Diego Luna to Receive 2021 Platino Award of Honor

Diego Luna is being celebrated for his platinum career.

This year’s seventh edition of the Ibero-American Platino Awards (Premios Platinos) will honor the 41-year-old Mexican actor, director, producer and festival organizer with the Platino Award of Honor.

Diego Luna

An itinerant award show by design, this year’s Platinos will be held on October 3 in Madrid.

Luna will be the youngest recipient of the career achievement honor, joining previous winners Miguel Rafael Martos Sánchez, often simply referred to as Raphael, one of Spain’s most iconic entertainers of the 20th century; Adriana Barraza, the Oscar nominated Spanish-English-language crossover star of Alejandro Iñárritu’s Babel and Amores Perros; Oscar and three time Primetime Emmy nominee Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver); Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory); and Primetime Emmy (The Burning Season) and BAFTA (“Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos) nominee Sonia Braga.

A child actor who excelled from an early age, Luna’s first film appearance was in Javier Bourges’ 1991 Mexican Academy Award-nominated short The Last New Year.” He appeared in several telenovelas throughout the ‘90s, joined on screen for the first time by his longtime collaborator and close friend Gael García Bernal in El abuelo y yo in 1992. Alternating between film and television over the next decade, his international breakout came with García Bernal and Spain’s Marbel Verdú in Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal coming-of-age road trip film “Y Tu Mamá También.”

Shortly after, Luna began his Hollywood career appearing alongside Bon Jovi in John Carpenter’s Vampires: Los Muertos and in Salma Hayek’s Oscar-winning biopic Frida.

In the decades since, Luna has continued to work on both Latin American and U.S. productions while also taking turns as a producer, writer and director. He also, again with García Bernal, launched the nomadic documentary film festival Ambulante, as well as their own production label, first Canana in 2005 and now La Corriente del Golfo.

Most recently, he created and hosts the Amazon Original conversation series Pan y Circo and is starring in the Disney+’s Andor, a spinoff series following his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story character Cassian Andor.

He was also recently confirmed as a voice actor for Netflix’s upcoming animated series Maya and the Three, where he will team with frequent collaborator Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life).

Last year’s ceremony was, like so many, forced online by the COVID-19 pandemic. But this time around, the Platinos are planning an in-person event to celebrate the best offerings from the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American screen industries.

At 11 nominations each, the two standout titles are Fernando Trueba’s Colombian drama Memories of My Father and Jayro Bustamante’s Guatemalan thriller La Llorona.

The Platino Awards are promoted by EGEDA (Spain’s Entity for the Rights Management of Audiovisual Producers) and FIPCA (the Ibero-American Federation of Film and Audiovisual Producers) and have the support of the Ibero-American film academies and institutes as well as numerous sponsors in Europe and Latin America.

Salvador Calvo’s Netflix Drama “Adú” Leads Spain’s Goya Awards Nominees with 14

Salvador Calvo is the man to beat…

The Spanish filmmaker’s Netflix drama Adú is the frontrunner for this year’s Premios Goya (Goya Awards), Spain’s top film honors.

Salvador Calvo

Calvo’s film earned 14 nominations, including nods for best film and best director.

Calvo’s sophomore feature follows three interconnected stories all set in Africa. Two members of its ensemble cast Álvaro Cervantes and Adam Nourou, picked up Goya nominations for best supporting actor and best newcomer actor, respectively.

The Goyas 2021 best film nominees include Ane Is Missing from David Pérez Sañudo, Icíar Bollaín‘s La boda de Rosa, Pilar Palomero‘s The Girls, and The People Upstairs aka Sentimental, from director Cesc Gay.

In addition to Calvo and Bollaín, the best director category this year includes Juanma Bajo Ulloa, nominated for his horror thriller Baby, and veteran filmmaker Isabel Coixet for It Snows in Benidorm.

Contenders for the best Ibero-American film include Chilean documentary The Mole AgentForgotten We’ll Be from Columbian filmmaker Fernando Trueba, the Guatemalan horror film The Curse of la Llorona, and Fernando Frias‘ Mexican drama I’m No Longer Here.

Last year, Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical drama Pain and Glory was the big winner at the Goyas, winning seven honors, including for best picture, director, original screenplay, and best actor for Antonio Banderas.

