Gabriel Velázquez wins Best Director and Screenplay awards in Toulouse
The film “Blue Blood Analysis,” directed by Salamanca-native Gabriel Velázquez, has won the awards for best screenplay and direction at the 22nd edition of the Toulouse Spanish Film Festival.
The film began its journey at the Seville European Film Festival and was commercially released in Spain in March 2017 with immense critical success, leading it to various national and international festivals, including the 2nd Prize at the Calanda International Film Festival. This autumn, in addition to San Sebastián, it has traveled from the south to the north of Europe, one of these festivals being Toulouse, where Gabriel Velázquez is already a classic.
Of all these participations, perhaps the most important is the film's selection for the San Sebastián Film Festival, within the Made in Spain section, which gathers a selection of the best Spanish films of the year.
This is the fifth time Gabriel Velázquez has participated in the San Sebastián Festival, as all his films have always been selected for The Festival. “Sud Express” (with Chema de la Peña) competed in the Official Section where it won the Signis Award, “Amateurs” participated in Zabaltegui_New Directors, and subsequently “Iceberg,” “Ártico” were in Made in Spain, as will “Blue Blood Analysis” with Blanca Torres this year.
“Blue Blood Analysis” narrates the adventure of an English aristocrat who falls down a ravine in the Pyrenees and awakens in a mental sanatorium at the beginning of the last century. Dr. Pedro Martínez, a psychiatrist, records the evolution of this man who has lost his bearings and memory with his 16mm camera. The doctor's hidden intentions will lead him to take advantage of the arrival of this “rare specimen” to put his evolutionary theories into practice.
Following the guidelines of the great master Basilio Martín Patino and guided by his inspiration, with this work, Gabriel Velázquez – who already presented his previous work “Ártico” at the Berlinale – and newcomer Blanca Torres do not seek to provide answers with this unclassifiable work, but rather to pose new questions to push (once again) the boundaries between fiction and documentary. From the romanticism of the first landscape films, the directors of this mischievous artifact (where humor is not lacking) transport us to the Valdellomar valley with the undisguised intention of honoring and recovering the untainted gaze of the pioneers.
Gabriel Velázquez's entire career is supported by the Salamanca City Council through the Salamanca Film Commission audiovisual promotion office, which has assisted the filmmaker in location scouting, financing, logistical work, institutional support, and logistical tasks.
The film began its journey at the Seville European Film Festival and was commercially released in Spain in March 2017 with immense critical success, leading it to various national and international festivals, including the 2nd Prize at the Calanda International Film Festival. This autumn, in addition to San Sebastián, it has traveled from the south to the north of Europe, one of these festivals being Toulouse, where Gabriel Velázquez is already a classic.
Of all these participations, perhaps the most important is the film's selection for the San Sebastián Film Festival, within the Made in Spain section, which gathers a selection of the best Spanish films of the year.
This is the fifth time Gabriel Velázquez has participated in the San Sebastián Festival, as all his films have always been selected for The Festival. “Sud Express” (with Chema de la Peña) competed in the Official Section where it won the Signis Award, “Amateurs” participated in Zabaltegui_New Directors, and subsequently “Iceberg,” “Ártico” were in Made in Spain, as will “Blue Blood Analysis” with Blanca Torres this year.
“Blue Blood Analysis” narrates the adventure of an English aristocrat who falls down a ravine in the Pyrenees and awakens in a mental sanatorium at the beginning of the last century. Dr. Pedro Martínez, a psychiatrist, records the evolution of this man who has lost his bearings and memory with his 16mm camera. The doctor's hidden intentions will lead him to take advantage of the arrival of this “rare specimen” to put his evolutionary theories into practice.
Following the guidelines of the great master Basilio Martín Patino and guided by his inspiration, with this work, Gabriel Velázquez – who already presented his previous work “Ártico” at the Berlinale – and newcomer Blanca Torres do not seek to provide answers with this unclassifiable work, but rather to pose new questions to push (once again) the boundaries between fiction and documentary. From the romanticism of the first landscape films, the directors of this mischievous artifact (where humor is not lacking) transport us to the Valdellomar valley with the undisguised intention of honoring and recovering the untainted gaze of the pioneers.
Gabriel Velázquez's entire career is supported by the Salamanca City Council through the Salamanca Film Commission audiovisual promotion office, which has assisted the filmmaker in location scouting, financing, logistical work, institutional support, and logistical tasks.