Film director Fernando Méndez-Leite has been elected as the new president of the Film Academy, replacing Mariano Barroso, with the support of 348 academics from the institution –out of a total of 820 votes–.
For the first time in the history of the institution, four candidates had been presented: those headed by Valérie Delpierre, Luisa Gavasa, Teresa Medina and Méndez-Leite himself. Méndez-Leite (Direction) formed a team with Rafael Portela (Production), who will be first vice president, and Susi Sánchez (Interpretation), as second vice president.
The counting of votes has been closed with the participation of 820 academics, of the 1,846 with the right to vote, which represents a participation of 44%. The electoral process has had “a very high participation”, according to the Academy, in relation to the previous process of June 2018, when 353 academics exercised their right to vote.
The short list formed by Mariano Barroso, Rafael Portela and Nora Navas, the only candidate, was the one that received the most support so far in the history of the Academy, with 315 votes.
On this same day, half of the Board of Directors has also been renewed. The Assembly has been open only to academics, who have been able to vote online and by mail, and who have also been able to exercise their right to vote during the Assembly. From the Academy it has been explained that it has been one of the most “participatory” days in recent years.
From 10:00 to 11:30 the ballot box was open at the Madrid headquarters for academics with the right to vote –full members, supernumerary members, honorary members and associate members–.
Méndez-Leite’s candidacy has prevailed over that of Valérie Delpierre (Documentary), who was presented accompanied by Amparo Climent (Interpretation) and Alicia Luna (Screenplay), while Luisa Gavasa (Interpretation) had the support of Juan Vicente Córdoba (Direction) and Virginia Yagüe (Script).
In addition, the candidacy presented by Teresa Medina (Director of Photography) was completed with Pilar Pérez Solano (Documentary) and Cristina Rodríguez (Costume Design) and was made up only of technicians.
After announcing his election, the new president of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, has assured that he will commit to a policy of “continuity” with respect to his predecessor, Mariano Barroso, although he acknowledges that on the subject of audiovisuals — production companies , platforms– there is “a melon that is extremely dangerous to open.”
“Whether we take the children to the movies or not, we are fighting against or in favor of a new reality in which we are all immersed. We cannot close our eyes to the evolution of the times, nor to technological changes, nor to the way of see cinema and exhibit it. The platforms and the big production companies are also producing audiovisuals, and that would have to be studied a lot”, he pointed out.
“If they enter the Academy or not, there would be a lot to consider. Does ‘Roma’ enter? Does ‘The Irishman’ enter? It is a metaphysical subject and it is very difficult, as long as the material is bad there is no problem, but if it is already beginning to to be good…”, the filmmaker commented humorously.
In any case, Méndez-Leite understands that this debate on platform films is “open” in the Academy, although “it has to be limited as much as possible to cinema, which is his field.” “But it is something that will come up again on the board of directors, at a time when there are other people representing different specialties, and there may be new sensitivities and different opinions,” she pointed out.
THE GOYA LOS ANGELES GALA, “A NIGHTMARE”
Despite the fact that he has recognized that he will need some acclimatization time to start addressing the different problems, he has advanced that this Monday there will already be the first meeting and the topic of the Goya Awards will come up in it, since this week it was announced that in 2023 They will travel back to Seville.
“The Goya Awards are the showcase of the Academy, not the only thing but what gives greater visibility, and we must be careful that it is a difficult subject to tackle,” explained the filmmaker, stressing that this difficulty comes from the organization of the finery. “They rarely come out at least to my liking, because I am very demanding with that genre”, he has indicated, joking with the fact that in 2006 he was in charge of directing the gala and “it was a nightmare”.
On the morning of this Saturday, elections were also held at the Zurbano headquarters to elect the new members of the Specialty Commissions. The most voted academic of each specialty becomes a member of the board of directors with a term in force until 2026.
Thus, half of the components of the Board of Directors of the institution are renewed, formed by two members for each of the fifteen specialties, a president and two vice-presidents.