The Festival de Málaga closed its 27th edition with its usual Closing Gala, where the Biznaga Awards were presented to the winners of the contest. This year it was hosted by the presenter Elena Sánchez and the actor Julián López.

The event began with pianist Alejandro Pelayo, who in addition to providing the soundtrack for the entire ceremony, played chords of great songs from Spanish cinema such as 'Porque te vas', by Jeanette; ‘Tómbola’, by Marisol; or 'La Llamada’, by Leiva, while the gala presenters gave it a voice by providing great humour.

The hosts of the gala wanted to take stock of these ten very intense days of cinema, in which all types of new Spanish and Spanish-speaking cinema were presented: films, documentaries, shorts, animation, among others.

But without a doubt, the main protagonists of the night were the award-winning teams from all the sections that make up the Festival. The winner of the Gold Biznaga for best Spanish film was Segundo Premio’, by Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez. The director of the San Sebastián Festival and member of the judging panel, José Luis Rebordinos, was in charge of presenting the award to the Catalan directors, who wanted to thank the Festival for the award: 'We want to thank the jury and the Festival, but, above all, the people who have inspired us the most. And no, they are not filmmakers, they are the makers of songs like Kiko Veneno or Los planetas,' the winners highlighted. The film also won the Silver Biznaga for best direction and best editing.
 
Director Christopher Zalla took the stage to collect the Gold Biznaga for best Ibero-American film for 'Radical', a Mexican production based on a Wired article from 2013: 'A radical way to unleash a generation of geniuses'. The film's producer, Fernando Riera, collected the award and wanted to thank the Festival and the jury for 'selecting such an important film that deals with the education of boys and girls in a country like Mexico, in which the difficulties they are huge'.

As for the acting awards, the actors Luis Zahera and Joaquín Furriel collected the Silver Biznaga for the best ex aequo male performance, the first for the performance in 'Pájaros' and the second for 'Descansar en paz'. While Zahera thanked the Festival through a video, since due to work reasons he could not attend the ceremony, Furriel wanted to express his concern about the political situation in Argentina: 'I want to thank the entire Latin American film community for this award, who always convey their concerns to me about what is happening in our country. Culture exists to be able to build our identity, but without culture there is no identity.

The actress Lola Amores, who was awarded the Silver Biznaga Hotel AC Málaga Palacio for the best female performance for 'La Mujer Salvaje', thanked the jury for thinking about her work and the director for being 'what any actress dreams of'.

Adriana Ozores won the Silver Biznaga for best supporting female performance for 'Los Pequeños Amores', while in the male category the award went to Gabriel Goity for 'Descansar en paz'.

The audience, in addition to having enjoyed the continuous presence of pianist Alejandro Pelayo, who provided the soundtrack for the entire ceremony, also witnessed the musical performances of Kiki Morente, with a version of the song 'Piensa en mí’ by Luz Casal; St. Pedro, with his hit 'Dos extraños’, and Vetusta Morla, with their latest song 'La sábana de mis fantasmas’.

The gala ended with a group photo of all the winners on stage, a wish and a toast: 'Next year we will meet again at the Festival de Málaga between March the 14^th and 23^rd. In the meantime, we want to raise a toast to the Oscars tomorrow night. Good luck to Pablo Berger for 'Robot Dreams' and to J. Bayona for 'La sociedad de la nieve'. In the meantime, please go to the cinema, since going to the cinema is much more than watching a movie. Thank you all,' Elena Sánchez in the presence of a packed-out Cervantes Theatre.