"The treaty was used as a trade-off, I do not know what they were given, but I do not think it was worth it," he said. "It is incredible how the government has betrayed and abandoned its film industry, and condemned it to death."

Trueba made his comments during a talk on cultural exception with academics, at which he was also presenting his film Belle Epoque, winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

In his opinion, the concept of cultural exception expresses the right of every country to examine its domestic affairs, film them and show them to the rest of the world. Cinema is a good instrument to reinvent language and tell a story, he added.

This weekend Trueba will go on to the Guadalajara Film Festival, where he has been invited to premier his latest film, El Milagro de Candeal.

By: Prensa-Latina