Curtain is lowered on 2025 Malaga Film Festival with Sorda as the undeniable crowd-pleaser

Paco Griñán

Málaga

Monday, 24 March 2025, 10:34

Both a crowd-pleaser and a critics' choice, Eva Libertad's debut film Sorda (Deaf) was the indisputable winner at the 28th edition of the Biznaga de Oro awards, also known as Malaga Film Festival. The last time that the jury and the public agreed on which film should take home the award for Best Film was in 2005, when José Corbacho and Juan Cruz's Tapas was awarded.

Sorda is an emotional account of the daily difficulties of a deaf woman who becomes pregnant and has to navigate society's tendency to dismiss all her abilities. Eva Libertad's own sister, Miriam Garlo, somewhat reflects her experience as a person with a hearing disability in playing the main character - a role for which she shared the award for Best Actress with La furia's (The Fury) Ángela Cervantes. During an earlier press conference, the two sisters said that they had been preparing their whole lives to tell this story, which ended up collecting a total of five awards.

The other big winner at the awards ceremony, which was celebrated at the Albéniz cinema on Saturday 22 March, was Los Tortuga (The Exiles) - the story of a mother and her daughter, whose grief experience after the death of the father is at the core of the narrative. The film won two awards: the jury's special prize and the award for Best Director for the work of Belén Funes.

The Latin American Biznaga de Oro went to Chilean director Vinko Tomicic's El Ladrón de Perros (The Dog Thief).

What the festival made clear was that female directors led the red carpet in 2025. Brilliant actresses, such as Mercedes Morán, Daniela Vega and Belén Cuesta, also strengthened female presence at the festival.

Walking the same path as his sister, Álvaro Cervantes, who plays Garlo's husband in Sorda, shared the award for Best Actor with Mario Casas. Casas was recognised for his role in Muy Lejos (Faraway) - a film that also left a big impression on critics.

The least appreciated film, at least from the point of awards, was Una Quinta Portuguesa (The Portuguese House).

The third film to come out of the Malaga Festival stronger is La Furia - Gemma Blanco's chronicle of a rape, in which Ángela Cervantes is a victim trying to digest her trauma through the role she plays in the theatre. The film won a total of three awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Álex Monner and Best Editing.

Biznaga for music went to Lo Que Queda de Ti (What's Left of You). The jury awarded two special mentions for the directors of La Buena Letra (The Good Letter) by Celia Rico and Jone, a veces (Jone, Sometimes) by Sara Fantova. The only veteran among the winners was Julio Medem who presented his latest film 8 outside the competition, but still won the newly created audience award.

This year's Biznaga de Oro was somewhat unfair to Latin American cinema, seeing as the selection only had seven films from the South American continent, compared to the 15 Spanish films. Latin American teams also left with less awards, the most prominnent of them the jury's award for El ladrón de perros. Best Supporting Actress went to María Elena Pérez - the protagonist of the film. At the same time, the Dominican film Sugar Island left with the award for Best Cinematography.

Here are some of the other awards and their respective films: Desayuna Conmigo (Have Breakfast with Me) by Iván Morales (ZonaZine category Best Film, Best Actress and Best Actor winner); Olivia y Las Nubes (Olivia and the Clouds) by Tomás Pichardo (ZonaZine Best Latin American Film); Ajuste de Pérdidas (Loss Adjustment) by Miguel Calderón (Best Documentary); Mi Pecho Están Lleno de Centellas (My chest is full of sparks) by Gal S. Castellanos (special jury prize for Best Documentary); and Muñequita linda (Beautiful Doll) by David Moncasi (audience award for Best Documentary).