Professor Judith Colell, new president of the Catalan Film Academy

The new Board, chaired by Colell, will be made up of the directors Carla Simón, Sílvia Quer and Alba Cros, the actors David Verdaguer, María Molins; the distributor Carlos R. Ríos, the editor Ana Pfaff, the screenwriter Eduardo Sola and the producer Sergi Moreno, also a professor of the degree in Audiovisual Communication and the Master in Executive Audiovisual Production. Blanquerna-PROA.

As the ARA newspaper recalls, in addition to being a director, Colell is also a screenwriter and lecturer. In 2011 she was elected vice president of the Spanish Film Academy and in 2017 she joined the board of the Film Academy chaired by Passola. During the campaign, the newspaper points out, Colell "claimed that the Academy had to focus its efforts on enhancing Catalan cinema 'and not complain and whine so much'. Her candidacy was committed to opening the Academy to members and joining the other Catalan audiovisual associations to combat the loss of muscle in cinema".

A president with an award in hand

Colell has just arrived from the Malaga Film Festival where her seventh feature film, "15 horas", shot entirely in the Dominican Republic, has been recognized with the Signis Prize, awarded by the World Catholic Association for Communication. The film, starring Sterlyn Ramírez and Marc Clotet, tells the story of Aura, a woman victim of sexist violence who has fifteen hours to try to escape from her abusive husband.

The jury, made up of Jesús de La Llave, Lourdes Porras, Teresa Ekobo and Rafael Pérez Pallarés, highlighted "the artistic and technical quality of this suspense-filled drama that manages to trap the viewer in the spider's web in which a woman victim of sexist violence". To the verdict, they add: "The vital journey of the protagonist in these 15 hours becomes true anguish and pain, achieving great empathy. The need for stories that help to make visible and free us from this social scourge, justify the delivery of this award".

Congratulations, professor!