“I’m really honoured and moved to receive this award at a Festival that I respect so much in a country that I love,” Monica Bellucci answered when asked at a press conference yesterday what she felt about receiving the Donostia Award. She also said she was grateful to all the directors she had worked with because thanks to them she had travelled all over the world and made films abroad. Although not all her films had been successful she confessed that if she could go back in time she would do them all again as they were all great experiences that she learnt a lot from.

As for moving to the other side of the camera, she said that she still had a lot to learn and to give as an actress so she had no intention of ever directing a film but she didn’t rule out producing one at some stage, and when asked about the situation of women in cinema she acknowledged that the lack of equality between the sexes not only occurred in films but in all fields of society.