On Feb. 17 the Spanish Academy handed out their top honors the GOYA awards.
Pablo Berger's "Blancanieves" took home 10 statues including best film. The black and white silent retelling of the Snow White classic beat out favorite "The Impossible."
"Blancanieves" also won Best Actress for Maribel Verdu who said during her acceptance speech the she had "grown to enjoy playing the bad guy." The actress beat Oscar nominee Naomi watts, Penelope Cruz and Aida Folch. The film also won Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Score, Makeup and Song.
Regardless of its Best Film loss, "The Impossible" also took home five awards. The film tells the story of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of a tsunami. The film won Best Director for Juan Antonio Bayona. During his acceptance speech he stated, "It's good to make big films, it doesn't mean you are arrogant. The Spanish industry needs big, medium and small films." The director also brought down the house when he left for a moment to bring Maria Belon, the mother of the real-life family that survived the 2004 tsunami and which the film is based on.
The film also won Best Production Design, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.
The Best Actor award went to Jose Sacristan for "The Dead Man and Being Happy" while the Best Supporting Actress award went to Candela Pena for "Una Pistola en Cada Mano." Julian Villagran won Best Supporting Actor for his work on "Grupo 7."
The awards ceremony was filled with many political messages including one by the Academy President Enrique Gonzalez who railed against sales tax increase. He stated "It's not good news that Spain has the highest sales tax on culture in Europe. Other countries like Holland and Portugal had a very high rate and they realized it and lowered it. Only fools don't change their mind," He also stated "It's not demagoguery to say that the disappearance of piracy would bring more benefits than raising taxes."
Javier Bardem also spoke out in defense of human rights in the Sahara when he accompanied Alvaro Longoria to the stage to accept the award for Best Documentary "Sons of Clouds."
Full List of Winners:
Film-Blancanieves
Director-Juan Antonio Bayona for The Impossible
Actor-Jose Sacristan for The Dead Man and Being Happy
Actress-Maribel Verdu for Blancanieves
Original Screenplay-Pablo Berger for Blancanieves
Adapted Screenplay-Javier Barreira, Gorka Magallon, Ignacio del Moral, Jordi Gasull and Neil Landau for Tad, the Lost Explorer
Supporting Actor-Julian Villagran for Grupo 7
Supporting Actress-Candela Pena for Una Pistola en Cada Mano
Honorary Goya-Concha Velasco
Production Design-Sandra Hermida Muniz for The Impossible
Artistic Director-Alain Bainee For Blancanieves
Photography-Kiko de la Rica for Blancanieves
Special Effects-Pau Costa and Felix Berges for The Impossible
Wardrobe-Paco Delgado for Blancanieves
Editing-Bernat Vilaplano and Elena Ruiz for The Impossible
Sound-Peter Glossop, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago for The Impossible
Original Score-Alfonso Villalonga for Blancanieves
Original Song-No Te Puedo Encontrar from Blancanieves
New Actor-Joaquin Nunez for Grupo 7
Makeup and Hair-Sylvie Imbert and Fermin Galan for Blancanieves
New Actress-Macarena Garcia for Blancanieves
New Director-Enrique Gato for Tad, the Lost Explorer
Animated Feature Film-The Adventures of Tadeo Jones
Documentary Film-Sons of the Clouds, The Last Colony
European Film-Untouchable (France)
Ibero-American Film-Juan de los Muertos (Cuba)
Animated Short-Jaime Maestro for El Vendedor de Humo
Fiction Short-Esteban Crespo Garcia for Aquel no Era Yo