2026-03

Digital collections

The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting

March 2026

On September 23, 2025, on the occasion of the out-of-competition premiere of Flores para Antonio (Elena Molina, Isaki Lacuesta) in the Festival’s Official Section, the entire Flores family gathered in San Sebastián to pay tribute to the youngest member of the family, Antonio Flores, who died thirty years earlier, just fourteen days after his mother, the actress and singer Lola Flores, had passed away.

The figure of the Flores family matriarch has been linked to the Festival practically since its foundation. Her first appearance in the event’s photographic record dates back to 1954. What is now considered the second edition of the San Sebastián Film Festival was, at that time, the first official edition, after being recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) as a Category B (non-competitive) international film festival, held between July 24th and 31st.

In those early years, like most European festivals founded in the 1950s, a film festival was a complex diplomatic apparatus at the service of the State. Whilst it soon established itself as one of the most important cultural events for the regime, San Sebastián also became—and continues to be—a meeting spot for film professionals, journalists, and figures from the show business during the height of summer. During the early editions, contemporary reports emphasised the folkloric atmosphere surrounding the festival, in which film screenings were officially intertwined with social events and parallel activities, ranging from fashion shows and beauty contests to invitations to bullfights.

In the item accompanying this month’s document, we see a young Lola Flores—who had travelled to San Sebastián to present the closing film La danza de los deseos (Florián Rey) — receiving a trophy after taking part in the pigeon shooting competition, held at the Hotel Gudamendi on Mount Igeldo and organised by the production companies “in honour of the leading figures of Spanish and foreign cinematographic art who gathered at the event”, as highlighted in a NO-DO Francoist newsreel in August 1954.

The presence of Lola Flores in those early years of the festival, alongside figures such as Carmen Sevilla, Marujita Díaz, Paquita Rico and later, Pepa Flores ‘Marisol’, helped to reinforce the projection of a particular image of the state abroad, where cinema, dance, folklore and popular figures served as the greatest showcase. Through the intersection of social events – which sometimes had little or nothing to do with cinema – and popular personalities from the entertainment world, the first years of the Festival were linked to a strong export of national identity beyond its borders.

Photographs

The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting

Identity statement area

ID: 12458

Catalogue number: E0001

Location: C2C/B6/M3/N4

Title: The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting.

Date: 1954-07-31

Level of description: Simple documentary unit

Technical description area

Medium: Paper

Binder: Gelatina

Image-forming element: Plata

Colour: B/W

Positive/negative: Positive

Observations (technical description): Papel Fujifilm

Context area

Producer: San Sebastian International Film Festival

Place: Donostia-San Sebastián

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer: Producción propia

Content and structure area

Scope and content: The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting.

Places: Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa

People: María Dolores Flores Ruiz (Lola Flores, La Faraona)

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Themes: Evento, Eventos

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Inscriptions: “1954” [Inscripción manuscrita en tinta negra, al verso de la copia]

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access: Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction: Conditions governing reproduction

State of preservation: Bueno

Digitalisation area

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_Tamaño: 64,50 MB

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Width: 3662 px

Height: 6141 px

Date of creation: 2022-11-04 14:19:20

Reponsible for digitisation: Niko Iturralde

Control area

Preservation: Anna Ferrer, Andrea Sánchez, Lorena Soria

Cataloguing: Andrea Sánchez, Lorena Soria

Artxiboa

Digital collections

Document of the month

The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting

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The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting (1954) San Sebastian Festival Archive. [+]

The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting

The actress and singer Lola Flores receiving a trophy after attending the pigeon shooting

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