"CHICO AND RITA" and composer ALBERTO IGLESIAS nominees for the 2012 OSCAR AWARDS

The Spanish representation at this year's Oscar Awards consists of the animation movie "Chico and Rita" by Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, and of the composer Alberto Iglesias who has been nominated for his original score in the film "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy".

"Chico and Rita" is a wonderful project of animation for adults devised in the creative minds of the Catalan cartoonist Javier Mariscal and the talented and award-winning Spanish director Fernando Trueba. The movie tells the appasionate love story between a young jazz pianist, Chico, and a debuting singer, Rita, in the Cuba of the 1940s. 

Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

The astonishing and original animation work of this movie, together with its marvellous music, makes this film become a mature and authentic peace of art which is filled with content. Trueba and Mariscal are real geniuses of a sensitive film making and a sensitive way of seeing art in general.

The script of the movie is written by Fernando Trueba and Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, and the music is composed by the Cuban grand old jazzman Bebo Valdés. The movie already won the Spanish Film Academy's Goya Award for the best animation movie last year.

Alberto Iglesias

And what comes to the composer Alberto Iglesias, Goya Award-winning too, he has a long career as a film composer in Spain where he has worked with directors such as Pedro Almodóvar, Julio Medem or Iciar Bollaín. He also has composed original scores to films like "The Constant Gardener", "The Kite Runner" or "Che". 

We hope luck to these Spanish artists whose talent is most certainly worth an Oscar. We'll have to wait until February 26th to find out if they actually will be awarded, although a nomination is already a great reward.

ALMODÓVAR'S "THE SKIN I LIVE IN" and composer ALBERTO IGLESIAS BAFTA nominees

P. Almodóvar, Elena Anaya, A. Banderas, Alberto Iglesias

The Spanish representation in this year's BAFTA nominations consists of the new film by Pedro Almodóvar "The Skin I Live In", which is nominated in the Film Not in the English Language- category.

 

Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo

Also the composer Alberto Iglesias, with whom Almodóvar normally works in his films, is nominated for his original score for the movie "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy".

We wish all the luck to these artists as well as to the great french movie "The Artist" which is being this year's favorite nominee in BAFTA Awards with 12 nominations in total.

The SPANISH FILM ACADEMY screens European Shortfilms this week

A still from "The Unliving" by Hugo Lilja

The Spanish Film Academy screens this week the 15 finalists of the European Film Academy Awards for the Best European Shortfilm.

The screenings will be held at the Academy's movie theatre in Madrid on the following dates:

Tuesday 10th of January at 8 PM:

"Berik" by Daniel Joseph Borgman

"Derby" by Paul Negoescu

"Hypercrisis" by Josef Dabernig

"Incident by a Bank" by Ruben Östlund

"Jessi" by Mariejosephin Schneider

"Little Children, Big Words" by Lisa James Larsson

Wednesday 11th of January at 8 PM:

"Frozen Stories" by Grzegorz Jaroszuk

"Out" by Roee Rosen

"Paparazzi"by Piotr Berna

"Silent River" by Anca Miruna Lazarescu

Thursday 12th of January at 8 PM:

"Sundays" by Valéry Rosier

" La gran carrera" by Kote Camacho

"The Unliving" by Hugo Lilja

"The Wholly Drama" by Terry Gilliam

"The Wolves" by Alberto de Michele

All the shorts will be screened in their original language and with English subtitles.

The 2012 Spanish Film Academy GOYA AWARD NOMINEES

Today, on the 10th of January 2012 the Spanish Film Academy announced the candidates for the Goya Awards 2012. This year's Goya edition is the number 26. and the awards will be presented on the 19th of February in Madrid.

The films with most nominations are Pedro Almodóvar's "The Skin I live In" with 16 nominations and Enrique Urbizu's "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked" with 14 nominations. Mateo Gil's "Blackthorn" has 11 nominations and Kike Maillo's Eva 12 nominations.