The 2021 Goya Awards will be held in a live-streamed ceremony from the Teatro del Soho CaixaBank in Málaga on Saturday, March 6.   Banderas will direct this year’s award ceremony and will present the 35th Goya Awards together with Spanish journalist María Casado.

Here’s the full list of nominations for the 35th Goya Awards:

Best Film
Adú
Ane Is Missing
La boda de Rosa
The Girls
The People Upstairs  

Best Director
Salvador Calvo for Adú
Juanma Bajo Ulloa for Bafrom
Icíar Bollain for La boda de Rosa
Isabel Coixet for It Snows in Benidorm

Best Novel Adaptation
Pilar Palomero for The Girls
David Pérez Sañudo for Ane is Missing
Bernabé Rico for El inconvenient
Núria Giménez Lorang for My Mexican Bretzel

Best Actress
Amaia Aberasturi for Coven
Andrea Fandós for The Girls
Patricia López Arnaiz for Ane is Missing
Candela Peña for La boda de Rosa

Best Actor
Mario Casas for Cross the Line
Javier Cámara for The People Upstairs
Ernesto Alterio for A Normal World
David Verdaguer for One for All

Best Supporting Actress
Juana Acosta for El inconvenient
Verónica Echegui for My Heart Goes Boom!
Natalia de Molina for The Girls
Nathalie Poza for La boda de Rosa

Best Supporting Actor
Sergi López for La boda de Rosa
Juan Diego Botto for The Europeans
Alberto San Juan for The People Upstairs
Álvaro Cervantes for Adú

Best Actress Newcomer
Jone Laspiur for Ane is Missing
Paula Usero for La boda de Rosa
Milena Smith for Cross the Line
Griselda Siciliani for The People Upstairs

Best Actor Newcomer
Adam Nourou for Adú
Chema del Barco for The Plan
Janick for Historias lamentables
Fernando Valdivielso for Cross the Line

Best Original Screenplay
Adu
La boda de Rosa
Historias lamentables
The Girls

Best Adapted Screenplay
The People Upstairs
Ane is Missing
The Europeans
Unknown Origins

Best Animated Film
Turu, the Wacky Hen

Best Documentary
Anatomía de un dandy
Drowning Letters
The Year of the Discovery
My Mexican Bretzel 

Best European Film
Corpus Christi from Poland
The Father from the United Kingdom
An Officer and A Spy from France
Falling from the United Kingdom 

Best Ibero-American Film
El agente topo from Chile
El olvido que seremos from Colombia
La llorona from Guatemala
Ya no estoy aquí from México 

Best Cinematography
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
The Girls 

Best Production Design
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
It Snows in Benidorm

Best Original Music
Adú
Coven
Baby
El verano que vivimos

Best Original Song
Adú
El verano que vivimos
La boda de Rosa
The Girls 

Best Editing
Adú
Black Beach
The Year of the Discovery
The Girls 

Best Sound
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
The Plan 

Best Art Direction
Adú
Coven
Black Beach
The Girls 

Best Costume Design
Coven
My Heart Goes Boom!
The Girls
The Europeans 

Best Makeup and Hairdressing
Adú
Coven
My Heart Goes Boom!
Unknown Origins 

Best Special Effects
Coven
Adú
Black Beach

Paco Leon to Star in the Spanish Psychological Thriller “From the Shadows”

Paco Leon is heading into the Shadows

The 46-year-old Spanish actor will star opposite Leonor Watling in psychological thriller From the Shadows (Desde la Sombra), a film adaptation by Spanish writer Juan José Millas, winner of most of Spain’s foremost literary awards, including the Planeta, Nadal and National Narrative Awards.

Paco Leon

The film will be directed by Felix Viscarret

A star of sitcom Aida, a free-to-air television phenomenon from 2005-14, and most recently Netflix Mexico’s hit House of Flowers, Leon co-wrote and directed Arde Madrid, a Movistar Plus Rose d’Or winning original series.

Star of Pedro Almodovar’s Academy Award-winning Talk to Her, Watling confirmed her comic talents most recently in Movistar Plus’ excruciatingly discomforting Russian mob comedy Nasdrovia.

Produced by Academy Award winning Tornasol Media and co-produced by Belgium’s Entre Chien et Loup, From the Shadows will be brought onto the international market at Ventana Sur by Latido Films.

