Penélope Cruz is honored at the Santa Barbara Film Festival

The Santa Barbara Film Festival, a town north of Los Angeles, has paid tribute to the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz this Wednesday night with the presentation of the Montecito Award.

From the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, where the prize was awarded, Cruz has been shown “very grateful and happy” for the award and wanted to dedicate some affectionate words to his compatriot Pedro Almodovardirector of Parallel Mothers.

“He is part of my family, a close friend and the reason why I decided to become an actress (…) he inspires me a lot and it has been a blessing to know him and work with him”, Cruz stated.

In this way, the actress has collected a prize that in previous editions had gone to Isabelle Huppert, Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet or Naomi Watts, among others.

Likewise, the interpreter referred to the tape Parallel Mothersof which he said that it has some “deep characters, with different layers and who struggle to be honest in the face of a life full of challenges”.

Cruz is very well positioned in the race for the Oscars, since to this recognition is added the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup and the award for best actress, according to the Los Angeles Critics Association, for her role in the film Parallel Mothers

For his part, the Spanish actor Javier Bardem He already received this award in 2008, when he starred in No Country for Old Menand this Thursday he will do the same with the Maltin Modern Master Award for his joint performance with Nicole Kidman on Being the Ricardos.

Although it is a minor event on the festival circuit, the Santa Barbara event is a strategic event for the Oscars, since it is held in a coastal California municipality where different personalities from the world of cinema reside and a good number of voters of the Oscars. (I)