‘El Niño’ and ‘Stella Cadente’ lead the race for the Gaudí Awards, the Catalan ‘Oscars’

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan Film Academy organises the 7^th edition of the Gaudí Awards, known as the ‘Catalan Oscars’. The cinema world will get together at the Sant Jordi Club, where the ceremony will take place on 1^st February. It will be hosted by the Catalan actor and theatre director Àngel Llàcer. The films with the most nominations are ‘El Niño’, the Catalan co-production directed by Daniel Monzón, and ‘Stella Cadente’, directed by Luis Miñarro, with 15 and 13 nominations, respectively. Both compete in the Best Director, Best Film and Best Script categories. They are followed by the horror film ‘[REC]4: Apocalipsis’, with nine nominations, and by ‘10,000km’ and ‘Rastres de Sàndal’, with eight nominations each. 

A total of 78 productions, nominated in 22 different categories, compete this year in the Gaudí Awards, the annual event that promotes the Catalan cinema industry by rewarding the work of Catalan productions and co-productions.

Top favourite films

‘El Niño’, a thriller directed by Daniel Monzón and featuring actors Luis Tosar and Jesús Castro, is the favourite film with 15 nominations. This Catalan co-production is nominated in the Best Film, Best Director, Best Script and Best Actor categories, the most important awards. ‘Stella Cadente’ is the other top film of the ceremony, directed by Luis Miñarro, it received 13 nominations. They are both rivals of Jaume Balagueró’s horror film ‘[REC]4: Apocalipsis’ with 9 nominations, and ‘10,000 km’, directed by debutant Carlos Marques-Marcet, together with Maria Ripoll’s film ‘Rastres de Sàndal’, both with 8 nominations. ‘Hermosa juventud’ a dramatic story directed by Jaime Rosales gained 5 nominations, and Claudio Zulian’s ‘Born’ is nominated in 4 categories. The drama film directed by André Cruz Shiraiwa and featuring famous actress Ariadna Gil, ‘L’altra frontera’, has 3 nominations. All of them are running in the Best Film category but not all are in Catalan. In Catalan language, we can find 'Born' by Claudio Zulian; 'L'altra frontera' by André Cruz; 'Rastres de Sàndal' by Maria Ripoll; and 'Stella Cadente' by Lluís Miñarro; while the nominees for Best Non-Catalan Language Film are: '10,000 KM' by Carlos Marques-Marcet; 'El Niño' by Daniel Monzón; 'Hermosa Juventud' by Jaime Rosales; and  '[REC] 4. Apocalipsis' by Jaume Balagueró.

From Barcelona to European cinema

The Polish film ‘Ida’, the Italian movie ‘La gran belleza’, and the Spanish production ‘Magical Girl’ and ‘La Isla Mínima’ compete for Best European Film. The nominees for Best Documentary Film are: 'Bugarach' by Ventura Durall, Sergi Cameron and Salvador Sunyer; 'Els anys salvatges' also by Ventura Durall; 'Gabor' by Sebastián Alfie; and 'I will be murdered tomorrow' by Justin Webster. 'Els caps de drap a la selva de l'arc de Sant Martí' by Àlex Colls and 'Mortadel·lo i Filemó contra en Jimmy el Catxondo' by Javier Fesser are the only two nominees for Best Animated Film.

The Best TV Film Award will go to: 'Descalç sobre la terra vermella' by Oriol Ferrer; 'L'últim ball de Carmen Amaya' by Judith Colell; 'Prim: el asesinato de la calle del Turco' by Miguel Bardem; or 'Vicenç Ferrer' by Agustí Crespi.

The Gaudi’s Lifelong Award 2015

The Catalan Film Academy Executive has already announced that the special ‘Miquel Porter - Honour Award’ will go to Ventura Pons, the most prolific cinema director and screenwriter in the Catalan film industry. This prize aims to reward the work of the Catalan film-maker to whom the Catalan Government gave, eight years ago, ‘la Creu de Sant Jordi’, the most important honour in Catalonia. Ventura Pons, who will receive the award during the ceremony on Sunday next, said he felt very excited and grateful.

Six new honorary members of the Academy

The nominees posed for the typical ‘family photo’ in the Albéniz Palace in Barcelona, eleven days before the ceremony. At the same event, the Academy announced six new honorary members: Josep Maria Aixalà, advertising film producer; Jordi and Carles Grangel, animation character designers; Antonio Llorens Sanchis, film director; Ramón Martos Vivar, film colourist; and Rosa Novell, actress. Isona Passola, President of the Catalan Film Academy said at the event that the film industry has "suffered the VAT, lack of public subsidies and piracy". Passola admitted that she is now going through "the longest and most difficult situation” she can remember, but “it is not time to compete, but to be happy for those who are lucky”.

Last year, 242,000 viewers followed the Gaudí Awards Ceremony through BTV, Barcelona’s local television channel, since Catalonia’s public television broadcaster (whose main channel is TV3) was on strike. Besides this, around 13,000 followed it through online streaming. It was a success in all aspects, particularly regarding television audience figures.