The 73rd San Sebastian Film Festival has named the winners of its second annual Loterías Award, a short film competition dedicated to social issues and organized in partnership with Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE).
The second edition of the competition received the submission of more than a hundred works, from which the selection committee chose six for appraisal by a jury presided over by the actress Carmen Machi alongside the Deputy Director of Communication at Loterías, María Núñez, and the director of the San Sebastian Festival, José Luis Rebordinos. Also in attendance at the ceremony was SELAE president Jesús Huerta.
Álvaro G. Company’s “Maruja” took the top prize and €10,000. The short focuses on the vulnerability of an 80-year-old widow who becomes the target of opportunistic phone scammers. The runner-up honor and €5,000 went to Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta’s “Medusas,” examining the human toll of migration through the stories of those arriving on Spain’s shores.
Both filmmakers were recognized Friday following a screening of the six competition titles at the Trueba cinema, which was attended by the jury, SELAE officials, and festival leadership. Other shortlisted titles included Alicia Moncholí Lueje’s “Campolivar,” José Luis Lázaro’s “Cólera,” Mikel Urretabizkaia’s “Mi tía” and “Origami” from Álvaro León.
Festival organizers said the Loterías Award was created to highlight films that use the medium “to send positive and heartening messages advocating the redistribution of wealth, the elimination of inequalities and social justice.” Submissions this year frequently addressed loneliness and elderly care, emigration, cancer patients and their families, and gender-based violence.
Speaking at the event, Festival director José Luis Rebordinos voiced his “satisfaction” at the response to the second call of the Loterías Award. “Like last year, the standard of the short films is very high, both in regard to their filmmaking and to the topics addressed, once again proving that the cinema is, as well as entertainment, a tool for raising social awareness”, he stressed.
The President of Loterías, Jesús Huerta, emphasized that “Loterías and the San Sebastian Festival share an awareness of social issues, and with this second edition of the Loterías Award we add our grain of sand to making people realise that, only by attending to the groups in greatest need can we progress towards achieving a fairer and more egalitarian society.”
Jesús Huerta also stressed that “culture is an element of social cohesion and generates a debate typical of advanced societies such as our own” going on to highlight that “the short films submitted reflect a critical stance and a social commitment necessary for moving forward together as a society”
The San Sebastian Film Festival runs Sept. 19–27.