J.A. Bayona’s “The Society of the Snow” Wins 12 Goya Awards, Including Best Director & Best Film

Posted on February 11, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

J.A. Bayona is this year’s Goya Awards darling.

The 48-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s The Society of the Snow took home 12 trophies at the 38th Annual Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars, in Valladolid.

Bayona’s film for Netflix claimed the most awards of the night, including Best Director and Best Film awards for the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker.

But Bayona wasn’t the only multiple-award winner.

Pablo Berger earned two Goya Awards for his acclaimed animated film Robot Dreams, which is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

The 61-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s film claimed the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Animated Film awards.

The top acting awards went to Malena Alterio for Antonio Méndez Esparza’s Que Nadie Duerma and David Verdaguer for David Trueba’s Saben aquell.

Here’s the complete winners list:

Honorary Goya
Juan Mariné

Best Supporting Actor
José Coronado
Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes)

Best Original Song
“Yo solo quiero amor”
Rigoberta Bandini
Te estoy amando locamente

Best Costume Design
Julio Suárez
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Special Effects
Pau Costa, Félix Bergés and Laura Pedro
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver and Montse Ribé
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best New Actor
Matías Recalt
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Film Editing
Andrés Gil y Jaume Martí
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Cinematography
Pedro Luque
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Sound Editing
Jorge Adrados, Oriol Tarra y Marc Orts
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Art Direction
Alain Bainée
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Production Design
Margarita Huguet
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Original Music
Michael Giacchino
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Animated Film
Robot Dreams
Pablo Berger

Best Documentary Film
Mientras seas tú, el aquí y ahora
Carme Elías, de Claudia Pinto

Best Short (Fiction)
Aunque es de noche
Guillermo García López

Best Documentary Short
Ava
Mabel Lozano

Best Animated Short
To bird or not to bird
Martín Romero

Best Novel Direction
Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren
20.000 especies de abejas (20,000 Species of Bees)

International Goya
Sigourney Weaver

Best New Actress
Janet Novás
O corno (The Rye Horn)

Best Iberoamerican Film
La memoria infinita (Chile) (The Eternal Memory)
Maite Alberdi

Best European Film
Anatomía de una caída (Francia) (Anatomy of a Fall)
Justine Triet

Best Supporting Actress
Ane Gabarain
20.000 especies de abejas (20,000 Species of Bees)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Pablo Berger
Robot Dreams

Best Original Screenplay
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
20.000 especies de abejas (20,000 Species of Bees)

Best Actor
David Verdaguer
Saben aquell (Jokes & Cigarettes)

Best Actress
Malena Alterio
Que nadie duerma (Something is About to Happen)

Best Director
J. A. Bayona
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Best Picture
La sociedad de la nieve (The Society of the Snow)

Antonio Méndez Esparza Wins John Cassavettes Award at Spirit Awards

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Méndez Esparza has the Spirit…

The Spanish writer /director took home the John Cassavettes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Méndez Esparza picked up the award for his film Life and nothing more, which he penned and helmed.

Chile’s Sebastián Lelio won the award for Best International Film for A Fantastic Woman.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

BEST FEATURE
Get Out

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST MALE LEAD
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

BEST DIRECTOR
Jordan Peele, Get Out

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Faces Places Directors: Agnés Varda, JR
Producer: Rosalie Varda

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST SCREENPLAY
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast

Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick

BEST EDITING
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya

BONNIE AWARD
Chloé Zhao

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
A Fantastic Woman, Chile
Director: Sebastián Lelio

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Life and nothing more
Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza
Producers: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández, Pedro Hernández Santos

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Ingrid Goes West
Director: Matt Spicer
Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Adam Mirels, Robert Mirels, Aubrey Plaza, Tim White, Trevor White

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Allison Janney , I, Tonya

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me By Your Name

KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Justin Chon

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Summer Shelton

SEATTLE STORY AWARD
Matty Brown

JEEP BRAND TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Jonathan Olshefski

Salma Hayek Earns First-Ever Film Independent Spirit Award Nomination

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Salma Hayek has the spirit, yes she does…

The 51-year-old Mexican Academy Award-nominated actress has earned her first-ever Film Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Hayek received the nod in the Best Female Lead category for her critically-acclaimed “powerful, layered” performance in Beatriz at Dinner, which was directed by Miguel Arteta.

But Hayek isn’t the only Hispanic artist in the running…

Spanish writer/director Antonio Méndez Esparza is nominated for the John Cassavetes Award for his film Life and nothing more, as is Spanish writer/director/producer Ana Asensio for her film Most Beautiful Island.

Meanwhile, Argentinian-born Chilean director Sebastián Lelio has earned a nod in the Best International Film category for his Chilean film A Fantastic Woman.

