ANTONIO DE LA TORRE

Multi award winning actor Antonio de la Torre will present the films Fat People (Gordos) and The Island Inside (La Isla Interior). The acclaimed Spanish actor, Antonio de La Torre, is best known for his roles in Fat People (Gordos) , Volver, Dark Blue Almost Black (AzulOscuroCasiNegro) and The Island Inside (La Isla Interior). Dedication to his craft saw him gain 33 kilos to play the role of Enrique in Gordos and has resulted in critical recognition in the form of numerous awards and nominations. These include a Goya award for best supporting actor in Dark Blue Almost Black and a nomination for best actor for his role in Gordos. Other awards include best actor for Profilaxis in the Bajadoz Short Film Festival, Best Supporting Actor awarded by the Cinema Writers Circle awards, best actor for his role in Dark Blue Almost Black by Toulouse Cinespana as well as the nomination by the Spanish Actors union for his performance in a minor role in Mataharis.

JOSE ANTONIO SALGOT

Born in Aiguafreda, a little village in the Montseny (the Catalan Rocky Mountains), he has done almost everything except stowing away on an oil tanker, working as a KGB agent and being a singer-songwriter (which he says is his real vocation). We could highlight some of his jobs: semi-professional card player, comic illustrator (in Fotogramas), fugitive from military service, businessman, painter of pictures, painter of walls, art collector, novelist, advertising photographer, promoter of well-known venues on the Barcelona live music scene (La Araña, Nick Havanna, Zeleste 2), eternally unpublished poet, occasional hippy in Ibiza and Minorca, sheer hooligan in Cadaqués, writer of in-depth articles in Ajoblanco, substitute film director in Houston, TV producer...etc.

 A student of almost everything (he says that essentially he is a perpetual student), he has studied sociology, philosophy, business studies, graphic design, macro economics…he finally graduated in economics at the University of Barcelona and took his Master’s degree at ESADE, as well as a degree in graphics from the Eina school. He has never studied cinema except on his nights off, and there were never many of those. But one day he also became a film director. For practical purposes, he graduated at the 1st World S-8 Film Festival in Geneva, Switzerland, in the seventies.

His first 35mm short film, Madison, won the Sant Jordi Award from the Catalan government. His first feature film, Serenata a la Luz de la Luna, won the Ibero-American Festival in Huelva and the second, Mater Amatisima, went to the Cannes Festival (he stole it to present it for selection, as the producer was opposed to showing it) and won a lot more awards, coming between Godard and Fellini in winning the second Golden Camera from the Belgian film library, as the first winner was Godard and the third Fellini. The film was then also selected by the NEW YORK MUSEUM OF MODERN ART for its permanent collection (where it keeps company with illustrious fellows by the likes of Buñuel, Dalí, Almodóvar and Portabella) and it was distributed on what are called the “classic” circuits in the US. It was looking as if this film was going to become a cursed cult film, something which considerably worries Salgot, however fortuantely it has been digitalised especially for La Mirada Film Festival.

 Then came his share of responsibility as 2nd director on Reborn by Bigas Luna, which they filmed in Los Angeles, Girona and Houston (US). And then Estación Central, a thriller in which it is not very clear who is the killer but which was subtitled in many languages. And Dama de Porto Pim, a film based on a magnificent poetic short story by Antonio Tabucchi. He has taken part in dozens of international festivals, like those of Montreal, Locarno, Los Angeles, Valladolid, San Sebastian, the New York Spanish Film Week, Sydney, Dakar and Moscow, obtaining various awards.

He has exhibited and made a living from his paintings, basically in Switzerland, Germany and Barcelona.

 In 2005, he set up ALGUIENVOLO AUDIOVISUALS & ARTS which, to date, has produced Fum, Fum, Fum, a feature film half way between documentary and fiction, by Roger Lapuente; Pepe Sales: Pobres, Pobres, directed by Albert Plà and Lulú Martorell, which won the award for best documentary at the latest IN-EDIT festival in Barcelona; Godspeed, a 3D animated TV movie by Jesús Manuel Muntaner and Myway, produced, written and directed by Salgot himself, awarded Best Film at Renderyard International Film Festival London 2008; Best European Film at The End of Pier International Film Festival West Sussex 2008; Best Film at Bridge Festival Vancouver 2008; Best Film at Nickel Independent Film Festival, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada 2008; Best Suspense Feature at International Independent Film & Video Festival New York 2008.