Estíbaliz Urresola’s ’20,000 Species of Bees’ earns 15 Goya nominations

The 38th Goya Awards kicked off by unveiling the nominations and announcing the time and place for the awards ceremony: February 10th in Valladolid.

The film ’20,000 Species of Bees’, directed and written by Basque filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, picked up 15 nominations at this year´s Goya Awards, taking the lead in Goya nominations. The film paints a delicate and moving portrait of an eight-year-old transgender child and the process of assimilation in her family environment. Urresola´s debut feature premiered over nine months ago at the Berlin Film Festival.

Several other Basque films also clinched nominations at this year´s Goya Awards, the Spanish film academy’s annual recognition of the best industry professionals across the different categories of Spanish cinema.

Among other contenders for Best Film is ’20,000 Species of Bees’ (Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren, 2023).

Nominations for Best Leading Actress and Best Leading Actor include Patricia López Arnaiz (’20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023) and Alberto Ammann (‘Upon Entry/La llegada’, 2022)

Competing for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor are Ane Gabarain (’20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023), Itziar Lazkano (’20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023) and Martxelo Rubio (‘20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023).

Two Basque nominations are up for this year’s award for Best New Director, Estíbaliz Urresola (’20,000 Species of Bees’) and Alejandro Rojas & Juan Sebastián Vásquez (‘Upon Entry/La llegada’, 2022)

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay are Estíbaliz Urresola (‘20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023), Félix Viscarret (‘Not Such An Easy Life/Una Vida no tan simple’, 2023) and Alejandro Rojas & Juan Sebastián Vásquez (Upon Entry/La llegada, 2022).

For Best Animated Film Basque cinema is represented with ‘El sueño de la sultana/Sultana’s Dream’ by Isabel Herguera (2023).

Gina Ferrer will compete for Best Cinematography for her work in ‘20,000 Species of Bees’.

Nominations for Best Sound include Eva Valiño, Koldo Corella, Xanti Salvador (‘20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023) and for Best Editing, Raúl Barreras (‘20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023)

Two Basque nominations were announced for Best Special Effects: Mariano García Marty, Jon Serrano, David Heras, Fran Belda, Indira Martín (‘20,000 Species of Bees’, 2023) and Eneritz Zapiain & Iñaki Gil "Ketxu" (‘The Chapel/La ermita’, 2023).

Izas Urkijo Alijo was nominated for Best Art Direction for ‘20,000 Species of Bees’.

Nerea Torrijos was nominated for Best Costume Design for her work in ‘20,000 Species of Bees’.

Nominees for Best Makeup and Hairstyles are Ainhoa Eskisabel and Jone Gabarain Gaztelumendi (‘20,000 Species of Bees’).

Pablo Vidal Santos (‘2’0,000 Species of Bees’, 2023) is a contender for Best Production Supervision.

Last but not least, two Basque films were nominated for Best Animated Short Film: ‘To Bird Or Not To Bird’ (Martín Romero, 2023) and ‘Txotxongiloa’ (Sonia Estévez, 2022).

The Spanish Film Academy announced the complete list of nominations at an event hosted by Luis Tosar and Anna Castillo. In recent years, Basque cinema has proven its place through Goya Awards, racking up eight awards in 2021, four in 2022, and a solid seven in 2023.