Enigmatic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was honored Monday night by NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center with the 50th annual Chaplin Award. Almodóvar is a fitting selection for the award’s 50th honoree, since he’s had 15 films screen at Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival. Not to mention his prolific body of work that redefined creativity in storytelling on film, in my humble opinion. And here’s another reason to love Almodóvar: he used his acceptance speech to rip Trump to shreds, cursing Trump’s existence as one of the greatest blights on humanity, with all the gravitas and flair of a Shakespearean witch. And I say that as a compliment! Here are the Oscar-winning screenwriter’s words:
Pedro Almodóvar did not hold back on his opinion of Donald Trump as he accepted the 50th annual Chaplin award from Film at Lincoln Center on Monday evening in Manhattan.
As the celebrated Spanish filmmaker expressed his gratitude for the honor at Alice Tully Hall, he said, “I doubted if it was appropriate to come to a country ruled by a narcissistic authority, who doesn’t respect human rights. Trump and his friends, millionaires and oligarchs, cannot convince us that the reality we are seeing with our own eyes is the opposite of what we are living, however much he may twist the words, claiming that they mean the opposite of what they do. Immigrants are not criminals. It was Russia that invaded Ukraine.”
“Mr. Trump, I’m talking to you, and I hope that you hear what I’m going to say to you,” Almodóvar continued. “You will go down in history as the greatest mistake of our time. Your naiveté is only comparable to your violence. You will go down in history as one of the greatest damages to humanity… You will go down in history as a catastrophe.”
Almodóvar also spoke out about the trans rights being threatened by the Trump administration and talked about the events of his early life that helped form him as a filmmaker. Growing up under fascism under Francisco Franco, Almodóvar said that movies provided a form of escapism. As the country embraced democratic ideals in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, he had the good fortune to come into his own as a director.
“It is impossible to explain what that feeling of absolute liberty meant for a young person who wanted to make films,” Almodóvar said.
Perfecto! And this isn’t melodramatic language, but an accurate assessment of the sad sack of orange suntanned carcass that is Donald Trump. If anything, the use of the honorific “Mr.” was too great a courtesy. Between Almodóvar’s speech here, and Pedro Pascal succinctly reading that anti-trans author for filth last week, the Pedros have been killing it lately. In a world of bigots and catastrophes against humanity, be a Pedro.
Almodóvar was presented his award — which he accepted donning a mint green suit, light pink shirt, and orange & hot pink ascot; divine, no notes — by a mix of friends and collaborators: Rossy de Palma, Mikhail Baryshnikov, John Turturro, Dua Lipa, and John Waters. And of course Waters, an American treasure, completely delivered with his remarks. He called Almodóvar “the best filmmaker in the world,” and offered as example Almodóvar’s ability to “tell a story without endless running time, make a dollar holler budget wise, [and] create screen goddesses out of non-traditional beauties.” That should be the mission statement of every film school!
photos credit: TheNews2/Cover Images, Oscar Gonzalez/Wenn/Avalon, Abaca Press/INSTARimages, Avalon.red/Avalon and Getty