The historic night of Spanish cinema ended at half gas. Our industry arrived with four nominees for the Oscar ceremony, but only one could win the statuette. It was Alberto Mielgo, who with his brilliant The wiper got a victory that knows poetic justice for all the Spanish short filmmakers who had been nominated for years and who never achieved victory. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Nacho Vigilando, Borja Cobeaga, Javier Fesser, Javier Recio, Esteban Crespo and Rodrigo Sorogoyen could not lift that statuette, but Mielgo did it by defeating the almighty Netflix, which was his main rival with Robin Robin.
Will Smith part of a smack in the face of Chris Rock and the night of the Oscars
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The cowardice of the Academy, which handed out eight awards in a ceremony prior to the televised one, meant that Mielgo’s award was not seen live and that everyone found out on Twitter. An anticlimactic victory that tarnished the historic moment for our cinema. When collecting the award, Mielgo highlighted that four of the works were for adults, which was important for a technique, animation, which is usually limited to productions for the whole family.
The illusions put for days in Penelope Cruz were completely diluted when Anthony Hopkins opened the envelope and announced the name of Jessica Chastain. actress de Tammy Feye’s eyes he left Penelope without her second award. A pity, because her work was the best of the five nominees, and because she would have put her name in film history alongside that of Sophia Loren, the only woman who has won the award for best leading actress for an unspoken performance in English.
It would also have been recognition for all his work with Pedro Almodóvar, who in Parallel Mothers He has written one of his most demanding roles for you. The Academy once again rewards a biopic made by and for the display of its star -under layers of makeup and latex- instead of more complex and less accommodating interpretations. Of course, they continue betting on papers in English and produced within their borders.
Penelope Cruz’s was the one that seemed the easiest. For weeks the main media have published the anonymous votes of several academics. In the vast majority of them the name of the Spanish came out. Even publications like Variety had changed her predictions at the last minute to bet on her. I hope there are more opportunities.
The one who had nothing to do was Javier Bardem, who during the previous one has always made it clear and has opted for his partner’s prize. His role in Being the Ricardos It is not one of his best performances and that award had Will Smith’s name written on it for months. Smith won the award, and he did so minutes after crashing the ceremony and possibly sinking his career. the actor of Williams method got up at a Chris Rock joke about his wife and slapped him live in front of the entire industry and millions of viewers.
The fourth Spanish nominee, Alberto Iglesias, could not win the statuette either. It was complicated despite the excellence of his work for Pedro Almodóvar in Parallel Mothers. Her award was another of those harmed by the Academy’s decision to give eight awards in a previous ceremony outside of direct. A decision that, furthermore, did not speed up the gala and only served to establish first and second prizes. His Oscar went to another teacher, Hans Zimmer, who won it for the soundtrack of dunes and that, despite being the composer of several of the most important recent musical scores in cinema, he only had one statuette in his possession, the one achieved in 1995 for the score of another classic, The Lion King.
Although the final loot seems disappointing, just the fact of having four Spanish nominees is a historical milestone within the reach of very few cinematographies. It is achieved in a year in which, moreover, Spanish cinema has also triumphed at the Berlinale, where Carla Simón won the Golden Bear for Alcarras, and in which it seems that there will be a Spanish presence in all international competitions.
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