Carmen Maura

(Picture: Keystone/Urs Flueeler)

She has won more national and international prizes than any other Spanish actress. So far she has made more than ninety films and yet her name still remains associated with that of Pedro Almodòvar. “When I first worked with Pedro, no-one had ever heard of him,“ she recalled in an interview. "I was an actress at the National Theatre in Madrid and that was his first film. Everyone said to me: Why are you working with that guy?" It was the time of new beginnings after the chains of the Franco dictatorship. There followed titles like THE MONASTERY OF MADNESS: Carmen Maura, as Sister Chaos, keeps a full-grown tiger as a pet. Her international breakthrough came with WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. And in no matter what role, as a real estate agent, as a grandmother, as a spokeswoman for maids; there is a flash of the mischief and chaos in her performance. “The special quality in Carmen Maura’s acting is her ability to combine drama and comedy,” praises Álex de la Iglesia, in whose film COMMON WEALTH she played the main role, “She is simply a miracle!”.
The Braunschweig International Film Festival and Volkswagen Financial Services feel deeply honored, that Carmen Maura will accept the European Actors Award.

Margot Ruhlender