Pedro Almodóvar Earns Three European Film Awards Nominations for “The Room Next Door”

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar is this year’s European Film Awards darling…

The European Film Academy has announced the nominees for the 37th European Film Awards, which will take place in the Swiss lakeside city of Lucerne on December 7, with the 75-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning filmmaker earning three nods.

Almodovar earned a nod in the Best European Film category for his first English-language film The Room Next Door, which stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.

He’s also nominated for European Director and Best Screenplay for the film.

Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal are up for two awards.

The 69-year-old Spanish filmmaker and the 74-year-old Spanish Spanish artist and designer are nominated for Best European Film and Best European Animated Film for They Shot the Piano Player.

Isabel Herguera is up for two awards…

The 63-year-old Spanish artist, filmmaker, cultural manager, professor and critic is nominated for Best European Film and Best European Animated Film for Sultana’s Dream.

Karla Sofía Gascón has earned her first European Film Awards nod.

The 52-year-old Spanish actress, who became the first openly trans actor to win a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival when she shared the Best Actress Award with her co-stars from Emilia Pérez, is up for Best Actress for Emilia Perez.

For the first time this year, under new rules announced last summer, films nominated for Best European Documentary and Best Animated Feature Film are also eligible in the Best European Film category.

The awards, which are voted on by the Berlin-based European Film Academy’s some 5,000 members based across Europe, are also seen as a bellwether for which European films are likely to pick up steam in the U.S. awards season.

This year’s ceremony in Lucerne will mark the last time it takes place in December with the dates shifting to mid-January, starting with the 38th edition in 2026, as part of a strategy to position the prizes within the wider awards season conversation on both sides of the Atlantic.

Awards for the craft categories of Best European Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Make-up and Hair, Original Score, Sound and Visual Effects are decided by a specialized a jury and selected from the films in core Academy selection.

Here’s a look at the 2024 nominations:

Best European Film
BYE BYE TIBERIAS (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar) – documentary film, directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi

DAHOMEY (France, Senegal) – documentary film, directed by Mati Diop, produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou-Lévy & Mati Diop

EMILIA PÉREZ (France) – feature film, directed by Jacques Audiard, produced by Pascal Caucheteux, Jacques Audiard, Valérie Schermann & Anthony Vaccarello

FLOW (STRAUME) (Latvia, France, Belgium) – animated feature film, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, produced by Matīss Kaža, Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens & Gregory Zalcman

IN LIMBO (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland) – documentary film, directed by Alina Maksimenko, produced by Filip Marczewski

LIVING LARGE (ŽIVOT K SEŽRÁNÍ) (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia) – animated feature film, directed by Kristina Dufková, produced by Matej Chlupacek, Agata Novinski & Marc Faye

NO OTHER LAND (Palestine, Norway) – documentary film, directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal, produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor & Hamdan Ballal

SAVAGES (SAUVAGES) (Switzerland, France, Belgium) – animated feature film, directed by Claude Barras, produced by Nicolas Burlet, Laurence Petit, Barbara Letellier, Carole Scotta, Vincent Tavier, Hugo Deghilage, Annemie Degryse & Olivier Glassey

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (France, Belgium, Netherlands) – documentary film, directed by Johan Grimonprez, produced by Daan Milius & Rémi Grellety

SULTANA’S DREAM (EL SUEÑO DE LA SULTANA) (Spain, Germany, India) – animated feature film, directed by Isabel Herguera, produced by Chelo Loureiro, Diego Herguera, Fabian Driehorst, Mariano Baratech & Iván Miñambres

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR (Spain) – feature film, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, produced by Agustín Almodóvar & Esther García

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (DANAYE ANJIR-E MOABAD) (Germany, France) – feature film, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, produced by Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin Sadraei, Jean-Christophe Simon, Mani Tilgner & Rozita Hendijanian

THE SUBSTANCE (UK, United States, France) – feature film, directed by Coralie Fargeat, produced by Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner

THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru) – animated feature film, directed by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, produced by Cristina Huete, Serge Lalou, Sophie Cabon, Bruno Felix, Janneke van de Kerkhoff, Femke Wolting & Humberto Santana

