The film won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.
It was Swinton who awarded Almodóvar the Donostia Award, praising “his unique contribution to world culture and for inspiring such devoted affection in us”.
He said, “Your work is good for the world. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for it. You will live forever.”
Almodovar said, “For me, cinema is a blessing or a curse.” “I can’t imagine any other kind of life in which I could write and direct non-stop.”
He also paid tribute to many of the actors he worked with, including Penélope Cruz, Carmen Moura, Antonio Banderas, Cecilia Roth, and Rossi De Palma.
San Sebastian, the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film festival, ended on Saturday.