Basque cinema shines at the Goya Awards

Iciar Bollain´s film ´Maixabel´ won three Goyas at the awards ceremony held in Valencia. The Goya Award for Best New Actress went to María Cerezuela, Best Supporting Actor went to Urko Olazabal, and Blanca Portillo was awarded Best Actress for her performance. Kiko de la Rica from Bilbao took the award for Best Cinematography for ´Mediterraneo´ (‘Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea’).

´Maixabel´, directed by Bollain and produced by Kowalski Films, won the most awards at the ceremony, along with the feature film ´El buen patrón´ (‘The Good Boss’). It should be noted that the list of Goya Awards has 28 categories, 18 of which included a Basque nomination. Two of the categories had two Basque nominees.

Basque cinema was a success at the 2021 Goyas, winning eight awards. This year, the Basque film industry made its mark once again, clinching a total of 20 nominations.

In addition to the performances, the jury highlighted the technical achievements of the Basque film industry. Fourteen Goya nominations went to technical categories for ´Maixabel´ alone: Best Production Supervision (Guadalupe Balaguer Trelles), Best Makeup and Hairstyles (Karmele Soler and Sergio Pérez Berbel), Best Costume Design (Clara Bilbao), Best Editing (Nacho Ruiz Capillas), Best Sound (Alazne Ameztoy, Juan Ferro and Candela Palencia), and Best Original Screenplay (Iciar Bollaín and Isa Campo). San Sebastian composer Alberto Iglesias was nominated for Best Original Score and is also in the running for one of most prestigious awards on the international film scene, an Oscar for Best Soundtrack for his work on Pedro Almodóvar´s film ´Madres Paralelas´ (‘Parallel Mothers’).

Mikel Serrano, who won a Goya last year for his work in ´Akelarre´, competed with Antxon Gómez (´Madre paralelas´) for Best Art Direction. Another of the top nominations was for Jorge Guerricaechevarría, who together with Daniel Monzón won Best Adapted Screenplay for ´Las leyes de la frontera´ (‘Outlaws’). In the category for Best Animated Film, the Basque hopeful was ´Zutik! (Saving the Tree) directed by Haizea Pastor and Iker Álvarez, produced by Baleuko Productions.

Two short Basque films from cinema were also in the running. ´Nacer´ (To Be Born) was nominated for Best Animated Short Film, and ´Mama´, directed by Pablo de la Chica and produced by Media Attack, was up for Best Documentary Short Film.