Two Catalans among award winners at 2022 Oscars

Two Catalans were amongst the award winners at the 2022 Academy Award Ceremony last night, which will likely be remembered for Will Smith striking comedian Chris Rock.

Barcelona's Leo Sánchez won Best Animated Short film for his work as a producer on 'The Windshield Wiper' while Francesc Bolló was one of the special effects team for the multi-award winning sci-fi epic 'Dune'.

The former had been working on the project with Madrid-born director Alberto Mielgo for seven years.

In an interview with Catalan TV3 public broadcaster, Sánchez said that they "were expecting it could happen, but when it did it was spectacular," as the team had been receiving plenty of positive reviews. 

Sánchez added that the film is available for all to see online, as the filmmaker did not want to limit who could access the work.

Bolló, worked from Canada for the movie and he also spoke to TV3. 

"How the process works is that there is a team working on set during the filming, and a second one after for post-production, taking care of all the elements that couldn't be recorded, such as digital elements," he said. 

There have been around 400 people working on this project from three different companies. 

"I was in charge of working on the sand," Bolló explained. They gave him some scenes with some objects, along with instructions and he worked until the final scene was given the green light.    

Catalan cinema reaching new records

Catalan cinema is reaching international spheres, especially after Carla Simón's Alcarràs movie was awarded the Golden Bear for Best Film at Berlin International Film Festival in February.

During her acceptance speech, Simón considered herself "a daughter of this place" referring to her first award at the festival. "This is truly our film home, I think maybe I should move here, because every time we come, something amazing happens," Simón added. 

Back in 2017, Simón had already won two awards for her 'Summer 1993' movie. 

'Alcarràs' tells the story of a family during their last fruit harvest on a farm before the owners install solar panels, set in the Alcarràs countryside, outside Lleida in the west of Catalonia.