J.A. Bayona is celebrating a monster night…
The 41-year-old Spanish filmmaker took home the Best Director prize at the Spanish Film Academy’s Goya Awards ceremony over the weekend, while his film A Monster Calls proved to be the night’s big winner with nine awards.
Bayona’s tale of a boy who faces his mother’s illness with the help of a monster had received 12 nominations.
Bayona, won the Best New Director award in 2008 for his name-making film The Orphanage, celebrated each award for A Monster Calls as if it were his first successful film, instead of the third in a highly acclaimed trilogy centering on the mother-child relationship. He dedicated his award to all who suffer from cancer and to his father, who taught him the transformative power of culture.
Meanwhile, Raul Arevalo’s directorial debut Fury of a Patient Man took the top award, Best Picture, while the 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker won the best new director and best original screenplay prizes.
Pedro Almodovar was on hand to celebrate his lead actress Emma Suarez’s special night, as she walked away with two Goya statuettes for her roles in his films Julieta and La Proxima Piel. But Almodovar, who will be the first Spaniard to chair the Cannes Film Festival jury in May, didn’t win in any of the six other categories in which his film competed.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
Film
Fury of a Patient Man
Director
J.A. Bayona for A Monster Calls
New Director
Raul Arevalo for Fury of a Patient Man
Original Screenplay
David Pulido, Raul Arevalo for Fury of a Patient Man
Adapted Screenplay
Alberto Rodriguez, Rafael Cobos for Smoke and Mirrors
Original Score
Fernando Velazquez for A Monster Calls
Original Song
“Ai, Ai, Ai” by Silvia Perez Cruz for Cerca de tu Casa
Lead Actor
Roberto Alamo for May God Save Us
Lead Actress
Emma Suarez for Julieta
Supporting Actor
Manolo Solo for Fury of a Patient Man
Supporting Actress
Emma Suarez for La proxima piel
New Actor
Carlos Santos for Smoke and Mirrors
New Actress
Anna Castillo for El Olivo
Production Design
Sandra Hermida Muniz for A Monster Calls
Photography
Oscar Faura for A Monster Calls
Editing
Bernat Vilplana, Jaume Marti for A Monster Calls
Artistic Director
Eugenio Caballero for A Monster Calls
Wardrobe
Paola Torres for 1898. The End of the Philippines
Makeup and Hair
David Marti, Marese Langan for A Monster Calls
Sound
Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago, Peter Glossop for A Monster Calls
Special Effects
Felix Berges, Pau Costa for A Monster Calls
Animated Feature
Psiconautas, los ninos olivdados
Documentary Feature
Fragil Equilibrio
Ibero-American Film
El Ciudadano Ilustre by Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn
European Film
Elle by Paul Verhoeven
Fiction Short
Timecode by Juanjo Giemenz Pena
Documentary Short
Cabezas Habladoras by Juan Vicente Cordoba
Animated Short
Decorado by Alberto Vazquez
Honorary Goya
Ana Belen