The Spirit Awards ceremony will air live on IFC from the Santa Monica beach on March 3, and will be hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney for the second year in a row.

Here’s the full list of nomimations:

BEST FEATURE
Call Me By Your Name
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Florida Project
The Rider

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Columbus
Ingrid Goes West
Menashe
Oh Lucy!
Patti Cake$

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Dayveon
A Ghost Story
Life and nothing more (Writer/Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza; Producers: Amadeo Hernández Bueno, Alvaro Portanet Hernández, Pedro Hernández Santos)
Most Beautiful Island (Writer/Director/Producer: Ana Asensio; Producers: Larry Fessenden, Noah Greenberg, Chadd Harbold, Jenn Wexler)
The Transfiguration

BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Jonas Carpignano, A Ciambra
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Good Time
Chloé Zhao, The Rider

BEST SCREENPLAY
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Azazel Jacobs, The Lovers
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Mike White, Beatriz at Dinner

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Donald Cried
The Big Sick
Women Who Kill
Columbus
Ingrid Goes West

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Thimios Bakatakis, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Elisha Christian, Columbus
Hélène Louvart, Beach Rats
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name
Joshua James Richards, The Rider

BEST EDITING
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Good Time
Walter Fasano, Call Me by Your Name
Alex O’Flinn, The Rider
Gregory Plotkin, Get Out
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Shinobu Terajima, Oh Lucy!
Regina Williams, Life and nothing more

BEST MALE LEAD
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Robert Pattinson, Good Time

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lois Smith, Marjorie Prime
Taliah Lennice Webster, Good Time

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Nnamdi Asomugha, Crown Heights
Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name
Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Bennie Safdie, Good Time

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
France
Director: Robin Campillo
A Fantastic Woman
Chile
Director: Sebastián Lelio
I Am Not a Witch
Zambia
Director: Rungano Nyoni
Lady Macbeth
U.K.
Director: William Oldroyd
Loveless
Russia
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Departure
Director/Producer: Lana Wilson
Faces Places
Directors: Agnés Varda, JR
Producer: Rosalie Varda
Last Men in Aleppo
Director: Feras Fayyad
Producers: Kareem Abeed, Søeren Steen Jespersen, Stefan Kloos
Motherland
Director/Producer: Ramona S. Diaz
Producer: Rey Cuerdo
Quest
Director: Jonathan Olshefski
Producer: Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

BONNIE AWARD
So Yong Kim
Lynn Shelton
Chloé Zhao

JEEP TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Shevaun Mizrahi
Director of Distant Constellation
Jonathan Olshefski
Director of Quest
Jeff Unay
Director of The Cage Fighter

KIEHL’S SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Amman Abbasi
Director of Dayveon
Justin Chon
Director of Gook
Kevin Phillips
Director of Super Dark Times

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Giulia Caruso & Ki Jin Kim
Ben LeClair
Summer Shelton

Quemada-Diez’s “La jaula de oro” Wins Big at the Mumbai Film Festival

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Quemada-Diez’s first feature film continues earning acclaim around the world.

The Mexican writer/director’s La jaula de oro won the Golden Gateway of India award in the international competition section for the best film from a debut director at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival.

The film, which centers on three teenagers trying to immigrate to the U.S. from Guatemala, was produced by Inna Payan, Luis Salinas and Edher Campos.

Salinas received the award from the international competition jury head, director Bruce Beresford.

It’s the latest award for Quemada-Diez’s film…

Earlier this month, the film won the Golden Eye for best film at the 9th Zurich International Film Festival. In all, La jaula de oro has earned more than a dozen international awards.

Meanwhile, this is the second year in a row that a Mexican film has won the top honor at the Mumbai Film Festival, after last year’s Aquí y alla (Here And There) — also revolving around immigration — by director Antonio Méndez Esparza triumphed.

Méndez Esparza’s “Aquí y Allá” Honored at the Mumbai Film Festival

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

The first time’s the charm for Antonio Méndez Esparza…

The Spanish filmmaker has picked up two awards at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival for his critically acclaimed feature debut Aquí y Allá.

The Mexican immigrant drama was named the best film by a first-time director in the international competition category. In earning the Golden Gateway of India award, the film was honored with and a cash prize of $ 100,000 collectively awarded to the producer, director & sales agent of the film.

In addition, Méndez Esparza picked up the Silver Gateway Award for best director for helming Aquí y Allá.

The film, which will be screened in the AFI Fest 2012’s Young Americans and New Auteurs sections at this year’s festival, recently earned Méndez Esparza a Gotham Independent Film Awards nomination for Breakthrough Director.

Spain’s Blancanieves, a black-and-white silent drama based on Snow White and directed by Pablo Berger, screened as the festival’s closing film.

The Mumbai Film Festival is organized by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.

