Pedro Almodóvar did not hold back on his opinion of Donald Trump as he accepted the 50th annual Chaplin award from Film at Lincoln Center on Monday evening in Manhattan.
As the celebrated Spanish filmmaker expressed his gratitude for the honor at Alice Tully Hall, he said, “I doubted if it was appropriate to come to a country ruled by a narcissistic authority, who doesn’t respect human rights. Trump and his friends, millionaires and oligarchs, cannot convince us that the reality we are seeing with our own eyes is the opposite of what we are living, however much he may twist the words, claiming that they mean the opposite of what they do. Immigrants are not criminals. It was Russia that invaded Ukraine.”
“Mr. Trump, I’m talking to you, and I hope that you hear what I’m going to say to you,” Almodóvar continued. “You will go down in history as the greatest mistake of our time. Your naiveté is only comparable to your violence. You will go down in history as one of the greatest damages to humanity… You will go down in history as a catastrophe.”
Almodóvar also spoke out about the trans rights being threatened by the Trump administration and talked about the events of his early life that helped form him as a filmmaker. Growing up under fascism under Francisco Franco, Almodóvar said that movies provided a form of escapism. As the country embraced democratic ideals in the late ’70s and early ’80s, he had the good fortune to come into his own as a director.
“It is impossible to explain what those feelings of absolute liberty meant for a young person who wanted to make films,” Almodóvar said.
He also mentioned the blackout that is currently affecting Spain, saying, “I’m very worried about what is currently going on in Spain. As you may know, there is a power outage that is affecting the whole country. So my thoughts are with everyone impacted by this situation.”
Dua Lipa, John Turturro, John Waters, Rossy de Palma and Mikhail Baryshnikov (who danced the flamenco instead of the ballet that made him famous) were among the presenters of the honor, who have gone to luminaries from Bette Davis to Cate Blanchett in past years. Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton, and Antonio Banderas shared pre-taped tributes.
Waters praised Almodóvar as “the best filmmaker in the world.” The “Pink Flamingo” director went on to praise the Spanish auteur for being able to “tell a story without endless running time, make $1 collar budget wise, [and] create screen goddesses out of non-traditional beauties.”