Co-written by David Muñoz, From the Shadows turns on Damián who, to escape from his boss, hides in a massive antique wardrobe that is delivered to a middle-class home, inhabited by Lucia and Fede and their teenage daughter. A persistent fantasist – he imagines himself as a TV celebrity delivering candid interviews to prestigious journalists – Damián realizes that staying in the wardrobe gives him a chance to lead the normal life he has always missed.

He becomes the family’s guardian angel, doing the housework in its absence, as his hold on reality crumbles and Lucia, on anti-depressants, believes the wardrobe hides the specter of her dead brother.

“This story is a portrait of the madness, sometimes strange, sometimes comical, we all have: Dialogues we carry on with ourselves, how we fall in love, how we deny realities,” said Viscarret, saying he likes to dance between the comical and melancholic.

Championed by Fernando Trueba off the back of a notable short, Dreamers, Viscarret’s debut, Under the Stars, produced by Cristina Huete, confirmed his passion for bringing a human dimension to lost cause characters, which he aims to repeat in From the Shadows, he said.

“I like to fix my gaze on clumsy, hurt or humiliated characters who, generating compassion, struggle to make things better. Even if that fight is not successful, even if the final redemption – like in this case – is loaded with contradictions, it makes it all worthwhile.”

“Felix is one of Spain’s most talented young directors, he has a unique capacity of inventing worlds. In this case, the novel he adapts is from one of Spanish greatest living writers,” said Latido Films head Antonio Saura.

Saura added: “What is even more interesting, it is a great adaptation, that mixes humor and genre in a very intelligent way and, of course, the cast is brilliant!”

Penelope Cruz Receives Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival

Penelope Cruzis being heralded in her home country…

The 45-year-old Oscar-winning Spanish actress has received San Sebastian Film Festival‘s biggest honor, the Donostia Award.

Penelope Cruz

Cruz was given the prize — which had been announced in May — over the weekend during a gala ceremony in a surprise presentation by her close friend, U2lead singerBono, who praised Cruz for her film roles and her off-screen concern for humanity.

“Penélope’s life on the screen fascinates me because it is a family drama,” he said. “Artists like us, like me, get lost in our own selves. Penelope gets lost in others. That’s why we get lost in her.” 

Upon accepting the award, Cruz spoke out against domestic violence against women in Spain and around the world.

“So far this year, 44 women have been murdered by gender-based violence in our country, and since 2003 more than a thousand. How many women are being murdered around the world?”, she asked. “I hope that when a woman finds the superhuman strength she needs to tell what she is going through in such a situation, she will be heard at first and not when it is too late.”

Cruz dedicated the award to her parents, her children and husband, fellow actor Javier Bardem, and three directors she has worked with: Pedro AlmodóvarBigas Lunaand Fernando Trueba.

Cruz is the youngest actress to receive the Donostia prize, three of which are awarded each year.

Greek director Costa-Gavrasand Canadian actor Donald Sutherlandwere named winners of the honor earlier in the week at the festival in the northern Spanish seaside resort town. Cruz won the best actress Oscar in 2008 for her role in Woody Allen‘s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, becoming the first Spanish actress to win an Academy Award.

Trailer Released for Cruz’s “The Queen of Spain”

Prepare to be royally impressed by Penélope Cruz

The official trailer has been released for Fernando Trueba’s The Queen of Spain, starring the 42-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress.

Penélope Cruz

Ricardo Mario, Darin Bas, and Antonio Fernandez Resines also star in this film about Spanish actress Macarena Granada, who returns home to Spain in the mid-1950s having enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood.

She is to play Queen Isabella the First of Castille in a prestigious period drama. At the studio she meets her former friends and colleagues, falls in love with a handsome crew member, leads a madcap expedition to free a resistance fighter and proves herself to be truly regal during an encounter with the fascist leader Francisco Franco, whom she despises.

The Queen of Spain will premiere on February 13 as part of the Berlinale Special Series at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Mendes Invited to Join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Sergio Mendes will soon be an Oscar voter…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended invitations to join the organization to 322 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures, including the 74-year-old Brazilian musician.

Sergio Mendes

Mendes was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2012 as co-writer of the song “Real In Rio” from the animated film Rio.

Mendes, who has over 55 releases and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk, also lent his talents to the Rio 2 soundtrack.