VERMIGLIO (Italy, France, Belgium) – feature film, directed by Maura Delpero, produced by Francesca Andreoli, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Santiago Fondevila Sancet & Maura Delpero

Best European Documentary
BYE BYE TIBERIAS (BYE BYE TIBERIADE) (France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar), directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin & Ossama Bawardi

DAHOMEY (France, Senegal), directed by Mati Diop, produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou-Lévy & Mati Diop

IN LIMBO (W ZAWIESZENIU) (Poland), directed by Alina Maksimenko, produced by Filip Marczewski

NO OTHER LAND (Palestine, Norway), directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal, produced by Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor & Hamdan Ballal

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT (France, Belgium, Netherlands), directed by Johan Grimonprez, produced by Daan Milius & Rémi Grellety

European Director
Andrea Arnold for BIRD
Jacques Audiard for EMILIA PÉREZ
Pedro Almodóvar for THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
Mohammad Rasoulof for THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
Maura Delpero for VERMIGLIO

Best Actress
Renate Reinsve in ARMAND
Karla Sofía Gascón in EMILIA PÉREZ
Trine Dyrholm in THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Vic Carmen Sonne in THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Tilda Swinton in THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Best Actor
Franz Rogowski in BIRD
Ralph Fiennes in CONCLAVE
Lars Eidinger in DYING
Daniel Craig in QUEER
Abou Sangare in SOULEYMANE’S STORY

Best Screenplay
Jacques Audiard for EMILIA PÉREZ
Magnus von Horn & Line Langebek for THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Pedro Almodóvar for THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
Mohammad Rasoulof for THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG
Coralie Fargeat for THE SUBSTANCE

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI
ARMAND (Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden), directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, produced by Andrea Berentsen Ottmar

HOARD (UK), directed by Luna Carmoon, produced by Loran Dunn, Helen Simmons & Andrew Starke

KNEECAP (Ireland, UK), directed by Rich Peppiatt, produced by Patrick O’Neill, Trevor Birney & Jack Tarling

SANTOSH (UK, France, Germany), directed by Sandhya Suri, produced by Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner, Carole Scotta & Eliott Khayat

THE NEW YEAR THAT NEVER CAME (ANUL NOU CARE N-A FOST) (Romania, Serbia), directed and produced by Bogdan Mureșanu

TOXIC (AKIPLĖŠA) (Lithuania) directed by Saulė Bliuvaitė, produced by Giedre Burokaite

European Young Audience Award
LARS IS LOL (Norway, Denmark), directed by Eirik Sæter Stordahl, produced by Caroline Hitland & Matilda Appelin
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN (Norway), directed by Benjamin Ree, produced by Ingvil Giske
WINNERS (Germany), directed by Soleen Yusef, produced by Sonja Schmitt, Marc Schmidheiny & Christoph Daniel

Best European Animated Film
FLOW directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia, France, Belgium)
LIVING LARGE directed by Kristina Dufková (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia)
SAVAGES directed by Claude Barras (Switzerland, France, Belgium)
SULTANA’S DREAM directed by Isabel Herguera (Spain, Germany, India)
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru)

Best European Short Film
2720 directed by Basil da Cunha (Portugal, Switzerland)
CLAMOR directed by Salomé Da Souza (France)
THE EXPLODING GIRL directed by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (France)
THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT directed by Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia)
WANDER TO WONDER directed by Nina Gantz (The Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom)

Diego Luna to Receive 2021 Platino Award of Honor

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Luna is being celebrated for his platinum career.

This year’s seventh edition of the Ibero-American Platino Awards (Premios Platinos) will honor the 41-year-old Mexican actor, director, producer and festival organizer with the Platino Award of Honor.

An itinerant award show by design, this year’s Platinos will be held on October 3 in Madrid.

