The Goya Film Awards

Spanish film’s Goya awards are right around the corner, and I’m glad to see that despite the fact that everyone keeps talking about Spain’s eternal cinematographic crisis, film exhibitors studying the viewing public’s accessibility to movies in the last few months have confirmed with great satisfaction that the number of viewers of Spanish film is growing. Those statistics of course depend on the quality of the latest movie offerings and how close these come to satisfying audiences’ viewing tastes. 

Take a peek at movie theaters’ show listings and you’ll soon find that there is at the moment an exciting variety of titles playing, a varied medley of choices that can attract just about any type of audience.

Nominated Spanish Films

This year, one of the five films nominated to win a Goya Award for the best film (undoubtedly the most coveted award of the ceremony) is 15 años y un día (15 Years and One Day), which tells the story of Max, who after retiring from an action-charged life with the military lives a peaceful life on the Mediterranean coast with his grandson Jon. Jon is a problematic young man whose mother has sent him to live with his grandfather and find a sense of balance in his life. Jon will quickly begin to test his grandpa’s nerves.

Caníbal is another film nominated for the award. This horrifying story is about a tailor from Granada who has a peculiar dining preference: women he doesn’t know. When the cannibalistic tailor encounters a young Romanian woman in search of her lost sister, his life will be thrown a loop.

La herida (The Wound) is about a 28 year old woman whose life is something of a contradiction: at work, she gains great fulfillment and satisfaction helping others, while her private life is the exact opposite, in which she finds it difficult relating to others including those who most care about her.

After these drama-heavy nominees a breath of fresh air comes in the form of a wonderful film from David Trueba (director and scriptwriter) based on a true story of an English teacher who used Beatles songs to teach his classes despite not being able to clearly understand certain expressions John Lennon included in the lyrical content. Knowing that the quartet from Liverpool is in Almería filming a movie, Antonio (the teacher, masterfully played by Javier Cámara whose performance transcends the limits of perfection and tenderness) decides to meet Lennon in person to ask him for help understanding the words to his songs. The film is entitled: Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados, a line taken from a Beatles song.

La gran familia española is a hilarious comedy about a wedding that coincides with the final match of the soccer world cup hosted by South Africa.  A mosaic of characters will take viewers on a wild ride full of funny and at times moving scenes.

Besides these five movies, we also recommend seeing 3 bodas de más, a hysterical film about a young woman who receives a particularly humorous invitation to attend her three ex boyfriends’ weddings. The movie Alacrán enamorado, featuring the acting duo of brothers Carlos and Javier Bardem, delves into the world of today’s ultra-right wing groups in Spain. And we can’t forget about the title that we’ve already discussed on this blog: the surprising Las brujas de Zurragamurdi.      

Exploring the culture and traditions of another country through its cinematic works and letting yourself be swept away by the creativity of actors, screenwriters and directors, can be a highly enjoyable experience… And right now the magical world of the silver screen is in top form.

Next February 9 (Sunday), don’t miss Goya Awards Ceremony on Spanish public television: TVE.

Find more information about the awards and related news at the official website.