The acting career of Antonia San Juan is long, her work in pub theatres, in the movies and the most important theatres in half the world back up an intense and prolific work. Cheeky, transgressor, with a great sense of humour and a ductile performing talent, it’s no wonder Pedro Almodóvar noticed her to play Agrado, a decisive part which meant an inflection point in the career of this outstanding actress from the Canary Islands. During these years she has alternated theatre with film projects as an actress and through her production company Trece Producciones, she has started out as a director. In 2001 she produced, wrote and starred her first short film V.O., with which she won the award to the best actress in that edition of Huesca Film Festival, apart from being nominated for Goya awards in the category of fiction short film. This year she has placed herself behind the camera again to shoot her second short film, La China.
Antonia is also a generous actress that has always respond to the call of young filmmakers. She has worked in many short films. “Life”, Antonia tells us, “has given me a lot, professionals of renown must support the filmmakers that are beginning. I felt obliged to return all the affection I had received, above all for my performance in Todo sobre mi madre”. Its support to the world of short film is based on her strong conviction of the tremendous importance the format has. She explains it in a funny way: “You make short films without getting paid to lend a hand, for conviction, but there are some feature films you would not make even being well paid.”
Some years ago in a review for New York Times, A.O. Scott pointed out “...short films show us two types of people; those who take cinema as a way of living and those who, on the contrary, simply see it as a way to pass the time.” Antonia San Juan has taken acting as her way of living.
Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca
