Alberto Rodríguez’s noirish thriller “Marshland” dominated Saturday night the 29th Spanish Academy Goya Awards, winning 10 awards, including best pic, director, actor (Javier Gutiérrez) and original screenplay.
Nommed in 17 awards categories, “Marshland” confirmed expectations, and clearly beat Daniel Monzón’s action thriller “El Niño,” winner of four tech awards against 16 nominations.
“Marshland,” a “True Detective”-sque thriller turning on two homicide cops on the trail of a serial killer of teen girls in the marshlands outside Seville, was produced by Atresmedia Cine, José Antonio Félez’s Atipica and Gervasio Iglesias’ Sacromonte. Vicente Canales’ sales outfit Film Factory Ent. sells the film at Berlin.
Released by Warner Bros., “Marshland” was a box office hit in Spain, scoring €6.3 million ($7.2 million). Pic already won best actor (Javier Gutiérrez) and cinematography (Alex Catalán) at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
Best actress plaudit was earned by Barbara Lennie for his role in Carlos Vermut’s “Magical Girl,” competing with Elena Anaya (“They Are All Dead”), María León (“Marsella”) and Macarena Gómez (“Shrew’s Nest”).
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Dani Rovira, which hosted the Goya ceremony, confirtming his chops as a seasoned stand-up comedy thesp, took breakthrough actor for Telecinco Cinema’s 2014 blockbuster comedy “Spanish Affair,” also winner of best supporting actor (Karra Elejalde) and supporting actress (Carmen Machi).
Javier Fesser’s 3D spy parody “Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible” won animated pic and adapted script plaudits. Costing $15 million ($17 million), one of past year’s biggest budgeted local films, was produced by Francisco Ramos and Luis Manso at Zeta Cinema.
As expected, Oscar foreign-language candidate, Argentine Damian Szifron’s “Wild Tales,” co-produced by Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar El Deseo, and a Sony Pictures Classics pickup for the U.S., won the Ibero-American film Goya.
Another Oscar foreign-language contender, and also a candidate for best cinematography, Pawel Pawlikowsky’s Polish drama “Ida,” took best European film.
The Spanish Academy bestowed on Antonio Banderas an honorary Goya Award, presented by Pedro Almodóvar, the filmmaker who discovered him as an actor in the early ’80s in Madrid.
A regular recipient of local film industry criticism in past Goya editions thanks to a Spanish government’s drastic 8%-to-21% VAT tax hike on cinema tickets from 2012, Spain’s Culture Minister Jose Ignacio Wert returned to the Goya’s ceremony after his much commented-upon absence in 2014.
Having recorded in 2014 a spectacular $139.8 million B.O. for local films, with a record 25.5% market share, the best score since 1977 – the Spanish film sector, however, lamented its chronic dire straits.
Spanish Academy prexy Enrique González Macho firmly asked for a tax cut in the ceremony. “I only want to make one re-vindication. It is high time we drop the VAT,” he said.
Gonzalez Macho addressed the ambassadors of the U.S. and France, attending the gala, and praised both countries filmmaking models, which, he asrgued, had something in common: “They make their culture and cinema a matter of state,” he said.
Biggest reproach, however, came from Pedro Almodóvar: “Good evening, gentlemen of culture and Spanish cinema friends. Mr. Wert, you are not included in these categories,” were Almodóvar first words, before presenting Antonio Banderas with his life achievement prize.
2015 SPANISH ACADEMY GOYA AWARDS
And the winners are:
FILM
“Marshland” (Alberto Rodriguez)
ACTRESS
Barbara Lennie, “Magical Girl”
ACTOR
Javier Gutierrez, “Marshland”
DIRECTOR
Alberto Rodriguez, “Marshland”
EUROPEAN FILM
“Ida,” Pawel Pawlikowsky
FOREIGN SPANISH-LANGUAGE FILM
“Wild Tales,” Damian Szifron
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Carmen Machi, “Spanish Affair”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Karra Elejalde, “Spanish Affair”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Rafael Cobos, Alberto Rodriguez, “Marshland”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Javier Fesser, Cristobal Ruiz, Claro Garcia, “Mortadelo & Filemon: Mission Implausible”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Alex Catalan, “Marshland”
ORIGINAL SCORE
Julio de la Rosa, “Marshland”
FIRST-TIME DIRECTOR
Carlos Marques-Marcet, “10.000”
EDITING
Jose M. G. Moyano, “Marshland”
LINE PRODUCTION
Edmon Roch, Toni Novella, “El Nino“
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE, ACTOR
Dani Rovira, “Spanish Affair”
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE, ACTRESS
Nerea Barros, “Marshland”
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
“Coffee to go,” Patricia Font
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Juan and the Cloud,” Giovanni Maccelli
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“Walls,” Miguel Lopez Beraza
COSTUME DESIGN
Fernando Garcia, “Marshland”
ART DIRECTION
Pepe Dominguez, “Marshland”
SOUND
Sergio Burmann, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago, “El Nino”
MAKEUP AND HAIR DESIGN
Pedro Rodriguez “Pedrati”, Jose Quetglas, Carmen Veinat,
“Shrew’s Nest”
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Raul Romanillos, Guillermo Orbe, “El Nino”
ORIGINAL SONG
“Nino sin miedo,” India Martinez, Riki Rivera, David Santisteban (“El Nino”)
DOCUMENTARY
“Paco de Lucia: the Search,” Curro Sanchez Varela
ANIMATED FEATURE
“Mortadelo & Filemon: Mission Implausible,” Javier Fesser
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Antonio Banderas
ENDS