Luna will be the youngest recipient of the career achievement honor, joining previous winners Miguel Rafael Martos Sánchez, often simply referred to as Raphael, one of Spain’s most iconic entertainers of the 20th century; Adriana Barraza, the Oscar nominated Spanish-English-language crossover star of Alejandro Iñárritu’s Babel and Amores Perros; Oscar and three time Primetime Emmy nominee Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver); Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory); and Primetime Emmy (The Burning Season) and BAFTA (“Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos) nominee Sonia Braga.

A child actor who excelled from an early age, Luna’s first film appearance was in Javier Bourges’ 1991 Mexican Academy Award-nominated short The Last New Year.” He appeared in several telenovelas throughout the ‘90s, joined on screen for the first time by his longtime collaborator and close friend Gael García Bernal in El abuelo y yo in 1992. Alternating between film and television over the next decade, his international breakout came with García Bernal and Spain’s Marbel Verdú in Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal coming-of-age road trip film “Y Tu Mamá También.”

Shortly after, Luna began his Hollywood career appearing alongside Bon Jovi in John Carpenter’s Vampires: Los Muertos and in Salma Hayek’s Oscar-winning biopic Frida.

In the decades since, Luna has continued to work on both Latin American and U.S. productions while also taking turns as a producer, writer and director. He also, again with García Bernal, launched the nomadic documentary film festival Ambulante, as well as their own production label, first Canana in 2005 and now La Corriente del Golfo.

Most recently, he created and hosts the Amazon Original conversation series Pan y Circo and is starring in the Disney+’s Andor, a spinoff series following his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story character Cassian Andor.

He was also recently confirmed as a voice actor for Netflix’s upcoming animated series Maya and the Three, where he will team with frequent collaborator Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life).

Last year’s ceremony was, like so many, forced online by the COVID-19 pandemic. But this time around, the Platinos are planning an in-person event to celebrate the best offerings from the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American screen industries.

At 11 nominations each, the two standout titles are Fernando Trueba’s Colombian drama Memories of My Father and Jayro Bustamante’s Guatemalan thriller La Llorona.

The Platino Awards are promoted by EGEDA (Spain’s Entity for the Rights Management of Audiovisual Producers) and FIPCA (the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers) and have the support of the Ibero-American film academies and institutes as well as numerous sponsors in Europe and Latin America.

Salvador Calvo’s Netflix Drama “Adú” Leads Spain’s Goya Awards Nominees with 14

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Salvador Calvo is the man to beat…

The Spanish filmmaker’s Netflix drama Adú is the frontrunner for this year’s Premios Goya (Goya Awards), Spain’s top film honors.

Calvo’s film earned 14 nominations, including nods for best film and best director.

Calvo’s sophomore feature follows three interconnected stories all set in Africa. Two members of its ensemble cast Álvaro Cervantes and Adam Nourou, picked up Goya nominations for best supporting actor and best newcomer actor, respectively.

The Goyas 2021 best film nominees include Ane Is Missing from David Pérez Sañudo, Icíar Bollaín‘s La boda de Rosa, Pilar Palomero‘s The Girls, and The People Upstairs aka Sentimental, from director Cesc Gay.

In addition to Calvo and Bollaín, the best director category this year includes Juanma Bajo Ulloa, nominated for his horror thriller Baby, and veteran filmmaker Isabel Coixet for It Snows in Benidorm.

Contenders for the best Ibero-American film include Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, Forgotten We’ll Be from Columbian filmmaker Fernando Trueba, the Guatemalan horror film The Curse of la Llorona, and Fernando Frias‘ Mexican drama I’m No Longer Here.

Last year, Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical drama Pain and Glory was the big winner at the Goyas, winning seven honors, including for best picture, director, original screenplay, and best actor for Antonio Banderas.

The 2021 Goya Awards will be held in a live-streamed ceremony from the Teatro del Soho CaixaBank in Málaga on Saturday, March 6. Banderas will direct this year’s award ceremony and will present the 35th Goya Awards together with Spanish journalist María Casado.

