Barcelona’s La GRAN pantalla International Film Festival for the Elderly will give its Honorary Award to actor Joan Pera. The festival runs from 30 June to 4 July 2026 at Cinemes Girona, with 11 feature films and 17 short films on the programme.
The festival is organised by the Cultural Association elParlante, in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council’s Elderly Affairs Department. Its aim is to challenge ageist stereotypes and give older people a platform to share their memories, voices, perspectives, hopes and humour. Alfredo Cohen, the festival director, said the audiovisual industry must break with stereotypes that marginalise more than 20% of the population.
Joan Pera’s award recognises a long career in Catalan theatre, film and dubbing. He previously received the Gaudí d’Honor-Miquel Porter 2019 Award from the Catalan Film Academy and holds the Creu de Sant Jordi. He is widely known for dubbing comedy figures such as Woody Allen and Rowan Atkinson, including Mr. Bean, in Catalan and Spanish.
His film work includes collaborations with Ventura Pons on Forasters (2007), Oh, quina joia! (2016), Sabates grosses (2017) and Miss Dalí (2018). He also appeared in 23-F. La película (2011), directed by Chema de la Peña, as Santiago Carrillo, and in Daniel Monzón’s Yucatán (2018). On television, he starred in Pau, la força del silenci (2017) and El metralla (2021), the latter alongside his son, Roger Pera.
The festival’s programme also includes films about ageing, care homes, desire and community. Highlights include Calle Málaga (2025), El sendero azul (2025), Vitória (2025), Familiar Touch (2024), Maspalomas (2025), La babosa y el caracol (2024) and Siemprevivas (2025), which is set in Barcelona’s Raval district. You can also see more Barcelona coverage on our Community and Sport pages.
Previous Honorary Award recipients include Montserrat Carulla, Carme Elias, Carme Sansa, Teresa Gimpera, Josep Maria Pou and Vicky Peña. The festival says it wants to show that ageing is something that happens to everyone, and that older people are part of both the present and the future.
