Film Academy gets new head after close vote
González Macho chosen to succeed Alex de la Iglesia, who resigned over illegal download law
The film distributor Enrique González Macho, 64, became the new president of the Spanish Film Academy on Sunday after his predecessor, Alex de la Iglesia, resigned in protest over a law sanctioning illegal downloads of copyrighted material, including movies.
"I am very excited but a bit nervous," said the winner, who beat filmmaker Bigas Luna to the job. González Macho's running mates and now vice-presidents are the actress Marta Etura and the director Judith Colell.
The new president said that his job would be "to build and improve things."
"We will discuss downloads, but it will not be the main debate - there are many other things to do," he said.
The voting was apparently very tight, and emotions were said to be running high at the Academy, where 966 members were called to the polls.
