15/06/07

// Woody Allen awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the UPF

Pompeu Fabra University yesterday awarded Woody Allen the title of Doctor Honoris Causa . The investiture ceremony was held at the Ciutadella campus and aroused a great deal of expectation. The members of the university community and other guests at the event mingled with Mr. Allen's followers from near and far who came to greet the film-maker.

Woody Allen's presence at the UPF stirred widespread anticipation among the media, to the extent that the ceremony was covered by over a hundred journalists, including eighteen TV channels and various accredited foreign news media. The whole event was relayed via a giant screen in the campus exhibition hall and could be followed live via the UPF website.

The investiture ceremony began with the screening of a video - Deconstructing Woody - showing fragments of films by Woody Allen, which was specially prepared for the occasion by the film director Manuel Huerga . Music, too, had a prominent role, with clarinettist Oriol Romaní and the pianist Ignasi Terraza playing different jazz themes in honour of the doctorand, such as Wild Man Blues by Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, and Two deuces, also by the well-known trumpet virtuoso.

On commencement of the ceremony, Tomàs de Montagut, secretary general of the UPF, read out the Board of Governors' agreement to confer the honoris causa degree on Woody Allen for "having contributed an original and personal view of the world, which has benefited us all, and in recognition of his film-making as a whole which represents a bridge between two cultures and two cinematographic traditions: the American and the European".

Antonio Monegal , a lecturer in the UPF Department of Humanities, gave the laudatio address . Monegal read the laudatio , paying tribute to Woody Allen's qualities, in English, and those present were able to read the Catalan version included in the ceremony literature. Mr. Monegal, who termed Woody Allen a "people's philosopher", stated that "as a university, we wish to acknowledge the fact that Mr. Allen has made his mark in the field of cinema and also in contemporary culture as a whole, and has become a cultural icon, whether he likes it or not".

The most solemn moment of the ceremony was the actual investiture of the doctorand, when the rector Josep Joan Moreso presented Woody Allen with the UPF honoris causa medal, an original work by the sculptor Emili Armengol , and the accompanying diploma. The investiture ended with the official fraternal embrace of the rector as a sign of Woody Allen being accepted into the University's faculty of doctors. The new doctor was accompanied at all times by his promotor, Domènec Font, dean of UPF Audiovisual Communication Studies.

Visibly gratified, Woody Allen expressed his thanks at having been granted the UPF honoris causa doctorate, the first one in his career, and improvised a short address that the public did not find at all disappointing. During his speech he remarked "not only am I now a European film-maker, but I am a product of university", and went on to add: "This is a dream come true. I'm very, very honoured".

Videos:

> Opening ceremony: reading of the Board of Governors' agreement to confer the honoris causa degree on Woody Allen (1'20'')

> Antonio Monegal's Laudatio (17' 33'')

> Investiture of the doctorate (2'22'')

> Woody Allen's acceptance speech (5'54'')

> Speech of the rector (8'24'')

The rector of the UPF, Josep Joan Moreso, mentioned in his address that the UPF "breathes and throbs to the same urban, cosmopolitan beat as Barcelona and that our university aspires to be for Barcelona what New York University (which crops up now and again in Woody Allen's films) is for the city of New York". The rector also noted that "Woody Allen's films have played a part in shaping the emotional and sentimental fabric of many of those present here today" and that "Woody Allen's cinema forms part of our sentimental education ".

The ceremony closed with the Gaudeamus igitur , sung by the UPF Choir, after which those attending were offered an apéritif in the courtyard of the Roger de Llúria building, with entertainment by the jazz band ' La Vella Dixieland '.