Filmmaker slams Spanish government

PEDRO Almodovar attacked the Spanish government as he accepted an honorary prize at the European Film Awards in Berlin.

The 64-year-old filmmaker called it ‘deaf and insensitive’ to the country’s problems and railed against its ‘awful cultural policy’.

Spanish state funding to the arts, including film, has been drastically reduced in recent years.

Almodovar called 2013 “the worst year” for his industry.

Furthering his scathing broadside at the ruling Popular Party’s austerity measures, the Volver director saluted ‘the resistance of the citizens who are victims of this government’.

Presented at Berlin’s Festspiele arts centre, the 26th European Film Awards were broadcast live in 15 countries and were also streamed online.