Being able to listen to Susan Sarandon after watching Thelma & Louise at the Verdi cinemas was one of the most anticipated moments of the seventh edition of the Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival (BCN Film Fest), as evidenced by the tickets flying off the shelves in the first minute they went on sale. With the emotion of that leap towards freedom still raw, a microphone began to circulate among the audience when the American actress entered the room, greeted with applause that allowed a sea of mobile phones to focus on her.
She had been watching the film from the entrance for a while. She appeared in the last scene, her favorite, as she later admitted, without anyone noticing. Nor was she surprised by the long applause the audience dedicated to the film when the credits appeared, timid at first and then loud, forgetting for once that silly censorship of not being able to do it with films that deserve it. The spectators did it without knowing that Sarandon was already there. She was at ease, dancing to the credits song, unaware, or wanting to forget, that an entire cinema was waiting for her.
Once she had crossed the cinema, like a good Hollywood star, she did everything that was expected of her, knowing that it was not enough to sit down and wait for the applause to cease. She was aware that, to calm them, she had to stand up and greet again. She even had the secret weapon of cracking cinephile jokes like saying "To be continued" between questions to win over the audience.
The first to grab the microphone was the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, stealthily in the stalls like any other. She preferred not to ask and simply welcomed her to the city. Sarandon took the opportunity to thank her for her example and her defense of the causes she works for. Even Sarandon entered the campaign.
Then, after the honors, the questions began, although many lost the opportunity they were given and preferred to comment on the color of Sarandon's dress or how good she looked, as if they had suddenly forgotten the movie they had just seen. Despite everything, a professional knows how to navigate the audience, giving them secrets from the filming of Thelma & Louise. Like the final kiss was not in the script. Or that originally her character married her boyfriend. And that they let her choose between Thelma and Louise, and she preferred the second, even if it was more boring, because she had already played fun girls and knew it would be a challenge: "I had to drive the car and the movie."
Sarandon also had kind words for her co-star, Geena Davis, whom she met on set and they remain friends, and for the director, Ridley Scott. Despite being "a macho," he listened to them and integrated their proposals ---like the kiss---. "For someone who was not known as a women's director, he was very generous," she remarked. Although she did not fail to recall that, she suspects, the main reason Scott wanted to film the movie was to blow up a truck in the middle of nowhere.
A film that remains relevant more than 30 years later, not only in feminist issues, such as sexual abuse and sorority as the best defense, but also racist ones. "Good cinema does not age," said Conxita Casanovas, director of the BCN Film Fest. Sarandon, refusing to prophesy, assured that they were not aware when they filmed it of the force it would take: "I'm sorry to disappoint you. We just wanted to have a good time, it wasn't very common for two women to work together without being made to portray that they hated each other. We just played at being cowboys." As for whether times have changed or not, she simply recommended, as in the movie, not to go through Texas.
During her visit to Barcelona, Sarandon will receive this Tuesday the Honorary Award of the 67th RNE Sant Jordi Film Awards. The awards, which will be presented at the Teatre Lliure, will also honor French actor Omar Sy, known for his role in Intouchables. Sy will also visit the BCN Film Fest to present Father & Soldier, a war drama set in World War I that gives a face to the invisible people of the conflict, the Senegalese soldiers. The list of winners of the RNE Sant Jordi Film Awards is completed by The Beasts, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, as best Spanish film; Lullaby, by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, as best debut film; Luis Zahera and Anna Castillo as best Spanish performers for The Beasts and Wild Flowers, and Alcarràs as best Spanish film according to the public.