Almodovar presented with award by U.S. Writers Guild

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar said on the weekend that he was honored to receive the Writers Guild of America West’s Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

The director expressed his thanks in a video sent from the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles. He was unable to attend the gala on Saturday night since preproduction has just begun on his next project, entitled “Silence,” Efe was able to learn.

The award is given to an international writer who has advanced the language of films and who has made outstanding contributions to screenwriting in languages other than English.

“Almodovar the first name is almost unnecessary is a genius, is a flower, is a guiding light: the last, best son of Buñuel and so much more than that. His screenplays, which he directs with passion and fine care, have taught us about the exteriors of his native land and the interiors of our own hearts,” said WGAW vice president Howard Rodman in a statement.

Almodovar aspires to win the Oscar for best foreign language film for the SpanishArgentine coproduction “Wild Stories,” which will compete with Poland’s “Ida,” by Pawel Pawlikowski; Russia’s “Leviathan,” by Andrey Zvyagintsev; Estonia’s “Tangerines,” by Zaza Urushadze; and Mauritania’s “Timbuctu,” by Anderrahmane Sissako.

Almodovar coproduced the film with his brother Agustin in collaboration with Argentina’s Kramer & Sigman Films.

At the WGAW ceremony, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” won for Best Original Screenplay, while “The Imitation Game” took the prize for Best Adapted Screenplay.