Small western Catalonia town of Alcarràs celebrates Carla Simón's historic Berlinale win

The small western Catalonia town of Alcarràs, population 9,600, exploded in celebration on Wednesday night after director Carla Simón's historic win at the 72^nd Berlin International Film Festival was announced.

Simón's Alcarràs, named after the town and a tribute to farm life in the area, became the first Catalan-language film to ever be awarded the Golden Bear for Best Film. It tells the story of a family during their last peach harvest on a farm before the owners install solar panels.

This significant moment was not lost on the residents of the town south of Lleida, many of whom were cast as amateur actors in the movie, as well as local authorities who attended a red carpet event at the 'Lo Casino' cultural center in which the awards ceremony was screened. 

The actors who had traveled to Berlin arrived halfway through the event and were met with a loud round of applause from the audience, which waited expectantly to find out the film's fate in the festival.

When the Best Film award was announced, the crowd that had gathered at 'Lo Casino' broke into cheers — and some tears — in a moment that will more than likely go down in Alcarràs history. 

"Making a movie has been an incredible experience," said actor Montse Oro. "But what just happened now – I am lost for words." 

"You can't even begin to imagine winning something like this, without professional actors," said Albert Bosch, who also appeared in the film. "But of course, we won, with the incredible director and the career she has had."

Carla Simón is also the mastermind behind the highly-acclaimed semi-autobiographical Summer 1993 (Estiu 1993) about Frida, a recently orphaned 6-year-old. 

9,000 candidates at casting

In 2019, just before the pandemic, producers went to dozens of local festivals (festa majors) in the areas of Segrià and Pla d'Urgell, looking for people they thought would be suitable to appear in the film. In the end, around 9,000 people ended up participating in the casting process.

Simón wanted to make her on-screen family as real as possible; she brought the actors together every day for about three months to "build plausible roles and relationships."

She is optimistic that, like 'Summer 1993', the audience in Berlin will appreciate 'Alcarràs'.

"Regardless of what language the actors speak, the film is about universal issues. Everyone has a family and millions of people around the world live in the countryside."