Rosa Vergés awarded Gaudí of Honor for lifetime achievement in cinema

The Catalan Film Academy has awarded Rosa Vergés with the Miquel Porter Gaudí of Honor 2024.

The members of the academy highlighted that this year's winner was "a pioneering director when there were no female directors," paving the way for female filmmakers who came after her.

The award also recognizes Vergés for her "tireless cinematic activism" and the fact of having defended the profession and the presence of women in cinema "from different institutional speakers."

The film and television director, producer and screenwriter, and honorary member of the Catalan Film Academy since 2021, will receive the award at this year's Gaudí Awards gala, which will take place on Sunday 4 February.

Rosa Vergés is the first female filmmaker to receive the highest distinction from the Catalan Film Academy.

After graduating in Art History from the University of Barcelona in 1976, Vergés completed her training at the Sorbonne in Paris. Then she was an actress in Dagoll Dagom, a task she combined with writing scripts and collaborating with film directors such as Vicente Aranda or Bigas Luna.

The Academy highlights that in the 1990s, Vergés was part of the generation that would play an "important" role in Spanish cinema, alongside names such as Álex de la Iglesia, José Luis Guerín, Julio Medem, Chus Gutiérrez, Ana Díez or Enrique Urbizu.

Her directorial debut, 'Boom Boom' (1990), earned her a Goya Award for best new director, the National Award of Catalonia, the Sant Jordi Award for Cinematography, and the Fotogramas de Plata.

Her filmography is completed with 'Souvenir' (1994), 'Tic Tac' (1997), 'Iris' (2004) and 'La senyoreta Júlia', a piece that forms part of the collective work on Maria Mercè Marçal 'Ferida Root' (2012).

Rosa Vergés also has an extensive career in the artistic direction of theatrical and musical productions, including the ceremonies for the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Barcelona in 1992, and the gala of the 14th edition of the Goya Awards, held in Barcelona in 2000.