Here’s the full list of nominations for the 35th Goya Awards:

Best Film
Adú
Ane Is Missing
La boda de Rosa
The Girls
The People Upstairs

Best Director
Salvador Calvo for Adú
Juanma Bajo Ulloa for Bafrom
Icíar Bollain for La boda de Rosa
Isabel Coixet for It Snows in Benidorm

Best Novel Adaptation
Pilar Palomero for The Girls
David Pérez Sañudo for Ane is Missing
Bernabé Rico for El inconvenient
Núria Giménez Lorang for My Mexican Bretzel

Best Actress
Amaia Aberasturi for Coven
Andrea Fandós for The Girls
Patricia López Arnaiz for Ane is Missing
Candela Peña for La boda de Rosa

Best Actor
Mario Casas for Cross the Line
Javier Cámara for The People Upstairs
Ernesto Alterio for A Normal World
David Verdaguer for One for All

Best Supporting Actress
Juana Acosta for El inconvenient
Verónica Echegui for My Heart Goes Boom!
Natalia de Molina for The Girls
Nathalie Poza for La boda de Rosa

Best Supporting Actor
Sergi López for La boda de Rosa
Juan Diego Botto for The Europeans
Alberto San Juan for The People Upstairs
Álvaro Cervantes for Adú

Best Actress Newcomer
Jone Laspiur for Ane is Missing
Paula Usero for La boda de Rosa
Milena Smith for Cross the Line
Griselda Siciliani for The People Upstairs

Best Actor Newcomer
Adam Nourou for Adú
Chema del Barco for The Plan
Janick for Historias lamentables
Fernando Valdivielso for Cross the Line

Best Original Screenplay
Adu
La boda de Rosa
Historias lamentables
The Girls

Best Adapted Screenplay
The People Upstairs
Ane is Missing
The Europeans
Unknown Origins

Best Animated Film
Turu, the Wacky Hen

Best Documentary
Anatomía de un dandy
Drowning Letters
The Year of the Discovery
My Mexican Bretzel

Best European Film
Corpus Christi from Poland
The Father from the United Kingdom
An Officer and A Spy from France
Falling from the United Kingdom

Best Ibero-American Film
El agente topo from Chile
El olvido que seremos from Colombia
La llorona from Guatemala
Ya no estoy aquí from México

Best Cinematography
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
The Girls

Best Production Design
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
It Snows in Benidorm

Best Original Music
Adú
Coven
Baby
El verano que vivimos

Best Original Song
Adú
El verano que vivimos
La boda de Rosa
The Girls

Best Editing
Adú
Black Beach
The Year of the Discovery
The Girls

Best Sound
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
The Plan

Best Art Direction
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
The Girls

Best Costume Design
Coven
My Heart Goes Boom!
The Girls
The Europeans

Best Makeup and Hairdressing
Adú
Coven
My Heart Goes Boom!
Unknown Origins

Best Special Effects
Coven
Adú
Black Beach

Paco Leon to Star in the Spanish Psychological Thriller “From the Shadows”

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Paco Leon is heading into the Shadows…

The 46-year-old Spanish actor will star opposite Leonor Watling in psychological thriller From the Shadows (Desde la Sombra), a film adaptation by Spanish writer Juan José Millas, winner of most of Spain’s foremost literary awards, including the Planeta, Nadal and National Narrative Awards.

The film will be directed by Felix Viscarret

A star of sitcom Aida, a free-to-air television phenomenon from 2005-14, and most recently Netflix Mexico’s hit House of Flowers, Leon co-wrote and directed Arde Madrid, a Movistar Plus Rose d’Or winning original series.

Star of Pedro Almodovar’s Academy Award-winning Talk to Her, Watling confirmed her comic talents most recently in Movistar Plus’ excruciatingly discomforting Russian mob comedy Nasdrovia.

Produced by Academy Award winning Tornasol Media and co-produced by Belgium’s Entre Chien et Loup, From the Shadows will be brought onto the international market at Ventana Sur by Latido Films.

Co-written by David Muñoz, From the Shadows turns on Damián who, to escape from his boss, hides in a massive antique wardrobe that is delivered to a middle-class home, inhabited by Lucia and Fede and their teenage daughter. A persistent fantasist – he imagines himself as a TV celebrity delivering candid interviews to prestigious journalists – Damián realizes that staying in the wardrobe gives him a chance to lead the normal life he has always missed.

