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ON SUNDAY Spanish actress Carmen Maura, 58, attended the press conference to mark the opening of the second Spanish film week, reports Mohamed El-Assyouti. Pedro Almodóvar once admitted that had it not been for the support of Carmen Maura his debut film would never have been produced. Maura collaborated on seven films with the director, playing Pepi the pregnant jilted lover about to commit suicide in Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap, 1980), Sor Perdida, the lesbian nun, in Entre tinieblas (Dark Habits, 1983), Gloria the cleaning woman who is addicted to drugs and ends up killing her husband in Que he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This? 1984), Tina, the lonely, aging transsexual who once had a relationship with her father in La ley del deseo (Law of Desire, 1986) and Pepa Marcos, the disillusioned actress abandoned by her married lover in Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1988). In Carlos Saura's Ay, Carmela (1990) Maura plays the title role, one of a duet of troubadours who tour the countryside during the Spanish Civil War, entertaining Nationalists and Republicans alike. Responding to a question from critic Fawzi Suliman about working with directors with such differing styles and views as Saura and Almodóvar, Maura replied that "the nice thing about being an actress is that one changes not only skin but also bosses all the time." "Usually work is very intensive for a few months," she continued, "but we all do it with love. Saura and Almodóvar have very distinct ways of looking at love, at humour, etc. Of course each considers himself the most important director you have ever worked with." Critic Rafiq El-Sabban asked Maura about her experience in the French- Moroccan production Le Harem de Madame Osman (2000) directed by Nadir Moknèche. "It was," she replied, "a very important experience. It was made on a small budget and had a limited release. It was Moknèche's first film and I was chosen from many actresses who auditioned for the part. Through my part in the film I started to see how we are very different from each others in terms of our customs and traditions as well as in the way we see things." Bombarded by questions intending to probe her views on Egyptian cinema she was candid in her responses, admitting to having no knowledge of the subject. Maura highlighted the problems facing the Spanish film industry, most of them related to the monopoly American film distributors have over release dates and movie theatres, or else with dependence on television networks for financing. "But we are not surrendering to the American film," Maura insisted. "We still have many talents in Europe. Hollywood studios buy the rights to produce a large number of our scripts. Yes, half of these films are never made, but this does not mean that in terms of talent we have the lower hand."