Sitges 2021 Pays Tribute to Carlos Saura at Its Closing Ceremony and Premieres His Short Film 'Goya 3 de mayo'

'Silent Night', winner of the audience award in the Official Fantastic Section

The Festival sold more than 60,000 tickets for an edition that was a huge audience success

Final day. Final screenings. This closing Sunday, Sitges was dazzled by the presence of Carlos Saura, the 54th edition's third Grand Honorary Award winner. With films like Anna and the Wolves (1973) or Cría cuervos (1976), the Aragonese director, screenwriter and photographer received the Festival's highest accolade at a closing gala ceremony featuring his latest work, the short film Goya 3 de mayo, which faithfully reconstructs the scene captured by the painter in his painting, and the eagerly awaited big screen showing of David Lowery's The Green Knight.

At the closing gala ceremony, the 54th edition awards were handed out and the audience awards were announced, which went to Silent Night, by Camille Griffin (Audience Award, Official Fantastic Selection), Jacinto, by Javi Camino (Audience Award, Panorama Fantástico), The Great Yokai War Guardians, by Takashi Miike (Audience Award, Midnight X-Treme) and Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, by Junta Yamaguchi (Audience Award, Focus Asia).

Another of the most eagerly awaited moments of the day was the screening of Rob Savage's DASHCAM. The director of the celebrated Host from 2020 visited Sitges to present his third feature film, starring singer Annie Hardy, scripted by Rob Savage himself along with Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd.

In terms of figures, this year the Festival sold more than 60,000 tickets, a true celebration of a return to normality that is very close to the 2019 figure (66,000 tickets) after a 2020 when 34,000 tickets were sold.

Take a look at the complete list of Sitges 2021 award winners