Actress Nastassja Kinski will receive the Saraqusta Award in Zaragoza at the closing ceremony of the 5th edition

Nastassja Kinski, a German actress based in the United States who has worked in Hollywood and played characters in more than 60 films, will be honored at the 5th edition of the Saraqusta Film Festival with the 
Saraqusta Award, a recognition of her cinematic career and her outstanding contribution to the historical genre. Kinski will be present in Zaragoza from May 1 to 3 and will collect her award at the festival’s closing gala on Friday afternoon, May 2 at the Fundación Ibercaja Patio de la Infanta, where the prizes will also be awarded to the films competing in this edition.

Nastassja Kinski ‘s big break in the industry came from Roman Polański in “Tess ,” a film set in late 19th-century England in which Kinski plays a young woman from a humble family who discovers she’s actually descended from an illustrious clan. Her performance earned her the Golden Globe for Best New Actress and a nomination for the César Award for Best Actress from the French Film Academy.

Kinski has worked with renowned producers such as Francis Ford Coppola and on classic films such as “Paris, Texas” (Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival). In historical films, her notable roles include “Spring Symphony,” a biographical drama about the 19th-century composer Robert Schumann and his wife, pianist Clara Wieck; and “Revolution,” about the colonists’ rebellion against England that sparked the War of Independence, in which the actress co-starred with Al Pacino.

Also notable are his roles in films such as “The Claim,” about the California gold rush of 1867, and “An American Rhapsody,” a true-life film about a Hungarian couple escaping their country’s oppressive communist regime to the United States in 1950. In it, Kinski starred alongside actors such as Scarlett Johansson and Tony Goldwyn.

Nastassja Kinski is the first foreign woman to receive the Saraqusta Award. To date, the only figures from outside our borders to be recognized with this award have been actors Joaquim de Almeida and Fabio Testi. “One of our goals as a festival is to honor an international professional each year. Two years ago, we did so with Joaquim de Almeida, a Portuguese actor; last year, we visited another country, Italy, with Fabio Testi, and this year we’re moving to Germany and the United States, which are the countries Kinski is closely associated with. We’re thrilled to have a Hollywood figure at Saraqusta. As an international festival, we strive to bring film professionals from around the world to Zaragoza,” explains José Ángel Delgado, festival director.

SARAQUSTA AWARDS OF THE 5TH EDITION

Kinski joins Juanjo Artero and Ana Turpin, the three actors who will be honored at this fifth edition of the festival with the Saraqusta Award in recognition of their professional careers linked to historical audiovisuals. The German actress will receive it at the closing ceremony, and Artero and Turpin will receive it at the opening gala, which will take place on Friday, April 25, at the Fundación Ibercaja Patio de la Infanta.

Artero has played characters in films such as “The River That Carries Us,” directed by Antonio del Real, which tells the story of the last shipment of logs across the Tagus River; and in “Black Sheep,” by José María Carreño, which critiques Catholic education in Franco’s Spain through a dark comedy. He has also appeared in series such as “Amar es para siempre,” whose plot reflects the social, economic, and political changes in Spain from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Turpin, for his part, has been part of the cast of films such as Juan José Porto’s El Florido Pensil, based on the book of the same name by Andrés Sopeña. The film portrays education during the Spanish post-war period, specifically in the 1940s, through the eyes of a group of schoolchildren. Similarly to Artero, he has appeared in historical fiction films such as Amar en tiempos revueltos, set during the Spanish Civil War and the early years of the Franco dictatorship, and the miniseries Hotel Almirante, which tells a story of love and mystery from the 1920s to the post-war period.