Chema Prado, Panorama Award for a Lifetime Achievement

The award recognizes his firm commitment to the custody, recovery, research and conservation of cinematographic heritage at the head of the Spanish Film Archive during the last three decades.

Chema Prado, director of the Spanish Film Library from 1989 until April 1, has been awarded the Panorama Award for a Lifetime. Prado will receive the award at the award ceremony Panorama Awards 2016 which will take place in the evening of May 24 at the South Auditorium of Feria de Madrid (IFEMA), coinciding with the opening of the Audiovisual Technology Professional Exhibition (BIT 2016).

The Panorama Awards, established by the reference publication for professionals in the sector, Panorama Audiovisual, recognize the excellence of professionals, solutions, companies and productions. Unlike the thirteen categories that make up these awards, whose winners are chosen from among the readers of the publication and a jury made up of eleven relevant professionals, in a secret vote before a Notary, the Lifetime Award is awarded directly by the Panorama editorial team. Audiovisual, thus recognizing the contribution of the men and women who have written history in television, film, radio or advertising.

On this occasion, this Panorama Award recognizes Chema Prado's firm commitment to the custody, recovery, research and conservation of cinematographic heritage at the head of the Spanish Film Archive over the last three decades.

A true reference for knowledge of the history of Spanish cinema, José María Prado, was born in Rábade (Lugo) in 1952. With a degree in Interior Architecture, he worked in this field for several years while collaborating in various specialized film magazines. In 1976 he started working at the Spanish Film Library as head of its programming, a position he held until 1987. Two years later he assumed the direction of the Film Library, a position he held until March 31.

He is a member of the executive committee of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), and the Association of Cinematheques of the European Community (ACCE), and is a reference for knowledge of the history of cinema in Spanish.

The Spanish Film Archive, created in 1953 without its own headquarters or projection rooms, has undergone a great evolution under the direction of Prado, becoming an example for the different national and international film libraries, with which it has promoted authentic cooperation in the conservation and recovery of Spanish film heritage.

With the impetus of Prado, the Filmoteca has also had a central administrative headquarters, recovering the Perales Palace, and has achieved that the Doré cinema has become the permanent screening room.

Chema Prado's career stands out for his efforts to build the Conservation and Restoration Center (CCR) of the Spanish Film Library, located in the City of the Image, in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), which has represented a giant step for the preservation of film heritage. This center has modern facilities dedicated to the conservation, restoration and recovery of the documentary collections of our cinematography, in addition to serving as a container for the most important or significant collections of our country's film heritage.

One of Chema Prado's latest projects at the head of Filmoteca has been the meticulous recovery, digitization and documentation of the No-Do funds carried out by the professionals of the TVE Documentary Fund in Prado del Rey. This project has made it possible to make available to the public the 4,011 newsreels and more than 700 hours of images that reflect the social, cultural and political life of Franco's regime and the transition.

A world reference

Antonio Castillo, director of Panorama Audiovisual, has highlighted that “Chema Prado is a world reference in the recovery, restoration, preservation and cataloging of film collections. Our industry, concerned daily with production, sometimes forgets the enormous work involved in preserving such a valuable legacy for future generations. With the Panorama Award for a Whole Life we ​​want to thank the almost three decades that Prado has dedicated to this end at the Spanish Film Archive. His determined commitment to ensuring that Spanish cinema would have a modern Conservation and Restoration Center like the recently inaugurated Ciudad de la Imagen in Madrid, which would live up to the valuable funds it houses, is a good example of his tenacity and love. for cinema because our filmography also represents a fundamental pillar of the memory and culture of our country.”

In the last edition, the Panorama Lifetime Award went to Manolo Romero, television advisor to the IOC, several international federations of different sports, vice president of OBS and president of ISB (International Sport Broadcasting). The award came to recognize his work for almost half a century in charge of television coverage of the Olympic Games.

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