Méndez Esparza Receives Gotham Independent Film Awards Nod

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Antonio Méndez Esparza is having a notable year…

The 26-year-old Spanish filmmaker has earned a Gotham Independent Film Awards nomination in the Breakthrough Director category.

Méndez Esparza was recognized for his exceptional work on his debut feature film Aquí y Allá (Here and There).

The film, which took top honors at the Critics’ Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival, centers on Pedro, a Mexican man who returns home to a small mountain village in Guerrero, after years of working in the US. He finds his daughters older, and more distant than he imagined, while his wife still has the same smile. Having saved money from two trips to the U.S., he hopes to now finally make a better life with his family, and even to pursue his own dreams on the side by starting a band: the Copa Kings.

Meanwhile, Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza has been recognized for her work on the feature film Safety Not Guaranteed, a film that centers on three magazine employees who head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.

The 28-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/comedian and her co-stars in the film – Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere, Kristen Bell, Jeff Garlin and Mary Lynn Rajskub – received a nod in the Best Ensemble Performance category.

The Gotham Independent Film Awards are handed out by the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers.

The awards signal the kick-off to Hollywood’s awards season. In all, Gotham Independent Film Award nominations were given to a total of 26 films across six competitive categories: Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance, and Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.

The Gotham Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 26th in Manhattan. In addition to the competitive awards, actors Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon, director David O. Russell, and Participant Media founder Jeff Skoll will each be presented with a career tribute.

Here’s a look at the categories with Latinos being recognized:

Best Ensemble Performance

– Bernie, Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey (Millennium Entertainment)
– Moonrise Kingdom, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban (Focus Features)
– Safety Not Guaranteed, Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere, Kristen Bell, Jeff Garlin, Mary Lynn Rajskub (Film District)
– Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Anupam Kher (The Weinstein Company)
– Your Sister’s Sister, Emily Blunt, Rosemarie Dewitt, Mark Duplass (IFC Films)

Breakthrough Director

– Zal Batmanglij for Sound of My Voice (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
– Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky for Francine (Factory 25 and The Film Sales Company)
– Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin for Now, Forager (Argot Pictures)
– Antonio Méndez Esparza for Aquí y Allá (Here and There) (Torch Films)
– Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Campos to Participate in This Year’s AFI Fest

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He’s already proved himself to be a Sundance Film Festival darling… And, now Antonio Campos is set to charm audiences at this year’s AFI Fest.

The 29-year-old half-Brazilian screenwriter/director has been added by the American Film Institute to the list of rising stars participating in AFI Fest 2012’s Young Americans and New Auteurs sections at this year’s festival.

Campos’ Simon Killer will form part of the New Auteurs section, which highlights first and second-time feature film directors from around the world.

Simon Killer centers on a young American man who falls in love with a French prostitute. Campos calls Simon a “character study” of male angst and utterly reflective of his ingrained love for being frightened as an audience member.

Other Latino filmmakers participating at this year’s AFI Fest include Michel Franco of Mexico and Antonio Mendez Esparza of Spain, Mexico and the U.S.

The films in the Young Americans section are eligible for an Audience Award while the films in the New Auteurs section are eligible for a Grand Jury Award.

This year’s AFI Fest will take place on November 1-8 in Hollywood.

Here’s the complete list of participants:

YOUNG AMERICANS:
All The Light In The Sky: DIR/SCR Joe Swanberg.
Ape: DIR/SCR Joel Potrykus.
Electrick Children: DIR/SCR Rebecca Thomas.
The International Sign For Choking: DIR/SCR Zach Weintraub.
Kid-Thing: DIR/SCR David Zellner.
Only The Young: DIR Jason Tippet, Elizabeth Mims.
Pearblossom Highway: DIR Mike Ott. SCR Mike Ott, Atsuko Okatsuka.
Somebody Up There Likes Me: DIR/SCR Robert Byington.
Starlet: DIR Sean Baker. SCR Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch.
Sun Don’t Shine: DIR/SCR Amy Seimetz.
Tchoupitoulas: DIR Turner Ross, Bill Ross.

NEW AUTEURS:
After Lucia: DIR/SCR Michel Franco. Mexico.
Antiviral: DIR/SCR Brandon Cronenberg. Canda/USA.
Clip: DIR/SCR Maja Miloš. Serbia.
Eat Sleep Die: DIR/SCR Gabriela Pichler. Sweden.
Here And There: DIR/SCR Antonio Mendez Esparza. Mexico/Spain/USA.
A Hijacking: DIR/SCR Tobiaas Lindholm. Denmark.
In The Fog: DIR Sergei Loznitsa. Germany/Russia/Belarus/The Netherlands/Latvia.
Not In Tel Aviv: DIR/SCR Nony Geffen. Israel.
Simon Killer: DIR/SCR Antonio Campos. USA.

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