Happy day for Spanish cinema. And this year there will be a triple Spanish nomination at the Oscars. The Snow Society, by J.A Bayona, and Robot Dreams, by Pablo Berger, will travel to Hollywood to compete for the coveted golden statuette at the ceremony that will take place on March 10 and will once again feature Jimmy Kimmel as presenter. The blockbuster drama about the 1972 Andes air tragedy has achieved two nominations: best international film and best makeup and hairstyling.
For its part, the tender story of friendship between a robot and an anthropomorphic dog directed by the Bilbao director, which won the award for best European animated film at the European Film Awards, is among the five nominated for best animated feature film along with The Boy and the Heron, by Hayao Miyazaki; Elemental, by Pixar; Spider-Man: Crossing the Multiverse and Nimona. It just so happens that in 2020, Spanish cinema was already nominated for three of the most important film awards with Pain and Glory, by Pedro Almodóvar, Antonio Banderas and the animated film Klaus. Neither won on the stage of the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
The film with the most nominations for the 96th edition of the Hollywood Academy Awards is the unstoppable Oppenheimer, by Christopher Nolan, with a total of 13 mentions and a clear favorite after winning at the Golden Globes or the Critics Choice and being selected with 13 Bafta mentions. The acclaimed biopic about the considered father of the atomic bomb is closely followed by Poor Creatures, with eleven. The Moon Killers, by Martin Scorsese, has monopolized 10, and Barbie, by Greta Gerwig, nine.
All of them aspire to the queen category of best film alongside Maestro, the biopic directed and starring Bradley Cooper about the legendary Leonard Bernstein, which has collected a total of seven mentions. They also choose Anatomy of a Fall, The Interest Zone, American Fiction and Those Who Stay, all with five. Past Lives, by Celine Song, another of those that started as favorites, has had to content itself with only best film and original screenplay.
Penélope Cruz, who had options in the best supporting actress category for her role as Laura Ferrari in the biopic of Enzo Ferrari directed by Michael Mann, has not been lucky this time. She will have to wait to see what the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards bring. Just like Pedro Almodóvar, who started with a good chance of being among the finalists for best short film after passing the first screening with his gay western Strange Way of Life, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal.
J.A. Bayona has been sweeping The Snow Society since the film premiered with applause and excellent reviews at the closing of the Venice Film Festival. The story that pays tribute to the 16 survivors and the deceased of the fateful flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force has moved the public, who have flocked to see it both in theaters and on Netflix, where it has reached the milestone of being among the ten most viewed non-English speaking films on the platform. In just eleven days it has achieved 51 million views. As soon as he heard the news, the Barcelona filmmaker expressed his happiness at the film’s two nominations. “We are very happy and grateful to the Spanish Academy for having put us on the path and to the Hollywood Academy for this double recognition,” he assured.
In the makeup and hair section, The Snow Society will compete with titles such as Golda, Maestro, Oppenheimer and Poor Creatures. Regarding the competition he will have in the international film category, he admits that it is tough. “The best films are there and it is also complicated in a language other than English. It is a very great merit.” And he is confident: “Guided by what the public thinks of her, I think we have a lot of opportunities. Let’s see what happens in the end.” In the category of best international film, the rivals are: the Italian film I, Captain, by Matteo Garrone; Perfect days, which represents Japan and is directed by Wim Wenders; The Zone of Interest, a co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States and Poland directed by Jonathan Glazer, and the German Teacher’s Room, by Ilker Çatak.
Glazer has also achieved four other mentions for his masterpiece about a Holocaust where the horror is not seen but heard, including direction and best film. Two categories with which the judicial thriller Anatomy of a Fall, by French director Justine Triet, also stands out in style. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, the film that France decided to ignore to represent it at the Academy Awards, is also up for best actress for the German Sandra Hüller, original script for Triet herself and her partner Arthur Harari, and editing.
For Triet, these five nominations taste like glory after the rejection of the French Academy, which decided to bet on the Oscars for Slow Fire, by Tran Anh Hung, and starring Juliette Binoche. And the French director is the only woman in the best director category, where she competes with heavyweights like Scorsese, Nolan, Lanthimos or Glazer. Throughout the history of these awards, only 3 women have won the recognition: Kathryn Bigelow, Jane Campion and Chloé Zhao.
In the interpretive field, the absence of Leonardo DiCaprio as best performer for The Moon Killers and Margot Robbie for Barbie is surprising. For the best actor statuette, the names of Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer’s favorite, appear; Paul Giamatti for Those Who Remain, Bradley Cooper for Maestro; Colman Domingo for Rustin and Jeffrey Wright for American fiction, a comedy-drama based on the novel by Percival Everett. For the Oscar for best actress, the favorites are Lily Gladstone for The Moon Killers, and Emma Stone for her uninhibited performance in Poor Creatures. It should be remembered that Stone was already awarded for La La Land. But the Carey Mulligan (Maestro), the aforementioned Hüller and the veteran Anette Bening for Nyad will also compete for the trophy.
Her partner in the Diana Nyad swim movie, Jodie Foster, is on the list of best supporting actresses with Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), America Ferrera (Barbie) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Ones That Stay). In the male version, the options are divided between Robert De Niro, Ryan Gosling’s Ken, Robert Downey Junior, Sterling K. Brown and Mark Ruffalo.
The Latin representation will be present with the Chilean documentary filmmaker Maite Alberdi and The Infinite Memory, which marks her return to the Hollywood Academy Awards after participating three editions ago for The Mole Agent. And the Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is nominated thanks to his work on The Assassins of the Moon.