At the XVI Gaudí Awards ceremony, the presence of renowned filmmakers such as J.A Bayona and Pablo Berger stood out, who shared the stage with talented artists and special effects makeup experts such as Montse Ribé and David Martí. This meeting took on a special nuance, since all of them were revealed as nominees at the 2024 Oscars.
The film Creatura, directed by Elena Martín, and Know that, by David Trueba, emerged as the big winners of the night, winning the main awards in Catalan cinema. Likewise, 20,000 species of bees, the work of Estibaliz Urresola, shone by winning three statuettes, thus consolidating a gala that not only celebrated cinematographic talent, but also became a protest space; like the message that the actress and singer Yolanda Sey highlighted about plurality and racism in the world of cinema
Yolanda Sey, from Oson, began her speech by highlighting that she was very happy to be at the Awards and stressed that this year “things have gone very well for us. Especially the non-white actors and actresses. A true carousel of leading roles, rounded, multifaceted characters , in no case stereotyped”. Her speech, of course, was loaded with irony.
He added that this year 2023 was full of “interpretive challenges” that made them show the world “what we are capable of.” After explaining, with sarcasm, that his white colleagues had a hard time finding roles in which they could shine, he pointed out that “the industry, in general, is tailor-made for racialized people.”
“The other day, on a shoot, a white friend of mine found that there was no makeup for her skin color,” she said ironically. She added that a similar situation occurred with her hair. She finally revealed that the friend was her, and assured that she was not exaggerating.
“These are things that have happened to me lately. And now that we are in confidence and that in no case am I offering anyone who can give me work, I would like to share with you a piece of information. According to a study carried out by the colleagues of visual women , there are 7.88% non-white characters in Gaudí’s candidacies,” he explained. After pointing out that this percentage of “non-whites” did not refer to blacks but to everything else, she baptized it as “the Frankenstein of diversity.”
Do you know what goes very well so that people don’t complain? Have equal conditions. “I can’t wait to play an undocumented sex worker again, because it is the only character that black women in Catalonia can play today, while we wait for someone to come up with the biopic of La Moreneta, which we know will finish it.” doing Úrsula Corberó with an Instagram filter,” he added.
“I can’t play Catalan, despite being one because I don’t look like it,” she said. He explained that another profile of people is needed to write stories for all profiles and that represent the authentic reality of Catalonia; because otherwise “we are condemned to have a white, privileged and upper class cinema that does not represent reality and, therefore, will not be Catalan.”
