Seville (EFE).- The Goya Awards gala returns to Seville, after passing through Valencia last year, with one of the most competitive editions due to the high quality of the works in competition and (finally) for parity increasingly growing that is noticeable in the nominations for the grand prizes.
Thus, undoubted favorites from other editions (Alberto Rodríguez, “La isla mínima” (2014), ten goyas from sixteen nominations, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, “El reino” (2018), seven goyas from thirteen nominations), face a debutante ( Alauda Ruiz de Azúa), and two directors with their second films (Carla Simón and Pilar Palomero).
In the category of best director, to the names mentioned for the best film is added that of Carlos Vermut (“Mantícora”), and that of Ruiz de Azúa is subtracted, who will compete for the best new director.
Prizes in other contests
The truth is that both «As bestas» and «Modelo 77» come from sweeping the different contests where they have competed, but «Alcarràs» and «Cinco lobitos», too. The first, no less than the winner of the Berlinale, the second, the same at the Malaga Festival. “The maternal” and “Manticore” arrive with three and four nominations, respectively, and have yet to bring out their powers.
Rural life, either as an epitaph or as an excuse for brutality, and motherhood told from various aspects -all intense and painfully close-, stand out among the arguments of the films that this year have approached the public from the screens, and that at this point in 2023 they are almost all on some payment platform.
Thus, Movistar Plus+, which repeats its offer of a special channel dedicated to the Goyas, is joined by HBO Max, Filmin, Netflix or Amazon Prime, which include twenty titles in their catalogues, including all the candidates for best film. , with the exception of “As bestas”, which can only be seen in theaters.
best iberoamerican
And some of the films that compete for the best Ibero-American award; the Chilean “1976”, on Filmin; “Argentina 1985”, which starts as a favorite, on Amazon Prime Video, and the Mexican “Noche de fuego”, on Netflix. The Colombian “La Jauría” and the Bolivian “Utama”, at the moment, only in theaters.
This is one of the effects of the (hopefully) past and buried pandemic: a change in habits that the industry will have to assume, take advantage of and get used to for it to happen.
Still, there is a great data in 2022: the number of viewers who went to the movies. Despite the floating sensation that the theaters were left very empty, the reality is that 82.7 million euros were collected at the box office, doubling what was registered in previous years – years of pandemic (41.7 million in 2021 and 42.7 million in 2020)-, and very close to previous levels: 94 million euros in 2019, close to 104 in 2018.
Only two films, “Padre no hay más que uno 3”, which has not received any Goya nominations -as usual with Santiago Segura’s comedies- and “Tadeo Jones 3: The Emerald Table”, with which Enrique Gato competes for best animated film, alone accounted for 33% of the proceeds. But almost twenty titles exceeded one million euros, including “As bestas”, “Alcarràs” or “Modelo 77”.
More Goya nominees, more visibility for more films
And finally the Goya grow in nominees up to five per category -six in best costume design-. A request long claimed by the industry -more possibilities of exposure for more works- and that has been adopted by the new board of directors, with its new president at the helm, Fernando Méndez Leite, who is facing his first awards.
Also appearing for the first time are Carlota Pereda (“Cerdita”), Elena López Riera (“El agua”) and Mikel Gurrea (“Suro”), all of them nominated with Alauda Ruiz de Azúa for the Goya for best new director, and Add a “veteran”, Juan Diego Botto, who debuts as a director with “On the margins”, produced by and starring Penélope Cruz.
Cruz, who reaches his 14th nomination for this work, could achieve his fourth Goya, coincidentally 14 years after his last, which he won in 2009 for “Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.” The French Marie Colomb (“As bestas”), Carmen Machi (“Cerdita”), Ángela Cervantes (“La Maternal”) and the name that runs from mouth to mouth: Susi Sánchez, impressive as “Basque” the from Madrid in «Cinco lobitos».
Curiosities
Another curiosity of these nominations are the doubles for best supporting actor of “Modelo 77” (Fernando Tejero and Jesús Carroza) and “As bestas” (Diego Anido and Luis Zahera): only one can remain. One that could also be Ramón Barea (“Five little wolves”).
The gala, presented by Clara Lago and Antonio de la Torre, can be seen on live television through La 1 de TVE. EFE
Web edition: Fátima Santos
