‘I will not die of love’ and ‘The garden we dream of’ win the Golden Biznagas at the Malaga Festival | Culture

This Saturday, the Malaga Festival put its final touch on the awards ceremony, which was widely distributed, with special emphasis on Latin American cinema and quite a few surprises regarding the critics’ favorites. On the one hand, the Biznaga de Oro for Best Spanish Film has been, as previously stated, for I will not die of lovedirector Marta Matute’s debut feature, a work that has also won the awards for Best Female Performance – Júlia Mascort – and Best Supporting Male Performance for the role of Tomás del Estal. On the other hand, the Silver Biznaga for Best Ibero-American Film has gone to The garden we dream ofby Mexican Joaquín del Paso, who won the award for Best Director and whose film received a third award for Best Cinematography thanks to the work of Gökhan Tiryaki.

Furthermore, the Chilean Red Hangarby Juan Pablo Sallato, has accumulated four awards, including the Silver Biznaga for the EL PAÍS Audience Award, the same film that has won the Silver Biznaga Prize from the Critics’ Jury. And the Bolivian feature film The condor daughterdirected by Álvaro Olmos, has won two awards, just like Iván & Hadoumby Ian de la Rosa. movies like The good daughterby Júlia de Paz and Nuria Danjó, leave empty-handed. The jury was made up of Belén Funes, Daniela Michel, Loreto Mauleón, Rosa Montero, Gastón Pauls and Santiago Roncagliolo, in addition to Jaione Camborda, who served as president.

2026 has been a Malaga festival marked by transportation problems caused by the cutting of the high-speed train tracks, which have forced the organization to juggle to take all its guests – more than 1,500 from 53 countries – to the capital of Malaga, including two charter flights. A “logistical and production effort”, as the director of the contest, Juan Antonio Vigar, said at the ceremony. The event has also been involved in the controversy generated by the presence of influencers on the red carpet. And, once again, it has been highlighted by the high number of titles that have participated, which have made the contest unfathomable. This time, in fact, up to 263 have been projected, more than ever. “The films that have passed through the different screens of the festival have reminded us that cinema continues to be a privileged tool to look at the world, but also to question it and of course to move us,” said Vigar, who noted that “diverse stories, new voices and consolidated perspectives” have coexisted in the programming.

social gaze

The winners look at the social. I will not die of love is the debut feature of director Marta Matute, who wrote the script based on a personal experience: when she was 18, her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and that changed everything at home. From that memory, the director built a story that reflected the emotional devastation that cognitive deterioration causes in people: and not only in those who suffer from it, but also in the people who accompany the patient, whose world is radically transformed. The film will hit theaters on May 8.

Meanwhile, in the Mexican The garden we dream of —which premiered at the recent Berlinale—Joaquín del Paso makes a story focused on migration and the ecological crisis. Starring actor Carlos Esquivel, the feature film follows a Haitian family who arrives in Mexico in search of a better future and ends up settling in a forested region marked by illegal logging. The story places the protagonists in an environment where survival forces them to make difficult decisions, while nature—and especially the symbolic presence of the monarch butterfly—becomes a key narrative element.

Beyond the awards accumulated by these films, the rest have been distributed as follows. The Silver Biznaga Special Jury Prize has gone to Iván & Hadouma work directed by Ian de la Rosa, a film that also won the biznaga for Best Screenplay. Actor Nicolás Zárate has won the silver biznaga for Best Male Performance for his work in Red Hangara feature film that has also received the EL PAÍS Audience Award and the Critics’ Jury Award. Also Best Editing thanks to the work of Valeria Hernández and Sebastián Brahm. Finally, María Magdalena Sanizo has won the Silver Biznaga for Best Female Supporting Performance for her role in The condor daughterwhich has also won the Silver Biznaga for Best Music.

Zonazine and documentaries

In the rest of the sections, on the one hand in ZonaZine, The Meatby Joan Porcel, has won the biznaga for Best Spanish Film and Ocaby Karla Badillo, for Best Ibero-American Film, in addition to the Audience Award. On the other hand, The map to touch youby Mercedes Alfonso, has been named Best Documentary while its protagonist, Airam, a 20-year-old highly gifted autistic man, remains missing.

In this official documentary section, María Molina has received the biznaga for Best Director for Como todo mortal. Besides, Dirty —by Bàrbara Mestanza and Marc Pujolar— has won the Biznaga de Plata Audience Award, as well as a Special Mention from the jury. AND The voice of Godby Miguel Antunes, has received the Special Jury Prize. The two awards for documentary short films – best and public – have gone to The blue daysby Javier García. The next edition of the festival, number 30, will be the earliest in its history: it will be held between February 26 and March 7, 2027.