Catalonia gears up for 'innovative, fun and inclusive' Gaudí Film Awards

Following the success of Alcarràs at the Berlinale, the Catalan Film Academy is in the final stages of preparing for the Gaudí Awards, the so-called 'Catalan Oscars.'

The 14^th edition of the biggest event in Catalan cinema will take place on March 6 at Barcelona's MNAC museum on Montjuïc with an "innovative, fun and inclusive" new ceremony.

For the first time ever, the audience will be seated at tables and there will be no master of ceremonies, although there will be a longer speech at the beginning and the end of the ceremony.

"Catalan cinema is diverse, it has shown that it has a huge amount of talent and still has a long way to go," Judith Colell, the Catalan Film Academy president said on Friday. "We should love Catalan cinema."

2022 nominees

This is the second year in a row with more women, 54%, than men vying for awards. And as is customary weeks before the ceremony, the nominees were photographed in Barcelona on Friday ahead of the event. 

Daniel Monzón's 'Las leyes de la frontera', an adaptation of a Javier Cercas novel about a Girona teen who befriends two criminals, tops the charts with 13 nominations, including Best Non-Catalan Language Film, followed by 'El ventre del mar', with 12 and 'Libertad' with 11.

'Mediterráneo', Marcel Barrena's film about the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean which tells the true story of migrant rescue ship Open Arms, is in the running for 10 awards.

All in all, 28 feature-length productions, short films, and documentaries have been selected to enter the second round of votes, which begin on Tuesday and will end on February 25.

What are the Gaudí Awards?

The Gaudí Awards are an annual film ceremony in Catalonia, which began in 2009, having spun off from the Barcelona Awards, which date back to 2002. 

Antoni Gaudí, whom the prize is named after, was a Catalan architect, most famously known for his design of the unfinished Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

There are 22 award categories, including Best Catalan Film, which requires at least 20% Catalan participation in the production to compete.