Issue date: 09 Oct, 2006
The creativity and quality of all the people currently working on both sides of the camera in Spanish cinema has gained the medium an internationally respected position. Spanish actors not only enjoy acclaim at home but have also received many plaudits throughout the film world. Some shining examples of the professionalism and interpretative skills displayed in Spanish cinema are the actor Alfredo Landa, and the actresses Concha Velasco and Belén Rueda. These are consummate professionals whose cinematic skills deserve to be recognised and applauded. They have therefore been chosen to appear on a block of stamps created for the World Philatelic Exhibition 2006 and dedicated to the “seventh art”.
Alfredo Landa, actor and leading man in almost one hundred films from the 1960s to the present day made his film debut in 1962 in Atraco a las tres. A highly skilled and versatile actor, Landa has played a number of widely varying parts, from comic characters all the way through to roles full of machismo, materialism and symbolism in which he brings expressive humour to the repressed sexuality of the Spanish psyche. He has also given masterly performances in films such as Los santos inocentes and El crac. Alfredo Landa, who over the years has accumulated a large number of nominations and awards, has also appeared on the stage and on TV. One of his successful roles on the small screen was as Don Quixote. Concha Velasco is another great actress with a long and distinguished career that includes more than 100 films, appearances on stage and a number of TV series. She first appeared on the big screen in 1954 and has appeared in all kinds of films from drama to comedy, though it is in the latter genre that her work is best known. She has also been honoured with a number of awards and nominations, and some of her most successful and well-known performances in film, theatre and TV include Las chicas de la Cruz Roja, Santa Teresa de Jesús, Viva el espectáculo and Mamá quiero ser artista, among many others. Belén Rueda went from working as a presenter on Channel Tele 5 to acting in a number of series on the same channel, including Médico de familia (1996), Periodistas (1998) and Los Serrano (2002). She burst onto the film scene in 2004 with her superb interpretation of Julia in Alejandro Amenábar’s Mar adentro, a role which won her the Goya Prize for best new actress in 2004. This block of stamps has been designed by the Jesús Sánchez studio.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.