He becomes the family’s guardian angel, doing the housework in its absence, as his hold on reality crumbles and Lucia, on anti-depressants, believes the wardrobe hides the specter of her dead brother.

“This story is a portrait of the madness, sometimes strange, sometimes comical, we all have: Dialogues we carry on with ourselves, how we fall in love, how we deny realities,” said Viscarret, saying he likes to dance between the comical and melancholic.

Championed by Fernando Trueba off the back of a notable short, Dreamers, Viscarret’s debut, Under the Stars, produced by Cristina Huete, confirmed his passion for bringing a human dimension to lost cause characters, which he aims to repeat in From the Shadows, he said.

“I like to fix my gaze on clumsy, hurt or humiliated characters who, generating compassion, struggle to make things better. Even if that fight is not successful, even if the final redemption – like in this case – is loaded with contradictions, it makes it all worthwhile.”

“Felix is one of Spain’s most talented young directors, he has a unique capacity of inventing worlds. In this case, the novel he adapts is from one of Spanish greatest living writers,” said Latido Films head Antonio Saura.

Saura added: “What is even more interesting, it is a great adaptation, that mixes humor and genre in a very intelligent way and, of course, the cast is brilliant!”

Penelope Cruz Receives Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Penelope Cruzis being heralded in her home country…

The 45-year-old Oscar-winning Spanish actress has received San Sebastian Film Festival‘s biggest honor, the Donostia Award.

Cruz was given the prize — which had been announced in May — over the weekend during a gala ceremony in a surprise presentation by her close friend, U2lead singerBono, who praised Cruz for her film roles and her off-screen concern for humanity.

“Penélope’s life on the screen fascinates me because it is a family drama,” he said. “Artists like us, like me, get lost in our own selves. Penelope gets lost in others. That’s why we get lost in her.”

Upon accepting the award, Cruz spoke out against domestic violence against women in Spain and around the world.

“So far this year, 44 women have been murdered by gender-based violence in our country, and since 2003 more than a thousand. How many women are being murdered around the world?”, she asked. “I hope that when a woman finds the superhuman strength she needs to tell what she is going through in such a situation, she will be heard at first and not when it is too late.”

Cruz dedicated the award to her parents, her children and husband, fellow actor Javier Bardem, and three directors she has worked with: Pedro Almodóvar, Bigas Lunaand Fernando Trueba.

Cruz is the youngest actress to receive the Donostia prize, three of which are awarded each year.

Greek director Costa-Gavrasand Canadian actor Donald Sutherlandwere named winners of the honor earlier in the week at the festival in the northern Spanish seaside resort town. Cruz won the best actress Oscar in 2008 for her role in Woody Allen‘s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, becoming the first Spanish actress to win an Academy Award.

Trailer Released for Cruz’s “The Queen of Spain”

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Prepare to be royally impressed by Penélope Cruz…

The official trailer has been released for Fernando Trueba’s The Queen of Spain, starring the 42-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress.

Ricardo Mario, Darin Bas, and Antonio Fernandez Resines also star in this film about Spanish actress Macarena Granada, who returns home to Spain in the mid-1950s having enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood.

She is to play Queen Isabella the First of Castille in a prestigious period drama. At the studio she meets her former friends and colleagues, falls in love with a handsome crew member, leads a madcap expedition to free a resistance fighter and proves herself to be truly regal during an encounter with the fascist leader Francisco Franco, whom she despises.

The Queen of Spain will premiere on February 13 as part of the Berlinale Special Series at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Mendes Invited to Join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Sergio Mendes will soon be an Oscar voter…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended invitations to join the organization to 322 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures, including the 74-year-old Brazilian musician.

Mendes was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2012 as co-writer of the song “Real In Rio” from the animated film Rio.

Mendes, who has over 55 releases and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk, also lent his talents to the Rio 2 soundtrack.

In addition to Mendes, this year’s class includes Fernando Trueba.

The 60-year-old Spanish filmmaker won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with Belle Époque in 1994.

