The producer Esther García has been awarded the Elías Querejeta Award from the Academy of Cinema 2025, as announced by the institution chaired by Fernando Méndez-Leite. This award adds to the National Cinematography Award 2018.
The Academy of Cinema highlights Esther García’s 50-year career and her production model associated with authorial independence, which she practices from the El Deseo production company. The institution recognizes this commitment with the Elías Querejeta Award 2025, which this independent producer receives with «special enthusiasm» and at a sweet cinematic moment, with her latest production, directed by Oliver Laxe, ‘Sirat’, awarded at Cannes and with Pedro Almodóvar’s next film, ‘Bitter Christmas’, in full production.
Álex de la Iglesia, Isabel Coixet, Lucrecia Martel, Guillermo del Toro, Diego Galán, Damián Szifron, Belén Macías, Dunia Ayaso y Félix Sabroso, Pablo Trapero y Daniel Calparsoro are some of the filmmakers Esther García has worked with, who throughout her career has supported new directors and co-productions with Argentina, not neglecting documentary cinema.
The award winner, according to the Academy of Cinema, states that the production profession is «a way of life» and works so that filmmakers «turn their dreams into reality without having to give up anything». García affirms that being honored with an award bearing the name of Elías Querejeta brings her particular joy.
«He is a reference for all independent producers. He was a charismatic person, full of passion for what he did. He is undoubtedly the producer who has inspired me the most,» acknowledges this professional, who has also left her mark on the way of producing in Spain.
García also advocates for the role of the producer as a creator. «We spend our lives making creative decisions, and the first one is choosing the project,» she emphasizes, as well as «the ability to motivate, to create in the team that passion of all as one.» «I think that has been one of my missions,» she adds, who at El Deseo has made 55 works possible.
The producer joined El Deseo a year after its creation and began a professional tandem with the Almodóvar brothers, Pedro and Agustín, whom she met in ‘Matador’ in 1986, where she worked as a production assistant. Since El Deseo, she has worked alongside the filmmaker from La Mancha in all subsequent titles in his filmography.
«I took a long time to make the leap to production. Thanks to Agustín and Pedro Almodóvar when I did, I did it well,» García recalls, pointing out her commitment to Almodóvar’s work. «How can I make Pedro turn his dreams into reality, how can I make sure he doesn’t have to give up things? That has been my mission,» she emphasizes.
Throughout her career, Esther García has won six Goya Awards, three as production director for ‘Acción mutante’, ‘All About My Mother’, and ‘The Secret Life of Words’; and three as a producer for ‘Pain and Glory’, ‘Volver’, and ‘Wild Tales’.
«I think I am loved and respected, what more can I ask for?» affirms the producer, whose greatest satisfaction is «to find a groundbreaking project.» In the future, she adds that she would like to «continue supporting women» and that they feel the freedom of Oliver Laxe or Álex de la Iglesia in making their films, «writing something without thinking if it will be expensive or cheap, something that moves them.»
CAREER
Esther García began her journey in 1975, almost by chance, collaborating as a secretary on the film ‘Pim, pam, pum ¡Fuego!’, by Pedro Olea. From that experience, she set out to become part of the Spanish film family. This was followed by the series ‘Curro Jiménez’, where she met directors such as Joaquín and Rafael Romero Marchent, Pilar Miró, Mario Camus, Francisco Rovira Beleta, and Antonio Drove.
The list continues with such emblematic names as Mariano Ozores, Fernando Colomo, Fernando Trueba, Gonzalo Suárez, and Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, with whom she worked before her time at El Deseo.
Throughout her extensive career, she has worked as a production assistant, secretary, and production assistant, production manager, and since the 2000s, she has focused fully on her role as a producer. ‘My Life Without Me’, ‘Defrost’, ‘Bad Education’, ‘The Secret Life of Words’, ‘Volver’, ‘My Prison Yard’, ‘All About My Mother’, ‘Broken Embraces’, ‘The Skin I Live In’, ‘I’m So Excited!’, ‘Wild Tales’, ‘The Clan, Julieta’, ‘Pain and Glory’, ‘Parallel Mothers’, and ‘The Room Next Door’ are some of the films that this professional has produced.
