The Malaga Festival has granted the Malaga - SUR Award to actor Javier Cámara on Monday, at a gala that took place at Teatro Cervantes. This award, which the Festival gives in collaboration with Diario Sur, rewards professionals with a long and recognised cinematographic career, and in this edition they wanted to honour one of the most influential actors in Spanish film.
 
The host of the gala, Noemí Ruiz, wanted to highlight some of the characters that Javier has played throughout his career: Paco (or Paca), the most typical politician guy in Spain, or Benigno, from Almodóvar's famous film 'Hable con ella'.
 
As the honoured himself said in the presentation video, 'the most important thing is the personal and mind-blowing path that I take with some of these films. This job is 99% work and 1% magic, but magic doesn't happen whenever you want’.
 
After the video, his great friends Elvira Lindo, Félix Sabroso, Paloma Juanes and Luis San Narciso took the stage. Lindo wanted to highlight the friendship that they have and the ease that Cámara has to embody ordinary people: 'My friend, how good these words sound when they are true. We are friends at first sight, cousins and now siblings. You dedicate yourself to what you were born for, such as poets, storytellers or artists of all kinds. We need more people like you, who live their lives embodying ordinary people who hide great stories’.
 
A moved Javier Cámara took the stage and received the Malaga - SUR Award from the writer Elvira Lindo: 'Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am overwhelmed by so much affection that this city has given me: the times you have invited me, the awards you have given me,' the actor thanked.
 
But he also wanted to make a plea to all that people who are in small Spanish towns and want to dedicate themselves to this profession: 'I want to encourage these people to come to big cities like Madrid or Malaga, we need a lot of talent in this job, you can, keep trying. We must embrace this incredible new generation that is appearing with an immeasurable talent. They are going to devastate the world. It's for them, for my children and for my mother, thank you!', concluded the actor.
 
In previous editions, the Festival has granted this award to such recognised names in Spanish film as Alejandro Amenábar, Javier Gutiérrez, Maribel Verdú, Paz Vega or Jose Coronado. In its previous edition, the Festival awarded the actress Blanca Portillo.
 
Javier Cámara Meeting
 
Before the tribute gala, the Festival has held a meeting with the actor and Juan Antonio Vigar in the Rossini Hall of Teatro Cervantes, in which he wanted to highlight the great support that Malaga has given him over the years: 'Being a comedy actor, I feel that the Festival has supported me from 'Torremolinos 73', something that we thank very much, both me as an actor, and Pablo Berger as a director. The Festival has always supported talent', Cámara pointed out at the meeting.
 
When asked about the process of growth as an actor in Spanish film and his contribution to the directors with whom he has worked, he assures that ‘he tries to work as best as possible, and it is the directors who have made me grow. It is necessary that growth is not only professionally, but also personally’.
 
Although, Cámara never dreamed of being a film actor, he did aspire to be a theatre actor. After a school failure, a teacher advised him to study Dramatic Art and, the rest, is history. However, during his time at the drama school, he was recommended to devote himself to the theatre because of the small size of his eyes, something he did not pay much attention to.
 
At the meeting, he also wanted to launch a feminist plea: 'Seeing now so many young and talented women makes me wonder where they were before. We have to enjoy the moment we are living, the feminist struggle and against violence within the profession. We all have to go in the same direction’.
 
He also wanted to comment on how he sees the Spanish candidates at the next Oscars gala: 'I think 'Society of the Snow' is great, but worldwide there is a lot of level. Just being nominated is already a huge prize for Bayona. About Pablo Berger, I think that 'Robot Dreams' is amazing, highly valued all over the world, although it also has competition, including Disney'.
 
To conclude, he was asked if he has a greater mastery of the profession after so many years, to which the actor wanted to answer with an anecdote about his colleague Amparo Baró: 'During a rehearsal, she saw me nervous and told me 'It goes further, Javier, it goes further'. And it's true. I make the phrase of that passionate woman my own,' Cámara has finished.
 
Javier Cámara was born in Albelda de Iregua (La Rioja) in 1967. Winner of two Goya Awards, two Biznaga de Plata Awards and winner of the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, he is one of the most prolific and brilliant actors in Spain. In his film career, he has worked with some of the greatest Spanish filmmakers: Fernando Colomo, Pedro Almodóvar, Isabel Coixet or Gracia Querejeta, among others.