Fernando Méndez-Leite opts for re-election this Saturday as head of the Film Academy as the only candidate

The Film Academy will celebrate this Saturday, June 20, the elections to renew his presidency, a process in which a single candidate participates, the one headed by the current president, Fernando Méndez-Leitewho thus opts for a second term at the head of the institution.

After the deadline for submitting nominations closed on May 20, the Academy confirmed that the list led by the director, screenwriter, writer and film critic was the only one presented. A month earlier, on April 20, Méndez-Leite confirmed in a statement that he would run againalthough on this occasion together with the producer Félix Tusell as first vice president and the actress Ángela Cervantes as second vice president.

In-person voting will take place at the Academy headquarters, during the General Assembly called for this Saturday, while academics were also able to exercise their right to vote electronically until this Thursday.

Méndez-Leite became President of the Academy in June 2022, when he won an election in which, for the first time in the history of the institution, four candidates competed. During these four years he has been accompanied in the direction by the producer Rafa Portela and the actress Susi Sánchez as vice presidents.

In an interview given to Europa Press last February, the president of the Academy gave a positive assessment of his management, ensuring that he was “very happy” with the work carried out and highlighting the support received from the institution’s team.

Méndez-Leite acknowledged that he had not yet made a decision about his continued leadership of the Academy, a possibility that he finally materialized with the presentation of his candidacy. In that same conversation, Méndez-Leite defended the Academy’s position regarding cases of abuse and sexual assault in the film sector, reiterating the institution’s commitment to zero tolerance for this type of behavior, and also addressed issues related to the Goya Awards and the moment that Spanish cinema is going through.

In addition to electing the Presidency and the two Vice-Presidencies, the General Assembly will serve to renew half of the Board of Directors of the institution and the Specialty Commissions, whose members have a four-year term.

A MORE NUMEROUS ACADEMY WITH NEW PROJECTS

Under his mandate, the Academy has exceeded 3,000 members for the first time, one of the objectives that the institution had set in recent years. In addition, the Prevention and Attention Unit against Sexist Violence in the Audiovisual and Cultural Sector has been created, promoted together with the Ministry of Culture after the cases of abuses uncovered in the industry. The unit began operation in October 2024.

Likewise, a year ago the Ministry of Culture announced the transfer of the former NO-DO to house the future Cinema Museum, a center aimed at preserving and disseminating Spanish cinematographic heritage.

In the case of the Goya Awards, it has also been possible to consolidate the model of celebrating the awards in Seville, Valladolid, Granada, among other cities, and moving away from the centralization of the event in the capital.