 Here is the list with all the nominees:

BEST FILM:

"Blackthorn" by Mateo Gil

"The Skin I Live In" by Pedro Almodóvar

"The Sleepy Voice" (La Voz Dormida) by Benito Zambrano

"There Will be No Peace for the Wicked" (No Habrá Paz para los Malvados) by Enrique Urbizu

BEST  DIRECTION:

Mateo Gil for "Blackthorn"

Pedro Almodóvar for "The Skin I Live In"

Benito Zambrano for "The Sleepy Voice"

Enrique Urbizu for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST LEADING ACTRESS:

Elena Anaya for "The Skin I Live In"

Verónica Echegui for "Katmandú"

Salma Hayek for "The Spark of Life"

Inma Cuesta for "The Sleepy Voice"

BEST LEADING ACTOR:

José Coronado for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

Antonio Banderas for "The Skin I Live In"

Daniel Brühl for "Eva"

Luis Tosar for "While you Sleep"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Maribel Verdú for "From your window to Mine"

Pilar López de Ayala for "Intruders"

Ana Wagener for "The Sleepy Voice"

Goya Toledo for "Maktub"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Juan Diego for "23 F. The Movie"

Lluis Homar for "Eva"

Juanjo Ortega for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

Raúl Arévalo for "Cousinhood"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Miguel Barros for "Blackthorn"

Martí Roca, Sergi Belbel, Cristina Clemente, Aintza Serra for "Eva"

Enrique Urbizu, Michel Gaztambide for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Ángel de la Cruz, Ignacio Ferreras, Paco Roca, Rosanna Cecchini for "Arrugas"

Icíar Bollaín for "Katmandú"

Pedro Almodóvar for "The Skin I Live In"

Benito Zambrano, Ignacio del Moral for "The Sleepy Voice"

BEST NEW DIRECTOR:

Paula Ortiz for "From your window to Mine"

Kike Maíllo for "Eva"

Paco Arango for "Maktub"

Eduardo Chapero Jackson for "Verbo"

BEST NEW ACTRESS:

María León for "The Sleepy Voice"

Blanca Suárez for "The Skin I Live In"

Michelle Jenner for "Don't Be Afraid"

Alba García for "Verbo"

BEST NEW ACTOR:

José Mota for "The Spark of Life"

Jan Cornet for "The Skin I Live In"

Marc Clotet for "The Sleepy Voice"

Adrián Lastra for "Cousinhood"

BEST IBEROAMERICAN FILM:

"Ticket to Paradise" by Gerardo Chijona (Cuba)

"Miss Bullet" by Gerardo Naranjo (México)

"A Chinese Tale" by Sebastián Borensztein (Argentina)

"Violeta went to Heaven" by Andrés Wood (Chile)

BEST EUROPEAN FILM:

"Jane Eyre" by Cary Fukunaga (Reino Unido)

"Melancholia " by Lars von Trier (Dinamarca)

"The Artist" by Michel Hazanavicius  (Francia)

"Carnage" by Roman Polanski (Francia)

BEST ANIMATION FILM:

"Arrugas"

"Carthago Nova"

"Papá, soy una zombi"

"The Little Wizzard. O mago dubidoso"

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

"30 años de oscuridad"

"El cuaderno de barro"

"Morente"

"Escuchando al juez Garzón"

BEST PRODUCTION:

Toni Novella for "The Skin I Live In"

Andrés Santana for "Blackthorn"

Toni Carrizosa for "Eva"

Paloma Molina for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Juan Antonio Ruiz Anchía for "Blackthorn"

Arnau Valls Colomer for "Eva"

José Luis Alcaine for "The Skin I Live In"

Unax Mendía for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST ART DIRECTION:

Juan Pedro de Gaspar for "Blackthorn"

Laia Colet for "Eva"

Antxón Gómez for "The Skin I Live In"

Antón Laguna for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

Lucio Godoy for "Blackthorn"

Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine for "Eva"

Alberto Iglesias for "The Skin I Live In"

Mario de Benito for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

Clara Bilbao for "Blackthorn"

Paco Delgado for "The Skin I Live In"

María José Iglesias García for "The Sleepy Voice"

Patricia Monné for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST MAKEUP:

Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver for "Blackthorn"

Concha Rodríguez, Jesús Martos for "Eva"

Karmele Soler, David Martí, Manolo Carretero for "The Skin I Live In"

Montse Boqueras, Nacho Díaz, Sergio Pérez for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST FILM EDITING:

David Gallart for "Blackthorn"

Elena Ruiz for "Eva"

José Salcedo for "The Skin I Live In"

Pablo Blanco for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

Arturo Balseiro, Lluís Castells for "Eva"

Raúl Romanillos, David Heras for "Intruders"

Reyes Abades, Eduardo Díaz for "The Skin I Live In"

Raúl Romanillos, Chema Remacha for "There Will be No Peace for the Wicked"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

Debajo del limón de Paula Ortiz; Pachi García "Alis" for "From your window to Mine"

Nana de la hierbabuena de Carmen Agredano for "The Sleepy Voice"

Nuestra playa eres tú de Jorge Pérez Quintero; Borja Jiménez Mérida; Patricio Marín Díaz for "Maktub"

Verbo de Pascal Gaigne; Ignacio Fornés "Nach"for "Verbo"

BEST SPANISH SHORTFILM:

"El barco pirata" by Fernando Trullols

"El premio" by Elías León Siminiani

"Matar a un niño" by José Esteban Alenda, César Esteban Alenda

"Meine Liebe" by Ricardo Steinberg, Laura Pousa

BEST SPANISH ANIMATION SHORTFILM:

"Birdboy" by Pedro Rivero, Alberto Vázquez Rico

"Ella" by Juan Montes de Oca

"Quién aguanta más" by Gregorio Muro

"Rosa" by Jesús Orellana

BEST SPANISH DOCUMENTARY SHORTFILM:

"Alma" by Jose Javier Pérez Prieto

"Nuevos tiempos" by Jorge Dorado

"Regreso a Viridiana" by Pedro González Bermúdez

"Virgen negra" by Raúl de la Fuente

HONORARY AWARD:

Josefina Molina

SPANISH CINEMA NOW 2011

Quim Gutierrez, Raúl Arévalo (Counsinhood)

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has organized this year again Spanish Cinema Now, the annual exhibition series of the  Spanish film industry in the Walter Reade Theater of New York from 8th to 22nd of December. The event, that has the support of the Instituto Cervantes New York, the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts and the Institut Ramon Llull of Catalan Language and Culture, exhibits in this year's series around 20 new Spanish films and a retrospective on the Spanish director that recently passed away, Luis García Berlanga.

Yon González, Santiago Segura (Torrente)

The series, that has been running since 1992, presented this year films from directors such as Santiago Segura, Daniel Sánchez-Arévalo, Mireia Ros, Nacho Vigalondo, Chema de la Peña, Esteban and José Miguel Ibarretxe, Agustí Villaronga, Enrique Otero, Montxo Armendáriz, José Luis Garcia Sánchez, Isaki Lacuesta, Jonas Trueba, Carlos Iglesias, Miguel Gonçalves Mendes or Ventura Pons.

J. Merino,J. Ariño & Emilia Uutinen (An Almost Perfect World)

We would most warmly recommend some pretty good pieces seen at this year's edition such as the comedies from Daniel Sánchez Arévalo "Cousinhood" (Primos), starring Quim Gutiérrez, Raúl Arévalo, Adrián Lastra, Inma Cuesta and Antonio de la Torre, Santiago Segura's "Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis" with this crazy policeman, starring Santiago Segura, Carlos Areces, Kiko Rivera, Tony Leblanc, Enrique Villén, Francisco González and Emma Ozores, and Esteban and José Miguel Ibarretxe's "An Almost Perfect World" (Un Mundo Casi Perfecto), another crazy comedy, starring Javier Merino, Antonio Dechent, Álex Angulo, Velilla Valbuena, Mairim Pérez, Jon Ariño, Emilia Uutinen, Leire Berrocal, Jon Inciarte and Javivi.

We really liked some of the dramas screened this year, like the Carlos Iglesias' beautiful "Ispansi", starring Isabel Blanco, Esther Regina, Carlos Iglesias, Eloisa Vargas, Iñaki Guevara and Bruto Pomeroy, Agustí Villaronga's impressive "Black Bread", starring Francesc Colomer, Nora Navas, Roger Casamajor, Marina Comas, Marina Gatell, Laia Marull,  Eduard Fernández and Sergi López, or Montxo Armendáriz's "Don´t be Afraid", starring Belén Rueda, Lluis Homar and Michelle Jenner.

Marina Comas, Francesc Colomer, Nora Navas  (Black Bread)

The Jonas Trueba's "Every Song Talks About Me" offered a nice fresh spirit and Miguel Gonçalves Mendes' documentary "José and Pilar" a beautiful  portrait of the Nobel-winning writer José Saramago.

In general the spanish films, specially the comical ones, often seem to turn out quite different and exotic to the U.S. spectators. The Spanish film industry always has  something new and exciting to offer and we are sure this year's Spanish Cinema Now was a real pleasure to all the New York spectators who could attend the series.

Here is the list of all the movies programmed this year:

23-F
Chema de la Peña, 2011

An Almost Perfect World
Esteban Ibarretxe, José Miguel Ibarretxe, 2011

Barcelona Before
Mireia Ros, 2011

Black Bread
Agustí Villaronga, 2010

Contacts
Paulino Viota, 1970

Cousinhood
Daniel Sanchez Arevalo, 2011

Crebinsky
Enrique Otero, 2011

Don’t Be Afraid
Montxo Armendáriz, 2011

Don’t Touch the Dead, Kid
Jose Luis Garcia Sánchez, 2011

Double Steps
Isaki Lacuesta, 2011

Every Song Talks About Me
Jonás Trueba, 2011

Everyone Off to Jail
Luis García Berlanga, 1993

Extraterrestrial
Nacho Vigalondo, 2011

Ispansi
Carlos Iglesias, 2011

José y Pilar
Miguel Gonçalves Mendes, 2011

Life Size
Luis García Berlanga, 1976

Long Live the Bride and Groom
Luis García Berlanga, 1970

Plácido
Luis García Berlanga, 1961

Shortmetraje

That Happy Couple
Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis García Berlanga, 1953

The Executioner
Luis García Berlanga, 1963

The Heifer
Luis García Berlanga, 1985

The National Shotgun
Luis García Berlanga, 1978

The Rocket from Calabuch
Luis García Berlanga, 1956

The Waves
Alberto Morais, 2011

Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis
Santiago Segura, 2011

Welcome Mr. Marshall!
Luis García Berlanga, 1953

Year of Grace
Ventura Pons, 2011

THE SKIN I LIVE IN: Golden Globe Nominee 2011

Pedro Almodóvar's last film "The Skin I Live In" has received a Golden Globe Nomination this year in the Foreign Language Film - category.

The film will be competing together with the chinese "The Flowers of War", the american "In The Land of Blood and Honey", the belgian "Yhe Kid With a Bike" and the iranian film  "A Separation".

We hope all the luck to the Spanish representation  in this year's Golden Globes, which also include the nominations of the partially Spanish produced films "Midnight in Paris" by Woody Allen and "Carnage" by Roman Polanski.  The awards will be presented on January 15th 2012 in Los Angeles.

SPANISH PREMIERES for the month of December 2011

The month of December offers a bunch of new premieres from the Spanish film industry.

On one hand the directors and actors Vladimir Cruz and Jorge Perugorría open the month  with their "Affinities", a story based on the novel "" by Reinaldo Montero that presents characters who face the rational problems of the today's society by escaping to the irrational world of the pleasure. Finally their solution to life doesn´t seem to be so simple and ephimeral. This Spanish-Cuban co-production is sterred by Vladimir Cruz, Cuca Escribano, Gabriela Griffith and Jorge Perugorría and produced by Esther Pou and Roberto Barrachina.

Premiere: 2 of December.

On the other hand Paco Arango opens his first feature film "Maktub", a christmas comedy that tells the story of how a family father's life changes from a chaos to something better when he meets a 15 year-old boy with cancer and happier than anyone. Starring Diego Peretti, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Goya Toledo, Rosa Maria Sardà, Enrique Villén, Jorge García Laura Esquivel and Amparo Baró.

Premiere: 16th of December.

"The Door of No Return" by Santiago Zannou, athough opened in November is worth emphasizing in this post, is an interesting  documentary about the director's father Alphonse Zannou who left his African home country Benin 40 years ago with the promise to return. Until now he hadn' gone back, and in this journey after his roots and the peace of mind, he will face all the fears that kept him away so long, see the family that still is alive and see how Africa has changed in all these years he passed in Europe. Produced by Víctor Martí and Benjamín Arraou.

Premiere: 25th of November