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GOYAS 2021

Schoolgirls strikes gold with four Goya Awards

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- Pilar Palomero’s début feature was the winner of some of the Spanish Film Academy’s most coveted accolades, presented last Saturday at a ceremony broadcast from Malaga

Schoolgirls strikes gold with four Goya Awards
Pilar Palomero (on screen) accepts the Goya for Best New Director

It was a hybrid event (a format all-too familiar from last year’s festival season) that set the scene for a hotly anticipated edition of the Goya Awards on Saturday 6 March, adjudicated by the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.While the presenters held court over an empty Malaga auditorium, nominees dialled in from home via video link. As we all expected in light of its triumph at the Forqué (see our report here) and Forez Awards (here), the night belonged to Schoolgirls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pilar Palomero
film profile
]
, the début feature from Aragon-born director Pilar Palomero. Palomero’s film was celebrating on four accounts, having bagged the Goyas for Best Cinematography (for Daniela Cajías), Best Original Screenplay (written by the director based on her own school days), Best New Director and Best Fiction Film of 2020.

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This year’s Honorary Goya Award went to actress Ángela Molina, the only recipient to accept her trophy in person. It was presented by director Jaime Chávarri, who worked with Molina films including The Things of Love. The president of the Academy, Mariano Barroso, praised Molina in her speech, which also addressed the strangeness of the times we are living in: “Thank you to the nominees, for being with us on the other side of their screens. This is not the Goya gala we would have wished for, but then so little in these last few months has been as we would have liked. At the very least, the Goyas will always represent two things: a festival of cinema – our festival, our celebration – and a chance to connect with our audience. This year, we cannot, ought not and have no inclination to celebrate, or rather we will celebrate apart, separated by screens, as we have been for so much of this year. But we were determined not to delay our opportunity to reach out to our audience, and that’s why we are here tonight.”

Akelarre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pablo Agüero
film profile
]
, directed by Pablo Agüero in a coproduction between Spain, Argentina and France, won five Goyas (in technical categories like Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects, among others); Adú [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, meanwhile, had to settle for four (including Best Director for Salvador Calvo and Best New Actor for Adam Nourou), despite starting off with the most nominations; Rosa’s Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
won the Goya for Best Supporting Actress for Nathalie Poza and for Best Original Song, composed by Rozalén; the star of Ane is Missing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Pérez Sañudo
film profile
]
, Patricia López Arnaiz, prevailed over formidable competition in the form of Candela Peña and Kiti Mánver to take the award for Best Leading Actress, while Jone Laspiur was declared Best New Actress and director David Pérez Sañudo triumphed in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay, along with cowriter Marina Parés Pulido). Alberto San Juan’s performance as a firefighter in The People Upstairs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cesc Gay
film profile
]
saw him beat out the competition to win the award for Best Supporting Actor. The 2020 Goya for Best Leading Actor went to Mario Casas, for his work in Cross the Line [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Victori
film profile
]
.

The standout film in this year’s documentary section was Luis López Carrasco’s The Year of the Discovery [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, presented with the Goya for Best Documentary and Best Editing (for Sergio Jiménez); the award for Best European Film went to The Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Zeller
film profile
]
, a coproduction between the UK and France directed by Florian Zeller; meanwhile, Fernando Trueba won Best Foreign Film in the Spanish Language for Memories of My Father, filmed and produced in Colombia.

The winners in full:

Best Film
Schoolgirls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pilar Palomero
film profile
]
– Pilar Palomero

Best Director
Salvador Calvo – Adú [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]

Best New Director
Pilar Palomero – Schoolgirls

Best Leading Actress
Patricia López Arnaiz Ane is Missing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Pérez Sañudo
film profile
]

Best Leading Actor
Mario Casas – Cross the Line [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Victori
film profile
]

Best Supporting Actress
Nathalie Poza Rosa’s Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Spain/France)

Best Supporting Actor
Alberto San Juan The People Upstairs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cesc Gay
film profile
]

Best New Actress
Jone Laspiur – Ane is Missing

Best New Actor
Adam Nourou – Adú

Best Original Screenplay
Pilar Palomero – Schoolgirls

Best Adapted Screenplay
David Pérez Sañudo and Marina Parés Pulido – Ane is Missing

Best Documentary
The Year of the Discovery [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Luis López Carrasco (Spain/Switzerland)

Best Animated Film
Turu, The Wacky Hen [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
– Eduardo Gondell and Víctor Monigote

Best Production Supervision
Luis Fernández Lago and Ana Parra – Adú

Best Cinematography
Daniela Cajías – Schoolgirls

Best Editing
Sergio Jiménez – The Year of the Discovery

Best Art Direction
Mikel Serrano Akelarre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pablo Agüero
film profile
]
(Spain/Argentina/France)

Best Costume Design
Nerea Torrijos – Akelarre

Best Hair and Makeup Design
Beata Wotjowicz and Ricardo Molina – Akelarre

Best Sound
Eduardo Esquide, Jamaica Ruíz García, Juan Ferro and Nicolás de Poulpiquet – Adú

Best Special Effects
Mariano García Marty and Ana Rubio – Akelarre

Best Original Score
Aránzazu Calleja and Maite Arroitajauregi – Akelarre

Best Original Song
Que no, que no (Rosa’s Wedding) – María Rozalén

Best European Film
The Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Zeller
film profile
]
– Florian Zeller (UK/France)

Best Foreign Film in the Spanish Language
Memories of My Father – Fernando Trueba (Colombia)

Best Fictional Short Film
A la cara – Javier Marco Rico

Best Documentary Short Film
Biografía del cadáver de una mujer – Mabel Lozano

Best Animated Short Film
Blue & Malone: casos imposibles – Abraham López Guerrero

Honorary Goya Award
Ángela Molina

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(Translated from Spanish)

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