The burning chapel of Carlos Saura, who died last Friday at the age of 91, opened this afternoon at the Madrid Film Academy presided over by a photograph of him, the Goya de Honor that he received on Saturday and with the resounding tribute of the drums of Calanda, who appeared in his film Pippermint Frappé. The President of the Government Pedro Sánchez and the Ministers of Culture, Miquel Iceta, and Education, Pilar AlegrÃa, and actors such as Javier Cámara, Imanol Arias, Manuel Zarzo or Andrés Pajares and singers such as Massiel and India MartÃnez have passed through the the wake of the Aragonese filmmaker.
The seven children of Carlos Saura and his widow, Eulalia Ramón, have presided over the last goodbye to the film director. “Carlos has gone big, as he deserved” -assured Ramón-. The actress recalled the filmmaker as “a very flat being, very close, affectionate and respectful of everything. Although we are very sad, we want to celebrate the life he has had, so many things he has given us, movies and life, and a lesson in strength, dignity and lucidity until the end”.
Around 12:20 p.m. the tribute began with the drums of Calanda, a municipality in Teruel in Bajo Aragón where Luis Buñuel was born and which Saura used when he filmed some scenes of his film Pippermint Frappé in this town, with Geraldine Chaplin, who was his second wife. .
The scenery was completed with a loop of photos projected on a large screen, a director’s chair with a red flower, a hat he wore and glasses, as well as a camera he made himself, one of his “photosaurs” – made with drawing and painting on photos- and the Goya de Honor.
One of the first to approach the funeral chapel has been Pedro Almodóvar, who has stressed that Saura “is one of the great masters of Spanish cinema, like Buñuel, and we will have him as a reference throughout our lives. Because he was very fertile and knew how to reinvent himself continuously for seven decades making films, without repeating”. The Manchego director has also highlighted that Saura began as a filmmaker in a “very difficult decade to make movies, the seventies”, when he filmed “several masterpieces” under “a tremendous dictatorship. For all of us who dedicate ourselves to this, it is a great lesson in every way”.
Later, around 1:10 p.m., the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, arrived. “If cinema and culture are the soul of a society, Carlos Saura has broadened ours. Thank you for so much”, the President of the Government wrote in the book of condolences.
After more than half an hour inside the Academy, while Sánchez appeared outside before the media, shouts of ‘Sánchez, get out of Spain’ were heard and the chant of ‘Txapote vote for you’ was repeated.
With Pedro Sánchez, the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, has also attended, who has celebrated that it has been possible to make “a recognition and farewell in style as it deserved”. “His art of him will not abandon us,” he has commented. “Many of the directors are part of the school that he founded and you cannot talk about Spanish cinema without talking about it and fortunately he has left us a school that is reaping great successes and that has more in store for us in the future,” said the minister to the media, before adding that “it is a day to celebrate your art”.
For his part, the director of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, has assured that he is “satisfied” with the tribute they have paid and has praised that Saura has been working “until his strength has literally failed him.” “It is the tribute that he deserved, an excellent, emotional and joyful tribute for celebrating his career. It was a tribute that was prepared because we were going to give him the Goya de Honor but we knew that he would not be able to collect it,” he pointed out.
Around 2:00 p.m., several colleagues and friends have come to say a final goodbye, such as India MartÃnez, who has sung Al alba, by Luis Eduardo Aute, in the funeral chapel. “It has been an opportunity to sing for him and I will continue to do so. I have given the family a big hug and it has been very emotional. I have to thank him for believing and counting on me”, she has confessed. The singer debuted as an actress under Saura’s orders in the play Lorca por Saura.
His widow, Eulalia Ramón, accompanied by the seven children of the director, has appeared before the media at 2:30 p.m. to thank the expressions of affection that have come to the family these days and has revealed that the director “left in a lucid way and very pretty.”
“He has gone big. We want to celebrate the life he has had and he has shown a lesson in strength, unity and a sense of humor until the end,” he told the media gathered at the headquarters of the Film Academy.
Imanol Arias also attended, praising “one of the most important filmmakers of the last century, and about whom he said that he is a “powerful” creator and a “multidisciplinary” artist. The actor appreciated that Saura “leaves a wonderful legacy. He has had a great contribution to folkloric and musical cinema that put him at the top. Few people have made such a great contribution to flamenco”, he has valued.
The film director Fernando Colomo, who was working with Saura on a script, has indicated that “a great director of Spanish cinema” and “a tremendous creator” have left.
For his part, Massiel has assured that Saura was “a genius”. “I have been very lucky to share many years with him,” he said.
