With her appearance, the great Spanish star, Marisa Paredes, is honoring the 40th Film Festival in the framework of the large tribute to Pedro Almodovar, as well as for the Greek premier of the film in which she stars, No one writes to the Colonel, by Arturo Ripstein.

After her staring roles in four films by Pedro Almodovar, her wonderful staring role in Ripstein's film, as well as a beautiful passage through Roberto Benini's film, Life is beautiful, Marisa Paredes is indisputably one of the greatest stars of European cinema.

As a prominent stage actress, she carries a rich resume with momentous points in her career. Devoted to her work and always near the creators, she has a fragile presence but a powerful and complex personality. As one of the most identifiable celebrities of Spanish-language cultures, Marisa Paredes met international fame in the early '90s, when she stared in Pedro Almodovar's film, High Heels.

She was born in Madrid, close to Santa Ana Square, a neighborhood in which the artists and famous toreros spent time by one of the city's largest theatres. (Many of the locations from the film High Heels, such as the cabaret where the character Miguel Boze appeared, are just a few steps from the house she was raised in).

She started her theatrical career at the age of 15. Her parents were part of the bourgeoisie so she had to work from a young age. Despite her father's disapproval, she took on small roles in the theater and in Spanish television. At some point, when an actress in a significant theatrical play became ill, Marisa Paredes was called upon to replaced her; a story that brings to mind her latest film All about my mother…

During the years that followed, she became more involved with television, where she became distinguished in adaptations of classical works by Chekhov, Ibsen, Dostoyevsky and other younger theatrical dramatists. In 1968 she was honored with the award of Best Actress by the Spanish television, while the pinnacle of her theatrical career came in 1990, with Lorca's play "A Comedy with no name", directed by Louis Pasqual, at the Odeon Theater in Paris.

Her appearances in cinema were limited until the early '70s when she met Pedro Almodovar. The movida child motivated her to become involved in cinema, and although their acquaintance continued for a long time, it wasn't until 1982 when they first collaborated for the film Dark Habits. Later followed High Heels (1991), a film that made both, Almodovar and Paredes, famous throughout the world. Her greatest moments in cinema are her appearances in the films: Tombes du ciel, by Philippe Liore, Three lives and a death, by Raul Ruiz, Deep Crimson, by Arturo Ripstein, and Life is beautiful, by Roberto Benini. We see her once with Almodovar in the film My secret flower in 1993, and this year with the exhilarating film All about my mother.