In addition to Mendes, this year’s class includes Fernando Trueba.

The 60-year-old Spanish filmmaker won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with Belle Époque in 1994.

He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 84th Academy Awards. It’s the first nomination for a Spanish full-length animated film.

Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2015.

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception in September.

Here’s a look at the Latino invitees in 2015:

Casting Directors
Luis San Narciso – “The Skin I Live In,” “The Sea Inside”

Directors
Fernando Trueba – “Chico & Rita,” “Belle Epoque”

Documentary
João Moreira Salles – “Santiago,” “Entreatos (Intermissions)”

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Johnny Villanueva – “The Gambler,” “The Fighter”

Music
Sergio Mendes – “Rio 2,” “Rio”

Sound
Odin Benitez – “Frozen,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Martín Hernández – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Thomas Varga – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Immigrant”

Visual Effects
Edwin Rivera – “22 Jump Street,” “Moneyball”

Writers
Armando Bo – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Álex de la Iglesia – “El Crimen Perfecto,” “The Day of the Beast”
Jorge Guerricaechevarría – “Cell 211,” “The Day of the Beast”

Spain Selects Trueba’s “Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados” as Its Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Language Film

Does David Trueba‘s latest film have what it takes to earn Oscar glory?

The Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences seems to think so, selecting the 45-year-old Spanish director’s Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados as its entry for best foreign language film at next year’s Academy Awards.

David Trueba

Trueba’s film, chosen Thursday the nation’s film acaedmy, tells the true story of an English-language teacher from Spain who traveled to the southern province of Almeria in 1966 to try to meet late Beatles star John Lennon, who was staying there.

The movie takes its name from the lyrics of the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which Lennon began writing in Almeria.

The U.S. film academy will select finalists for the Oscars in January, with the awards announced a month later.

Spain has won four Oscars for best foreign language film. Trueba’s brother, Fernando Trueba, won the category in 1994 for Belle Epoque. The country’s other winners include José Luis Garci’s Begin the Beguine (1982), Pedro Almodovar’s All About My Mother (1999) and Alejandro Amenábar’s The Sea Inside.

In all, Spain has earned 18 Best Foreign Language Film nominations since the launch of the category in 1956, with The Sea Inside serving as the country’s last nominated (and eventual Oscar-winning) film.

“Blancanieves” Earns 18 Goya Award Nominations

Pablo Berger‘s silent black-and-white reinterpretation of the Snow White fable, Blancanieves, is this awards season’s Goya darling.  

The 49-year-old Spanish director’s film, hailed as an homage to 1920s European silent films, leads the pack with 18 nominations for the Spanish Film Academy‘s Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent to the Oscars.

Blancanieves

Blancanieves, which recently debuted in the U.S. at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, received nominations in the best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best editing, best original music and best original song categories.

In addition, six of the films stars earned nods, including Maribel Verdú in the Best Actress category, Daniel Giménez Cacho in the Best Actor field and Macarena García in the Best Actress Revelation category.

“We are very, very happy. We ran for 18 possible nominations and we got 18,” said Blancanieves producer Ibon Cormenzana. “We’ve sold to many territories and in two weeks we’ll release in theaters in France. I think we’ve benefited from the success of the The Artist.”

Meanwhile, Alberto Rodriguez’s Unit 7 earned 16 nominations, Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible received 14 nods and Fernando Trueba’s The Artist and The Model picked up 13 nominations.

The Impossible’s Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor will compete for lead actress and supporting actor thanks to a change in the Spanish Academy’s rules that allows non-Spanish speaking actors who participate in Spanish productions to compete for acting honors. That translates to Watts vying for the lead acting nod against Verdu’s evil step-mother from Blancanieves, Penelope Cruz from Volver a nacer and Aida Folch‘s muse-like performance in The Artist and the Model.

Blancanieves’ Cacho, Model’s Jean Rochefort, Unit’s Antonio de la Torre and veteran actor Jose Sacristan from The Dead Man and Being Happy will compete for the lead actor statue.

In Spain, Bayona’s film has broken box office records, where it is just about to hit the 42 million euro mark at the box office.

“Our objective is to sell more than 6 million tickets,” said Impossible producer Ghislain Barrois.

The Spanish academy will dole out the awards on February 17 at a gala ceremony in Madrid.