Pepón Nieto will present the opening gala of the 25th Malaga Festival in the Martín Carpena Theatre

The Malaga actor Pepón Nieto will be the master of ceremonies at the opening gala of the 25th Malaga Festival, which will take place on Friday 18th at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena. It will be a very special gala, as it could not be otherwise in this 25th edition, in which, after two years marked by the coronavirus pandemic, the event will recover spaces for meetings and social events. 

The gala will have a capacity of around 2,400 people. Of these, one part will go to protocol, another part is for sale to the public - so that those who have always wanted to attend and have not been able to due to capacity problems can do so - and a third, and no less important, has been distributed to 1,000 people belonging to one hundred social groups and associations thanks to a collaboration agreement with the "la Caixa" Foundation, a partner of the event, which will bring to the gala many who had never thought they could attend the opening of the Malaga Festival. All of them will also be able to see the film Emperor Code, by Jorge Coira, which participates in the Official Selection of the event.

With a career spanning almost three decades, Pepón Nieto has worked in more than twenty films under the orders of directors of the stature of Álex de la Iglesia, Imanol Uribe, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, José Luis García Sánchez, Manuel Iborra, Félix Sabroso and Dunia Ayaso, among many others. His latest film to be released is 'Mañana es hoy', by Nacho García Velilla.

In television we have seen him in series such as '30 monedas' by Álex de la Iglesia (HBO), 'Veneno' (Atresmedia), 'Sé quién eres' by Pau Freixas (Telecinco) and 'Los hombres de Paco' (Antena 3); among many others such as 'Periodistas' (Telecinco); 'La vida de Rita' (La 1 de TVE) or 'Amar es para siempre' (Antena 3). He is currently working on the international series 'Sin límites' for TVE and Amazon.

He has been on the boards of the best theatres with plays such as 'Martes de Carnaval' (Mario Gas), 'El jurado' (Andrés Lima); 'El eunuco y La comedia de las mentiras' - with a record number of spectators in the history of the Festival de Teatro Clásico de Mérida - and many more. He recently finished 'Anfitrión' (Juan Carlos Rubio).

Pepón Nieto has been awarded the Professional Career Award by the Association of Audiovisual Festivals of Andalusia as well as for different works with the Malaga Cinema Silver Biznaga for Best Actor at the Malaga Festival, the Max Award for Best Actor, the Ercilla Theatre Award, the Actors' Union Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television and the Best Actor Award at the Toulouse Festival (France), along with several other awards.

The gala will be opened by Manolo García, an artist of inexhaustible talent, with a career full of successes, in which all his albums have been number one in sales. He has won countless awards throughout his career, such as the Latin Grammy he won in 2018, which perfectly defines the explosion of talent in his work.

He will be followed in order of appearance on stage by the young talents from Malaga Antonio Peula and Belén Bouzas, Malaga Foundation Talent Scholarship winners in 2021 in the disciplines of cello and contemporary dance.

Then it will be the turn of Pol Granch, who has gone from being a promising young artist to one of the new artists of the moment, with no other weapons than an overflowing sensitivity and songs that are as versatile as they are exciting. He is now focusing on what will be his second album, to be released in the coming months. Everything around him anticipates a long and fruitful artistic career, also in his facet as an actor, with a debut as resounding as his participation in the series 'Élite'.

Guitarricadelafuente will take over the musical part of this gala. Undoubtedly one of the most promising artists of this decade, there are many elements of Álvaro Lafuente that refer to his roots, starting with the diminutive of his artistic name, which flows from the Aragonese village of his grandparents. Or that inseparable acoustic guitar that also baptised him. We received him as he prepares the release of his debut album, La cantera, which he will publish on 6 May and present on tour that same month.

The most festive moment of the gala will be provided by Camela. The duo formed by Dioni and Ángeles arrive at the Malaga Festival having celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2021 and with more than seven million records sold throughout their career, which have made them a musical icon in our country.

Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra