The 25th Goya Awards ceremony was somewhat overshadowed by the continuing fallout from the very public spat between Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde and Alex de la Iglesia, the president of the Spanish film academy, over the government’s recently approved and controversial anti-piracy law. Academy president Alex de la Iglesia at the Goya ceremony. Protesters wearing V for Vendetta masks booed and threw eggs at government ministers and movie-world bigwigs as they arrived at the February 13 ceremony, reserving their cheers exclusively for De la Iglesia. De la Iglesia, a filmmaker himself who has resigned from his post as president of the film academy in protest at what has become … [Read more...] about Goya Awards: and the winner is… González-Sinde
Goya awards
Industry infighting spices up Spanish cinema awards
Sunday Bloody Sunday, Star Wars, and perhaps Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: this year’s Goya cinema awards ceremony on February 13 looks like producing more off-stage drama than the content of all those movies put together. Topping the bill in this very public spat is Ángeles González-Sinde, a scriptwriter and director herself and former president of the Spanish Cinema Academy, who in her current role as culture minister is trying to push through legislation against P2P downloading sites along the lines of that in place in France, the UK, and the United States. The new legislation has been dubbed the “Sinde Law” in her honour. In her quest to protect what she calls “Spain’s … [Read more...] about Industry infighting spices up Spanish cinema awards
Never a prophet in his own land?
First, the Goyas. He was in the running for best original screenplay, but didn’t make it. More importantly for many, Pedro Almodóvar returned on February 14 to Spain’s top movie awards ceremony after a five-year absence to hand Daniel Monzón the best film prize for Celda 211. His presence was highly symbolic, given that Broken Embraces had been overlooked for Spain’s top film prize, as had he for best director. The film was nominated in five categories, among them best screenplay; in the end it won best soundtrack. This year, the story is that the director and the Academy have made their peace, even if Almodóvar rejected a very public plea from the organization’s president, Alex de la … [Read more...] about Never a prophet in his own land?