With the awards season our way it’s would be a crime not to talk about the Premios Goya, better known as Spain’s Academy Awards.  The Goya Awards were established in the late twenties just a year after the founding of Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España.  With no strikes of any sort or picket lines threatening to sabotage the awards, the Goya Awards 2008 went by rather smoothly, delivering a night full of European glamour and plenty of surprises.

Quality vs. Quantity

If there is one particular thing about the Goya Awards is that although they can be seen as the Spanish Academy Awards, you can’t really compare them.  Unlike their American counterparts, the Goya Awards nominate only a few select number of movies.  This year was no different since there were only eight major films nominated for most categories- proving that quality trumps quantity any given time.  In that list you’ll find several movies that most likely you haven’t seen or even heard of, but they’re a must-see nonetheless: El Orfanato, La Soledad, Las 13 Rosas, Siete Mesas de Billar Francés, Mataharis, La Torre de Suso, Luz de Domingo and Pudor.

Fashion Smashion

Just like any other awards ceremony, the fashion police at the Goya Awards 2008 was on-guard.  If anybody turned heads her way at the green carpet was Belén Rueda (from El Orfanato) whose scarlet red/ Jessica Rabbit-esque gown fit her figure fabulously, something that really got her positive points was her subtle use of jewelry, no bling bling shiz here. 
Every year there seems to be a color that’s overly used, for this year’s Goya Awards it was gray/ silver and all of its undertones.  For some ladies it worked, for other it was a total disaster.  Maribel Verdú and Goya Toledo looked impeccable; Neus Asensi and Blanca Portillo were a total disaster. Speaking of which, Gala Evora (nominated for actriz revelación) was a huge disappointment in the carpet- her electric blue wrap around didn’t do any justice to her… when in doubt, just go for the little black dress like Emma Suarez from “Bajo Las Estrellas”.  On a lighter note, if there’s somebody else that deserves an honorable mention for dressing the part for this awards is Elsa Pataky sporting a tan Versace gown sexy yet classy.

…y los ganadores son:

With a long list of awards given out, the highlights go usually to the best movie award, for this year’s Goya it went to “La Soledad”, by Jaime Rosales. The following award is a given since most of the time best movie and best director go hand in hand the Mejor Dirección award went to Jaime Rosales for his work in “La Soledad”, also from “La Soledad” José Manuel Cervino received the Goya for best supporting actor.
Undoubtedly the big winner of the night was “El Orfanato”.  Even though it didn’t earn the best movie award, it went home with a total of seven Goyas: Juan Antonio Bayona for mejor dirección novel; Sandra Hermida for mejor dirección de producción; Josep Rosell for mejor dirección artística; Sergio G. Sánchez for best original screenplay; Xavi Mas, Marc Orts & Oriol Tarragó for best sound; Lola López & Itziar Arrieta for best hair and make-up;, David Martí, Montse Ribé, Pau Costa, Enric Masip, Lluis Castells & Jordi San Agustín for best special effects. 
The surprise of the night was when Maribel Verdú received the award for best actress, since it’s something that she had been working for during the past couple of years, therefore it was a great achievement- absolutely everyone was ecstatic with the news about the well deserved award recipient.