On 26th September, the director, screenwriter and producer Pedro Almodóvar will receive a Donostia Award at the 72nd edition of the San Sebastian Festival. Presentation of the honorary award, which recognises the extraordinary contribution to the world of cinema by the person receiving the tribute, will take place in the Kursaal Auditorium prior to the screening of his latest movie, La habitación de al lado / The Room Next Door, his first feature film in English, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, to compete for the Golden Lion at the upcoming Venice Festival. It will be Swinton who will be on stage to present the award to him.

Pedro Almodóvar's career, which includes more than a dozen short films, some widely travelled in the international arena, such as La voz humana / The Human Voice (2020), premiered at the Venice Festival, and Extraña forma de vida / Strange Way of Life (2023), screened at Cannes, and nigh on thirty feature films, boasts almost 170 awards and more than 200 nominations. Among his accolades are two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, seven European Film Academy Awards, five BAFTAs, four Césars, five Goyas and two David de Donatellos. He has harvested laurels at the Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian festivals, as well as being the subject of a homage at the MOMA. He has also received recognitions including the Jean Renoir Award, has been chosen for the David Lean Lecture and named doctor honoris causa at Harvard and Oxford, as well as having been honoured with the National Medal of Arts in the USA, the Spanish Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, the Prince of Asturias Medal of the Arts and the French Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour.

Added to his artistic talent and his instantly recognisable visual style (his personality shines through from the art direction to the soundtrack), Pedro Almodóvar's cinema is remarkable for the writing of its female characters, the directing of its actors, its courage in addressing subjects such as the LGBTIQ+ universe, religion, sex, addiction and historical memory, and his political commitment, which has driven him to take a public stance against war and extreme right-wing discourse.

Almodóvar at the San Sebastian Festival

Pedro Almodóvar visited the San Sebastian Festival for the first time in 1980 with his second feature, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón / Pepi, Luci, Bom, competing in the New Filmmakers section. It was also screened in the Neighbourhoods and Towns initiative and, 24 years later, in 2004, was recovered in the Incorrect@s retrospective. He competed in the Official Selection with his next film, Laberinto de pasiones / Labyrinth of Passions (1982). Artxiboa, the San Sebastian Festival's historical archive, contains evidence of these visits. From 1980, it has a photograph of the filmmaker with Blanca Sánchez and Olvido Gara (Alaska) at the premier of Pepi, Luci, Bom, as well as a hand-written note authorising the screening of his films in locations throughout the Basque Country and Navarre. Dating from 1982 is a snapshot of his arrival to the Victoria Eugenia Theatre with actresses Marta Fernández Muro and Cecilia Roth. Outstanding from 1993 is the picture with Rossy de Palma, Bibi Ándersen and Loles León on the Paseo de la República Argentina, the year the Festival's Zabaltegi section recovered the moviemaker's debut film outside the commercial circuit, Folle, folle, fólleme, Tim / Fuck… Fuck… Fuck Me, Tim! (1978) as part of the homage paid to the director with the name of The Almodóvar Night. The event also included the screening of fragments from Kika, still in post-production at that time.  

(1) Pedro Almodóvar, Olvido Gara "Alaska" and Blanca Sánchez make their way up the stairs of the Victoria Eugenia Theatre for the premiere of Pepi, Luci, Bom. (2) Hand-written note by Pedro Almodóvar authorising the Neighbourhoods and Towns Committee to screen his movie Pepi, Luci, Bom. [San Sebastian Festival Archive]

(3) Director Pedro Almodóvar and actresses Marta Fernández Muro and Cecilia Roth, following their arrival at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre. (4) Pedro Almodóvar on the Paseo de la República Argentina with Rossy de Palma and Bibi Ándersen in the background (Miguel Ángel Martirena, 1993). [San Sebastian Festival Archive]

In 1995 Almodóvar returned to the Official Selection with La flor de mi secreto / The Flower of My Secret, screened out of competition. That same year the retrospective entitled The Bazaar of Surprises recovered his short film Trailer para los amantes de lo prohibido (1985). Since then, many of his films have featured on the Festival programme, following their screening at festivals such as Cannes and Venice, in the Made in Spain section: Carne trémula / Live Flesh (1998); Todo sobre mi madre / All About My Mother (1999), recipient of the FIPRESCI Grand Prix in San Sebastian; Hable con ella / Talk to Her (2002); La mala educación / Bad Education (2004), opening movie at Cannes; Volver (2006), which also received the FIPRESCI Grand Prix in San Sebastian; Los abrazos rotos / Broken Embraces (2009), Los amantes pasajeros / I'm So Excited (2013), Julieta (2016) and Dolor y Gloria / Pain and Glory (2019), to name but a few of the most significant.

(5) Pedro Almodóvar in conversation with Bertrand Tavernier at the 1996 festival. (6) The director, at the back of the stage, applauds Al Pacino at the Gala where the American actor received the Donostia Award that same year. (7) Filmmaker Iván Zulueta hugs his friend Pedro, in 2002, at the 50th anniversary of the Festival.

His presence in San Sebastian has also been linked to the El Deseo production company, which he founded in 1986 with his brother Agustín and which, as well as producing his films, has backed films selected for the Horizontes Latinos section, such as El último verano de la Boyita / The Last Summer of La Boyita (2009) and Perlak in San Sebastian: Relatos salvajes / Wild Tales (Audience Award for Best European Film, 2014), El clan / The Clan and El ángel / The Angel (2018), whose screening coincided with Almodóvar's most recent visit to the Festival. This year he also comes as the producer of Salvador del Solar's Ramón y Ramón, to screen in Horizontes Latinos.

(8-9) Pedro Almodóvar presented the Donostia Award to Woody Allen in 2004 and to Antonio Banderas in 2008.

(10) His brother and producer Agustín Almodóvar accepted the Fipresci Grand Prix for Volver in 2006, and in 2014 and 2018 El Deseo co-produced the films Relatos salvajes (11) and El ángel (12), respectively.

In addition to bringing movies, Almodóvar has backed the San Sebastian Festival with his presence by attending the event's 50th anniversary (2002) and presenting the Donostia Award to Al Pacino (1996), Woody Allen (2004) and Antonio Banderas (2008). In 2024 Almodóvar himself will receive the distinction from the actress Tilda Swinton, actor of the short film La voz humana / The Human Voice and his latest movie, La habitación de al lado / The Room Next Door.