The Festival de Málaga, organised by Malaga City Council through Malaga Procultura, has awarded the Biznaga de Honor to the Argentinean filmmakers and screenwriters Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat at a ceremony held at the Echegaray Theatre. With this award, the event wanted to recognise the career of one of the most influential creative duos in contemporary audiovisuals. The gala was attended by the honoured directors, the actor Antonio Banderas, and the director of the Festival de Málaga, Juan Antonio Vigar.

On the occasion of this recognition, the festival organised a retrospective dedicated to his work, including four of his most representative feature films: El hombre de al lado (The Man Next Door), El ciudadano ilustre (The Illustrious Citizen), Competencia oficial (Official Competition) and Homo Argentum (Homo Argentum). The tribute ceremony was followed by the screening of Official Competition, a film starring Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz and Óscar Martínez.

During the opening ceremony, Juan Antonio Vigar explained that the festival had long wanted to see again the Argentinean filmmakers, who visited Malaga more than two decades ago. "We have been hoping for a long time that they would come back to Malaga for a second time", said the director of the event, who underlined that their return has allowed us to "close a temporary circle".

Vigar also stressed the importance of his filmography, and explained that the festival wanted to take advantage of his visit to offer a representative sample of his work. "You have a magnificent set of films and we have programmed four titles that represent your cinematic universe very well," said the director of the event.

Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat have been working as a creative duo since the late 1990s, becoming a reference in contemporary Argentinean audiovisuals thanks to a style characterised by satire, provocation and a critical view of art, power and social contradictions. His works are distinguished by a sharp humour that serves as a narrative tool to portray the human condition.

During the meeting with the audience, the directors recalled the impact of their latest work, Homo Argentum, a film based on sixteen short stories that reflect on Argentinean identity. Duprat explained that the film has generated a strong social reaction in his country. "The nice thing was that the film came out of the cinema and people started discussing it in their homes and in the streets. For us, it is spectacular for a film to generate such an impact," he said.

The director also reported that the reception was intense and polarised. "There was a lot of very fierce debate, for and against. One political group even asked for our nationality to be revoked because of the film", he recalled with a laugh, stressing that this controversy is part of the dialogue his works seek to provoke.

For his part, Mariano Cohn reflected on the evolution of his career, pointing out that El ciudadano ilustre, winner of the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, was a turning point in his career. "I think it was the film with the most solid and stable script, while still maintaining our position with the audience. It is one of those films that questions and forces us to take a position", he explained.

The directors also recalled the close ties their films have maintained with Spain, as many of them have been developed as co-productions with the country. "All of these films we are talking about are co-produced with Spain, so we feel that they are also a little bit Spanish," said Cohn.

One of the central moments of the event was the conversation about Competencia oficial, the film that was screened after the tribute. Mariano Cohn recalled that the project was born out of a conversation with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, in which the idea arose to bring Antonio Banderas on board even before there was a script.

"We had a meeting with Antonio and Penelope in London with a blank sheet of paper. We wanted to have fun and make a film about acting and the world of cinema", explained the director, who recalled that the filming was conceived as a kind of "live acting match", in which the performers could continuously display their work.

Duprat added that filming was interrupted by the pandemic in 2020, which forced production to stop for several months. However, this unexpected pause ended up having a positive effect on the creative process. "This forced break allowed us to study what we had shot and to understand the film better to make the second part even stronger", he pointed out.

Antonio Banderas, who was in charge of presenting the Biznaga of Honour to the directors, humorously recalled some of the key elements of the film. "If you've seen 'Competencia oficial’ you know what we do with awards," he joked, referring to one of the film's most memorable scenes.

The actor from Malaga also highlighted the pleasure of working with the Argentinian duo. "It was a pleasure for me to shoot with them. Many of the things you will see in the film are real: the mannerisms of the actors, the competitions that take place on the set, and the eccentricity of the film world," he said.

Banderas stressed that Cohn and Duprat's films stand out for their critical and satirical look at human behaviour. "His films offer an extraordinary insight into human beings and their follies, especially in the world of art and cinema," he said before presenting them with the award.