Hands down, Bonet de Gispert is one of the most outstanding editors internationally. Her brilliant work on Temporada 92-93, one of her earliest pieces, received over 50 collective awards and nominations—again, far too many to mention each. But among them were awards for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Director at respected international film festivals, and you can bet a nomination for Best Editing was amongst them.
An award-winning success, to say the least, the film's comedic portrayal of Spain’s passion for its beloved soccer quickly made the film a fan favorite. As an editor, the film is only the tip of the iceberg when considering Bonet de Gispert's vast range of successful projects.
After working on director Alejandro Marzoa's film Temporada 92-93, Bonet de Gispert was tapped to edit yet another of Marzoa's films, Padre Modelo a.k.a Role Model Father. Proving the strength of their collaboration Padre Modelo was a resounding success at film festivals around the world as well.
Switching gears from the comedic story of Temporada 92-93, the film Padre Modelo erects a dramatic and heart wrenching story that revolves around a young bullied boy who resists his father's love and attention when he comes to pick him up from school due to his fear of the other kids making fun of him.
The film won an award at the prestigious Festival de Cans, 2nd Prize at the Festival De Cortos “Villa De Errenteria," the Best Actor Award at the International Competition of Cerdanya for Miguel de Lira's performance, the Audience Award at the XIX Muestra de Cine Internacional de Palencia, the Audience Award at the International Audiovisual Event Lyceum Casino Vilagarcía, as well as several others.
While some work hard for years and years in hopes of building up a portfolio like the one Marta Bonet de Gispert has accrued, she seems to have done so from the start.
Perhaps it is because the Barcelonan comes from a family of lawyers, a career path she decided to forgo at the last minute whilst in law school, giving up a place amongst them to pursue her passion in filmmaking. Bonet de Gispert’s instincts were right on cue, as her editing continues to reflects the necessary timing and purpose needed to drive each story.
While she has reached international acclaim as an editor for film, and was even chosen as an editing consultant on Oscar Award winner Martin Scorsese's film The Key to Reserva, she has also doted her skills upon the world of television with the series Latino Dub and Califorma. But her talents do not stop there. In 2009 she proved her capacity as an editor in the world of music videos with the highly successful videos for OBK's "Sin Rencor," and again with Aritz Villodas' "No me pidas que te bese porqué te besaré."
She not only earned a bachelor’s degree in Film and a master’s in Motion Picture and Television, but she also went on to earn a specialized post-graduate degree in Screenwriting for Comedy. This degree led to one of Bonet de Gispert’s proudest honors, she says, being asked in 2008 to act as a judge of her peers in the SNC Film competition during its very first year, which focused on depression and anxiety.
SNC Film, which translates in Spanish as the Central Nervous System, began the film competition to use the art of filmmaking to combat the stigma that surrounds mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s Disease, and others. Each year focuses on one decided area.
About judging the SNC film competition Bonet de Gispert recalls, "It was a great experience, in which I had to keep an open mind to not only judge based on my personal likes. It was also challenging the fact that I was judging the quality of the project, but also the values in them, which was an essential part of the project."
Bonet de Gispert’s secret talent is her ability to present the serious along with loving light-heartedness. Of course, this doesn't always happen in the same film as the mark of good editor means doing what is right for each particular story, her talent for bringing in comedic elements in the midst of the darkest tales is definitely a feature that sets her apart.
She recently worked as the editor of an amazing documentary that just opened here in the US at the Tribeca Film Festival and is receiving national attention, both for its story and its subject matter.
Titled Gored, the film follows Antonio Barrera, Spain’s most “gored” matador. The battered bullfighter has his last chance with a bull. With his wife and daughter watching on, will he survive one more dance with fate?
Switching from, say, her editing in Temporada 92-93, a fun soccer tribute, to such a monumental story of Spain’s most gruesome and infamous sport, bullfighting, the success of both films have proven Bonet de Gispert's adaptability as an editor across genres.
“The challenge in Gored was to adapt to a documentary format,” she says. “In documentaries you have a different working method, where you create your narrative structure completely in the editing room. It is a very much longer process than in fiction, but definitely very interesting.”
Personally, Marta says her favorite project recently was the intense psychological thriller Devil May Call, which was filmed in Los Angeles and debuted at the 2013 Marches du Film event in Cannes.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Bonet de Gispert continues to take on a diverse of range of work, crossing over international boundaries with ease. Speaking French, Spanish, Catalan and English, the phenom also crossed over into writing and directing with her upcoming project, El Otro Lado (The Other Side).
About the film, Bonet de Gispert says, "El Otro Lado is a an action thriller short film about a well-mannered lawyer that finds himself going over the edge and switching the world of laws to that of violence after laundering money for the cartels."
While she enjoys the awards and praise that came so quickly in her career and have continued for nearly a decade, Marta is one talent who truly doesn’t work or strive towards that. She says she’s happy “to just keep on working on interesting projects that make a difference for audiences.”
She adds, “Everything else is secondary.”