descubriendo Pompeya y Herculano’ (Discovering Pompeii and Herculaneum) a documentary by the Aragonese production company Crew Films. Directed by Zaragoza-based filmmaker Silvia Pradas, the film aims to give due recognition to one of the fathers of modern archaeology: Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre, an 18th-century military engineer from Zaragoza who made archaeological discoveries such as Pompeii and Herculaneum.
“Alcubierre rescued the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum from oblivion. As director of the Bourbon excavations under Charles III, he laid the foundations for modern archaeology. His methods, although rudimentary compared to today’s, were pioneering in the systematic exploration of the past,” explains Silvia Pradas. For the filmmaker, “this documentary has been quite an adventure. We have had the opportunity to access such impressive places as the Theater of Herculaneum, located 25 meters underground, and the Villa of the Papyri, where the scrolls were found that, thanks to the latest technology, are now being read.”
The documentary team emphasized that “it has been a real honor to premiere this documentary in our homeland, the same land that saw Alcubierre’s birth. Being able to bring the people of Zaragoza closer to the story of such an unknown yet transcendental figure, whose discoveries marked milestones in history, is something that fills us with emotion. His legacy deserves to be recognized and disseminated, and there is no better place to do so than here, in Zaragoza, at a festival like Saraqusta.”
Saraqusta Film Festival is co-organized by the Zaragoza City Council and Cosmos Fan, with the support of the Government of Aragon as an institutional partner, the Ibercaja Foundation as the main partner, and Ibercaja, Carné Joven de Aragón, Aragón Alimentos, and Arafilmfest as collaborators.
SATURDAY 26 AGENDA
Tomorrow will be a day of special screenings, with the aim of opening the door to other types of content. They can be seen at the Ibercaja Foundation Patio de la Infanta and the Cervantes cinema, and admission will be free until the theaters are full.
In the morning, two films from this year’s Saraqusta Awards will be screened in the Patio de la Infanta: at 9:30 a.m., El florido pensil, starring Turpin, and at 11:30 a.m., El río que nos lleva, starring Artero. In the afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., the documentary series ‘Ataúdes blancos’ (White Coffins), directed by Silvia Ladrero, will be shown. The last screening of the day will be at 9:00 p.m. at the Cervantes cinema: the film ‘Bartolomé Bermejo. El despertar de un genio’ (Bartolomé Bermejo: The Awakening of a Genius) by José Manuel Herraiz.
Tickets for the screenings in competition at this 5th edition and for the closing gala (Friday, May 2, 7:00 p.m., Patio de la Infanta) are on sale through the festival’s official website: saraqustafilmfestival.com.