Marjane Satrapi, Angela Molina to Receive Mallorca Honors

The ninth edition of the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival (EMIFF) will go ahead with a physical edition as planned, with expected guests including actor Angela Molina and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, who will receive the Honorary and Vision awards, respectively.

Veteran Spanish actor Molina will receive the festival’s Honorary Award that celebrates an actor or filmmaker’s lifetime contribution to cinema, and will also present the European premiere of her new film, “Lalla Aicha,” directed by Morocco’s Mohamed el Badaoui.

Iranian-born French film director, novelist and illustrator Satrapi will be awarded the EMIFF Vision award and is also expected to travel to Mallorca.

Festival founder and director Sandra Lipski said: “I am hugely excited about the sheer power our fabulous female award winners radiate. Angela perfectly embodies the EMIFF spirit through her international work and the characters she portrays. Her strength and sensitivity are once again reflected in her latest role as the eponymous Aicha.”

“Marjane is the personification of the EMIFF Vision Award; her work reflects diversity and inclusion and she presents incredibly unique stories that are also universal and have the power to unite and create change,” Lipski added. “I look forward to welcoming these inspirational women to Mallorca next month.”

Like many other festivals around the world, EMIFF is introducing a virtual element, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The festival will work in partnership with an online platform to showcase specific films in the 2020 line-up virtually. The online offering will also extend to panel events.

The physical festival will see new, distanced seating patterns at indoor and outdoor screenings, and will also see the popular drive-in cinema component expanded.

Molina has had an award-winning career working with some of the greats of cinema, including with Luis Bunuel in his final film “That Obscure Object of Desire,” Pedro Almodovar in “Broken Embraces,” Lina Wertmuller in “Camorra,” Ridley Scott in “1492: Conquest of Paradise,” and Giuseppe Tornatore in “Baaria.”

Meanwhile, Satrapi’s best-known works include the graphic novel “Persepolis” and its film adaptation, which premiered at Cannes, won a César for best first film and scored her an Oscar nomination for best animated feature. Satrapi’s most recent film, the Marie Curie biopic “Radioactive,” will be screened as a Spotlight event at this year’s EMIFF.

The festival runs Oct. 23-29.