The SGAE Foundation announces the finalists of the ‘Dunia Ayaso’ 2019 Award

The winner’s name  will be made public during the closing gala of the 64th Valladolid International Film Festival on 26 October. Jonás Trueba, Lucía Alemany, Belén Funes, Neus Ballús, Mikel Rueda and Carlos Marques-Marcet have been shortlisted for the award

24/10/2019.- The SGAE Foundation has announced the finalists of the ‘Dunia Ayaso’ Award, whose winner will be known on 26 October during the closing gala of the 64th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival, Seminci. The award is meant to be a tribute to  the screenwriter and director from the Canary Islands who passed away five years ago.

The titles competing for the prize in the 2019 edition are: Jonás Trueba’s The Virgin of August; Lucía Alemany’s The innocence; Belén Funes’s A Thief’s Daughter; Marta de Neus Ballús’ Staff Only; Mikel Rueda’s El doble más quince; and The Days to Come by Carlos Marques-Marcet.

With a 5,000€ cash endowment, the prize recognises a film which both possesses intrinsic cinematic value and portrays female characters in leading roles or in roles that depict the situation of woman in society. These are films that break away with such stereotypes and commonplaces as typically falsify the reality of women, their opportunities and their historical memory.

The award’s jury is formed by film directors Cristina Andreu (president), Isabel de Ocampo and María Miró. Screenwriter Silvia Pérez de Pablos, as Institutional Director for Audiovisual Media at the SGAE Foundation, will present the award this Saturday.

In previous editions, the prize went to the directors Carla Simón (in 2017) for her film Summer 1993;  and Arantxa Echevarria for Carmen y Lola (last year, 2018).

Dunia Ayaso

Screenwriter and director Dunia Ayaso (Las Palmas, 1961, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2014) is the author of successful movies like Excuse Me Darling, But Lucas Loved Me, Chill Out! or The Island Inside, among others. She developed her professional work with her inseparable companion Felix Sabroso. For television, the tandem co-wrote series that attracted large audiences like Mujeres or Quítate tú para ponerme yo. Their last project in common was the feature-length Age of Monster, which Sabroso would direct singly several years later . Ayaso also developed a career as a stage writer  with plays like Lifting, La gran depresión or Las histéricas somos lo máximo.

A member of SGAE, she was the recipient of accolades like the TVE-awarded Buñuel Razor in 2009 for Best Film of the year in recognition of her work in The Island Inside, a film starring Alberto San Juan and Geraldine Chaplin.

It was precisely with this title that Dunia Ayaso participated in the Valladolid Festival  in 2009.