He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 84th Academy Awards. It’s the first nomination for a Spanish full-length animated film.

Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2015.

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception in September.

Here’s a look at the Latino invitees in 2015:

Casting Directors
Luis San Narciso – “The Skin I Live In,” “The Sea Inside”

Directors
Fernando Trueba – “Chico & Rita,” “Belle Epoque”

Documentary
João Moreira Salles – “Santiago,” “Entreatos (Intermissions)”

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Johnny Villanueva – “The Gambler,” “The Fighter”

Music
Sergio Mendes – “Rio 2,” “Rio”

Sound
Odin Benitez – “Frozen,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Martín Hernández – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Thomas Varga – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Immigrant”

Visual Effects
Edwin Rivera – “22 Jump Street,” “Moneyball”

Writers
Armando Bo – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Álex de la Iglesia – “El Crimen Perfecto,” “The Day of the Beast”
Jorge Guerricaechevarría – “Cell 211,” “The Day of the Beast”

Spain Selects Trueba’s “Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados” as Its Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Language Film

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Does David Trueba‘s latest film have what it takes to earn Oscar glory?

The Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences seems to think so, selecting the 45-year-old Spanish director’s Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados as its entry for best foreign language film at next year’s Academy Awards.

Trueba’s film, chosen Thursday the nation’s film acaedmy, tells the true story of an English-language teacher from Spain who traveled to the southern province of Almeria in 1966 to try to meet late Beatles star John Lennon, who was staying there.

The movie takes its name from the lyrics of the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which Lennon began writing in Almeria.

The U.S. film academy will select finalists for the Oscars in January, with the awards announced a month later.

Spain has won four Oscars for best foreign language film. Trueba’s brother, Fernando Trueba, won the category in 1994 for Belle Epoque. The country’s other winners include José Luis Garci’s Begin the Beguine (1982), Pedro Almodovar’s All About My Mother (1999) and Alejandro Amenábar’s The Sea Inside.

In all, Spain has earned 18 Best Foreign Language Film nominations since the launch of the category in 1956, with The Sea Inside serving as the country’s last nominated (and eventual Oscar-winning) film.

“Blancanieves” Earns 18 Goya Award Nominations

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Berger‘s silent black-and-white reinterpretation of the Snow White fable, Blancanieves, is this awards season’s Goya darling.

The 49-year-old Spanish director’s film, hailed as an homage to 1920s European silent films, leads the pack with 18 nominations for the Spanish Film Academy‘s Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent to the Oscars.

Blancanieves, which recently debuted in the U.S. at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, received nominations in the best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best editing, best original music and best original song categories.

In addition, six of the films stars earned nods, including Maribel Verdú in the Best Actress category, Daniel Giménez Cacho in the Best Actor field and Macarena García in the Best Actress Revelation category.

“We are very, very happy. We ran for 18 possible nominations and we got 18,” said Blancanieves producer Ibon Cormenzana. “We’ve sold to many territories and in two weeks we’ll release in theaters in France. I think we’ve benefited from the success of the The Artist.”

Meanwhile, Alberto Rodriguez’s Unit 7 earned 16 nominations, Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible received 14 nods and Fernando Trueba’s The Artist and The Model picked up 13 nominations.

The Impossible’s Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor will compete for lead actress and supporting actor thanks to a change in the Spanish Academy’s rules that allows non-Spanish speaking actors who participate in Spanish productions to compete for acting honors. That translates to Watts vying for the lead acting nod against Verdu’s evil step-mother from Blancanieves, Penelope Cruz from Volver a nacer and Aida Folch‘s muse-like performance in The Artist and the Model.

Blancanieves’ Cacho, Model’s Jean Rochefort, Unit’s Antonio de la Torre and veteran actor Jose Sacristan from The Dead Man and Being Happy will compete for the lead actor statue.

In Spain, Bayona’s film has broken box office records, where it is just about to hit the 42 million euro mark at the box office.

“Our objective is to sell more than 6 million tickets,” said Impossible producer Ghislain Barrois.

The Spanish academy will dole out the awards on February 17 at a gala ceremony in Madrid.

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