The winners of the 38th annual edition of the Goya Awards, presented by the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, will be announced this evening at a ceremony in Valladolid. This year, several Latin American nominees—from Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela—are vying for Spain’s most coveted cinematic award.
Juan Antonio Bayona’s survival thriller, Society of the Snow / La sociedad de la nieve, has received 13 nominations. Notably, two Argentine nationals, Matías Recalt for Breakthrough Actor for his role of Roberto Canessa and Julio Suárez for Best Costume Design, and Uruguayan DP Pedro Luque for Best Cinematography are among the nominees.
Society of the Snow which has also garnered Oscar nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, narrates the real-life story of a group of Uruguayan survivors who, following a plane crash in the remote heart of the Andes, unite and become each other's best hope as they navigate their way back home.
At the 38th Goya Awards, four films by five Venezuelan directors have been nominated. These include Upon Entry / La llegada by Alejandro Rojas and Sebastián Vásquez, Simón by Diego Vicentini, Mamacruz by Patricia Ortega, and Mientras seas tú, el aquí y ahora de Carme Elias by Claudia Pinto.
Upon Entry, the debut feature by Rojas and Vásquez, received three Goya Award nominations: Best New Director, Best Screenplay, and a nomination for its protagonist, Argentine-Spanish Alberto Ammann, for Best Actor. The film premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival last November and had its North American premiere at the SXSW Film Festival last March.
Upon Entry tells the story of Diego, a Venezuelan urbanist, and Elena, a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, who move to the United States with their approved visas to start a new life. Upon their arrival at the airport, an unexpected last step threatens their entry to the country as custom officers insist on a final interview. The immigration process will test the couple’s stability.
Simón, Vicentini’s drama, was nominated for Best Ibero-American Film. The film depicts the compelling and heartfelt story of a young freedom fighter who escapes the clutches of the Venezuelan regime to Miami, where he grapples with trauma and guilt as he seeks political asylum.
Ortega’s third feature, Mamacruz, received a nomination for the Goya for Best Editing. The Spanish-Venezuelan dramedy, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, follows the journey of a religious grandmother as she learns to navigate the internet and unexpectedly encounters pornography.
Pinto’s Mientras seas tú, el aquí y ahora de Carme Elias was nominated for Best Documentary. The film chronicles the story of veteran actress Carme Elias, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's four years ago, and her final collaboration with director Pinto.
In addition to Simón, the other Latin American productions contending for the Goya for Best Ibero-American Film are La pecera / The Fishbowl by Glorimar Marrero Sánchez from Puerto Rico, Puan by Benjamín Naishtat and María Alché from Argentina, and the Oscar-nominated documentary The Eternal Memory / La memoria infinita by Maite Alberdi from Chile.
Argentine-born actress Malena Alterio is nominated for Best Leading Actress for her performance as Lucía in director Antonio Méndez Esparza's thriller Something Is About to Happen / Que nadie duerma. Sara Becker, nominated for Breakthrough Actress for her performance in The Movie Teller" (La contadora de películas—directed by Danish director Lone Scherfig and co-written by Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles—has become the first Chilean actress to receive a Goya Awards nomination.
Set in a northern Chilean mining town in the sixties, The Movie Teller follows a poor young girl living in Chile with her wheelchair-confined father and four siblings as she tries to save up enough money to watch movies at her local cinema. The film also brought a nomination to Carlos Conti from Argentina for Best Production Design.
