The Princess of Asturias Awards 2015

Sometimes our resistance to change, force of habit and what some people call our “autopilot” mode can play a dirty trick on us. That is what happened to me with the Prince of Asturias Award, which I forgot are, as of last year, now known as the Princess of Asturias Awards due to the changes in the leadership of the Spanish state with the succession to the throne of King Philip VI after the abdication of Juan Carlos I. That is to say that they are named after the Princess of Asturias which is the way it should be considering that she is next in line to the throne.

Now this year, scarcely a week ago, the Board of the Princess of Asturias Award released the name of the person who will win the first prize that this institution awards during the year: the Award for Arts. Since the creation of these awards in 1981, six directors have won this prize and they all have their own unique, brilliant and surprising strengths. The first of these was Luis García Berlanga in 86. Born in Valencia, he is probably the best example of a director with a biting and cynical sense of humor who broke through the censorship of Franco's Spain using his intelligence and creativity. Then Fernando Fernán Gómez, who is one of the cinema industry's geniuses, received the accolade in 95: he is a writer, theater and film actor, director and language academic. In 97 the Prince of Asturias Award for Arts was given to an Italian and one of the world's most important twentieth-century actors and that is saying something: Vittorio Gassman. Then it was the turn of Woody Allen in 2002, who now has his own statue which you can see simply by taking a stroll around Oviedo. Almodóvar was the next director to triumph at these awards and two years ago (in 2013) the Austrian Michael Haneke got the prize. Last week the news hit the headlines that Francis Ford Coppola would be this year's recipient and I must say with all honesty that I was overjoyed.

Francis Ford Coppola

In my opinion, Coppola is one of the greatest directors of all time, if not the greatest: no other director knows how to shoot crosscuts, time jumps and flashbacks like he does. In some lessons I have used scenes from his films to illustrate the pluperfect tense or time expressions to show simultaneous actions: while, meanwhile, during, then, at the same time, at that moment. You already know about these.

Furthermore, when we talk about Coppola we are referring to the creator behind, what many people, rankings and lists created by a myriad of individuals with a lot of free time on their hands regard as the best history film: The Godfather.

But Coppola goes down in cinema history as a director, scriptwriter and producer. He has been the unorthodox and powerful figure behind  films such as Patton ( 1970), American Graffiti ( 1973), Apocalypse Now ( 1979), One from the Heart ( 1982) , Rumble Fish ( 1983), Cotton Club ( 1984) and the two literary tributes to the classic works of literature  Dracula and Frankenstein.

Nobody has taken as many risks as he has nor have they earned as much or lost everything only to come back and continue making films in such a way that they become a master.

I am proud to be a citizen of a country which has been able to recognize, although very recently, the skill and genius of somebody like this Italian American, who is a cinematic master capable of displaying the magic of this seventh art in all its glory.