They have long been known as Spain’s “Oscars” but the Goyas will have an even greater sprinkling of Hollywood star dust than normal in 2020.
To be held in Málaga from 18 to 25 January, the prestigious Spanish film awards will be highlighted by films directed by two of the country’s most internationally renowned directors, Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Amenábar – and the presence of Antonio Banderas.
The Málaga-born star is currently starring in “A Chorus Line”, the premiere show at the Soho Caixabank Theatre he helped create and inaugurate last year. He also starred in Almodóvar’s semi-biopic ”Dolor y Gloria”, which has received 16 nominations for the 2020 Goyas and will open the awards screenings at the Albéniz cinema on Monday 13 January.
Banderas is favourite for the best actor award. Remarkably, he has received four previous nominations, plus one as producer of an animated film, but to date his only recognition has come with an honorary Goya.
Banderas (in the best actor category) and Almodóvar (best international film) have both just received nominations for this year’s Oscars.
In 2019, Banderas won the best actor award for “Dolor y Gloria” in the Cannes and European (Berlin) Film Awards, as well as being honoured by the New York Film Critics Circle, and receiving a Golden Globes nomination for “best performance by an actor in a motion picture – drama” (ultimately losing out to Joaquin Phoenix for his Joker role). In addition he won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for best actor, with “Dolor y Gloria” being named best foreign-language film.
Director, screenwriter and composer Amenábar has won nine Goyas and two European Film Awards. This year, his film “Mientras Dure la Guerra”, a drama about the last days of celebrated Spanish intellectual Miguel de Unamuno at the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, has received 17 nominations.
The gala awards ceremony will be on 25 January at the José María Martín Carpena pavillion, usually used for basketball matches and music concerts but specially transformed for the Goyas presentation.
The presenters, for a second consecutive year after the 2019 edition in Sevilla, will be husband and wife humorists Silvia Abril and Andreu Buenafuente, while 1960s child star Pepa Flores (professionally known as Marisol) will receive this year’s honorary Goya.
A total of 146 Spanish films premiering in 2019 were eligible for the awards, including 88 fictions, 55 documentaries and three animated films, as well as 35 short films, and productions from elsewhere in Europe and Latin American.
The week-long event will also feature associated activities for film buffs including an urban exhibition, “La Emoción de los Goya”, showcasing 38 photographers’ snapshots of stars participating in the awards in recent years, and an opportunity to take a selfie with a replica of the Goya trophy in the city hall, from 20 to 24 January.
In recent years, Málaga has become one of Europe’s premier cultural hubs, and the ideal base to explore the rest of the Costa del Sol. Discover why here.