Películas Inmundas wins the Premi Pepón Coromina for its free, self-managed cinema

The award, presented by the Acadèmia del Cinema Català, recognises projects that forge their own paths and move away from more conventional formulas. In this case, the prize focuses on a way of making films that does not wait for permission, organises itself with limited resources and turns its limitations into an essential part of its language.

The jury highlighted Películas Inmundas' vision as a self-managed creative space, where films can grow outside the industry's usual schedules, demands and moulds. It is not just about producing cheaply, but about championing another way of imagining, shooting and sharing cinema.

The production company works in a collective, artisanal way. Many of its films are born among friends, with small crews and a playful tone, but behind that light-hearted appearance lies a deep knowledge of cinema history and a clear desire to engage with its forms.

That balance is one of its hallmarks. Películas Inmundas updates classic methods without reducing them to mere homage, mixes popular and auteur references, and embraces imperfection as part of the result. In an age obsessed with sharpness, flawless finishes and 4K images, its commitment to lo-fi works almost as a political statement.

The award also recognises cultural resistance. Making films outside the major circuits means accepting precarious conditions, seeking allies, inventing ways to screen work and sustaining a community around films that rarely fit into the most predictable commercial channels.

Marc Ferrer has become one of the most recognisable voices in that queer, pop, irreverent, low-budget Barcelona cinema that makes no attempt to resemble anyone else. His films move between comedy, melodrama, song, artifice and a formal freedom that connects with audiences looking for something different.

This year's edition also included a special mention for the Col·lectiu de Crítics de Cinema de Girona. The jury recognised its defence of alternative screening models and its work to sustain spaces for independent cinema outside the major centres of cultural decision-making.

That mention broadens the award's meaning. It is not enough for different kinds of films to exist; they also need places, programmers, critics, cinemas, festivals and communities capable of keeping them alive. Without those circuits, much independent cinema is condemned to circulate invisibly.

The jury also sent a message to institutions: these projects are fragile and need protection. Demand for independent cinema exists, but it often depends on very small structures, personal determination and networks that survive with few resources.

The Premi Pepón Coromina thus preserves the spirit of the figure after whom it is named. Coromina was a producer, actor and screenwriter who helped promote a more daring Catalan and Spanish cinema, attentive to new voices and less domesticated forms of storytelling.

His legacy connects naturally with Películas Inmundas. In both cases, the same idea emerges: cinema as a territory of freedom, a place to make mistakes, experiment, exaggerate, get one's hands dirty and escape the industry's conventions of correctness.

For Barcelona, this recognition also speaks of a cultural scene that does not live solely through major museums, established festivals or red-carpet premieres. On the margins, women creators, cinemas, collectives and small production companies sustain a different relationship with audiences.

Películas Inmundas wins the Pepón Coromina not for resembling the industry, but for resisting it. And that is precisely the award's strength: a reminder that the most vibrant cinema is sometimes born far from perfect gloss, in precarious shoots, supportive friendships and films made, as the very spirit of the award says, despite everything.