It's 2002 all over again with Spain's Oscar submission choice

by Nathaniel R

We hinted that this could happen again and it has. In 2002 the Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences passed over Pedro Almodóvar's internationally fêted Talk to Her for the country's Oscar submission in favor of Mondays in the Sun, a Fernando León de Aranoa film starring Javier Bardem. Now 19 years later history repeats itself as Spain has passed over Pedro Almodóvar's internationally fêted Parallel Mothers for their Oscar submission in favor of The Good Boss, a Fernando León de Aranoa film starring Javier Bardem. 

Now we wait and see if history will be yet more repetitive. In 2002 Oscar voters ignored Mondays in the Sun but honored Talk to Her with nominations for Director and Screenplay. We doubt that history will repeat itself that fully since Parallel Mothers is considerably less flashy a film but you never know. Either way it went today the Javier Bardem/Penélope Cruz household would have a reason to celebrate so congrats to Spain's most famous movie star couple and to Aranoa, too.

Submission charts for more info and current predictions. You can also follow along on Letterboxd.

What will Spain submit to the Oscars?

by Nathaniel R

Spain, which is Oscar's third favourite country (statistically speaking) in the Best International Feature Film race, will announce their submission on October 5th. In the meantime they have released the names of the three films that they are considering. It's Pedro Almodóvar's melodrama Parallel Mothers versus Fernando León de Aranoa's comedy The Good Boss versus Marcel Barrena's adventure film Mediterráneo. All three of the films are slated for October release in Spain so we don't yet know how the "home team" will react to them. Still this trio of possibilities is interesting for a few fun triva reasons...

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Venice Diary #04 - "Sundown" and "Last Night in Soho" disappoint, a Spanish comedy made my night

by Elisa Giudici

Penelope Cruz and cast in "Official Competition"

One of the things I like the most about the Venice Film Festival is how audience-friendly it is (aside from the maddening ticket system for this pandemic edition). It is remarkably easy and not that pricey to enjoy the most exciting movies of the competition in screenings devoted to the general audience, a lot easier and less expensive than Cannes for example. Tourists can walk by the red carpet and see major movie stars from Hollywood.

Lido (where most of the screenings take place) is a long, narrow island in front of Venice. It's a microcosm in which one might see Marco Bellocchio carrying his wife's luggage, Paolo Sorrentino eating breakfast in the cafè next to the red carpet, Luca Guadagnino riding his bike to return to Hotel Excelsior, or wind up in a queue with behind Jane Campion, who wants to see Isabelle Huppert's latest performance -- all of the above are little, precious moments I actually experienced here...

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Platino Nominees: La Llorona, New Order, etc...

Just when you think it's safe to leave 2020 cinema behind, another award pops up! This time it's the 8th annual PLATINO Awards which are for Ibero-American films and television. The Best Film nominees are...

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Best International Feature: France, Portugal, Spain

by Cláudio Alves

Europe is the most represented continent in the history of the Best International Feature Oscar. However, while some of its countries are regularly honored, others have been submitting for decades without luck. France, for instance, is the reigning champion of the category, having been nominated forty times. In contrast, Portugal - my country – holds the record for the most submissions without a single nod. For this chapter in our trip through world cinema, we arrive at these two nations' 2020 submissions as well as Spain's Netflix contender…

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