‘El buen patrón’ chosen as Spain’s Acadamy Awards entry

Fernando León de Aranoa’s latest work, ‘El buen patrón’ has been chosen to represent Spain for Best International Feature Film at the next Oscars. 

The film, which was produced by Catalan multimedia company Mediapro Studio, with additional participation from Catalan public broadcasters TV3, beat out strong competition such as Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Parallel Mothers,’ and ‘Mediterráneo’ by Marcel Barrena.

‘El buen patrón’, which hopes to reach the 94th edition of the Academy Awards in Hollywood next March, reunites its director with the legendary actor Javier Bardem and Catalan producer Jaume Roures, twenty years after they worked on 'Los lunes al sol' together. 

The professional environment is again at the core of this film, a tragicomic tale of social relations. The production will reach cinemas on October 15.

León de Aranoa was already chosen in 2002 to represent Spain at the Oscars with 'Los lunes al sol', however, it failed to make the cut to be nominated for best international film, although it received numerous other awards.

The film is a counterpoint of 'Los lunes al sol', a journey of intertwined stories that revolve around the seductive personality of Blanco, the owner of an industrial equipment factory played by Javier Bardem. 

Blanco awaits the visit of a committee that will decide whether to award him an honour for business excellence. Things, however, begin to twist, and that’s when he starts to cross various red lines to get the company back into shape.