Pilar Palomero’s The Girls, a coming-of-age story and generational portrait of Spanish women who would now be in their 40s, swept the 35th edition of Spain’s Goya Awards on Saturday, scooping best picture, new director, original screenplay and cinematography.
Salvador Calvo won best director for the three-part, Africa-set drama “Adú,” a Netflix pick-up produced by Telecinco Cinema, Ikiru Films and La Terraza Films which proved one of Spain’s biggest box office hits of last year, earning €6.3 million ($7.6 million) at the Spanish box office.
Marking a milestone in his transition from Spanish heartthrob to character actor, Mario Casas won best actor for “No Matarás.” Patricia López Arnaíz (“While at War,” “The Plague”) took best actress for her role in “Ane is Missing” as a mother coming belatedly of age as she searches for her missing teen daughter.
M.C. Antonio Banderas, a Malaga native, called on audiences to use lockdown to reflect on how cinema can serve its society.
The event enjoyed large star support – Pedro Almódovar, Penélope Cruz, Paz Vega, J.A. Bayona, and Alejandro Amenábar collectively presented Goyas for costume design, hair and make-up, sound, VFX and line production.
The hybrid, non-audience on-site format also gave the Goyas a larger reach. Among celebrities sending pre-recorded messages of support to the Awards were Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Isabelle Huppert, Monica Bellucci, Salma Hayek, Sylvester Stallone, Benicio del Toro, Emma Thompson, Ricardo Darín and Laura Dern.
Gender issues feature strongly in two of the best picture nominees – “The Girls” and Iciar Bollaín’s “Rosa’s Wedding” – and threaded acceptance speeches. Women won out almost as much as men, taking 12 categories to men’s 13 with three prizes shared.
Premiering at the 2020’s Berlinale’s Generation Kplus, “The Girls” is a banner title of a new – and often women-driven – Catalan cinema. 41% of nominees were women, Spanish Academy president Mariano Barroso said on stage. “The Girls’” Daniela Cajías became the first woman DP to win a best cinematography Goya.
Honorary Goya went to Angela Molina, co-star of Luis Buñuel’s last film “The Obscure Object of Desire” and Jaime Chavarri’s “Las cosa del querer.”
“When they’re stripped naked, woman are stripped of rights,” said Mabel Lozano, accepting a Goya for documentary short, “Biografía del cadáver de una mujer.”
Trap singer-songwriter Nathy Peluso appeared on stage to sing and very well – a classic operetta lyric “Las Peluqueras,”
In a thought-through ceremony, nominees watched on from a spectacular video screen of individual Zoom-like connections – which gave the ceremony an surprising intimacy and moments of high comedy as winners accepted from their own homes, applauded or kissed or mobbed by on-screen families or crews in camera-rocking jubilation.
GOYA AWARDS 2021
And the winners are:
FILM
“The Girls,” (Pilar Palomero)
DIRECTOR
Salvador Calvo, (“Adú”)
NEW DIRECTOR
Pilar Palomero, (“Las niñas”)
ACTRESS
Patricia López Arnaiz, (“Ane”)
ACTOR
Mario Casas, (“No matarás”)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nathalie Poza (“Rosa’s Wedding”)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alberto San Juan, (“Sentimental”)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Pilar Palomero (“The Girls”)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
David Pérez Sañudo, Marina Parés Pulido (“Ane”)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Daniela Cajías (“The Girls”)
ORIGINAL MUSIC
Aránzazu Calleja, Maite Arroitajauregi (“Akelarre”)
ORIGINAL SONG
“Que no, que no,” (María Rozalén for “Rosa’s Wedding”)
NEW ACTOR
Adam Nourou, (“Adú”)
NEW ACTRESS
Jone Laspiur, (“Ane”)
ANIMATED FEATURE
“Turu, the Wacky Hen,” (Eduardo Gondell, Víctor Monigote)
IBEROAMERICAN FILM
“Forgotten We’ll Be,” (Fernando Trueba, Colombia)
EUROPEAN PICTURE
“The Father,” (Florian Zeller, U.K., France)
DOCUMENTARY
“The Year of the Discovery,” (Luis López Carrasco)
HONORARY GOYA
Angela Molina
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
“A la cara,” (Javier Marco)
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Blue & Malone: Casos imposibles,” (Abraham López Guerrero)
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“Biography of a Woman’s Corpse,” (Mabel Lozano
EDITING
Sergio Jiménez, (“The Year of the Discovery”)
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Ana Parra, Luis Fernández Lago (“Adú”)
COSTUME DESIGN
Nerea Torrijos, (“Akelarre”)
ART DIRECTION
Mikel Serrano (“Akelarre”)
SOUND
Eduardo Esquide, Jamaica Ruíz García, Juan Ferro, Nicolas de Poulpiquet (“Adú”)
MAKEUP AND HAIR DESIGN
Beata Wotjowicz, Ricardo Molina (“Akelarre”)
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Mariano García Marty, Ana Rubio, (“Akelarre”)
