The Gaudí Awards reach their 16th edition with Creatura, Saben quell, 20,000 species of bees and Un amor as the films with the most options to win different statuettes, in a gala that returns to the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), after the last two years in the oval room of the MNAC. The ceremony will have an Oscar flavor, since it will be attended, among others, by J.A. Bayona, Pablo Berger, Montse Ribé and David Martí, all nominated for the next Hollywood Academy Awards. Bayona as an international film for The Snow Society, Ribé and Martí – who already won one for Pan's Labyrinth in 2006 – for the makeup and hairstyling of the successful film about the 1972 aerial tragedy in the Andes, and Berger in the best animated film category for Robot dreams.
Of course, in the awards given by the Catalan Cinema Academy, Bayona will only be able to compete in the category of best European film, since The Snow Society does not have a Catalan production. Ribé and Martí participate with their work in the visual effects of Secaderos, and Berger, who triumphed in 2012 with his silent Snow White, has a good chance of achieving the Gaudí for his acclaimed debut in animation with the tender story of friendship between a robot and a dog in New York in the 1980s, winner in this category at the European Film Awards.
With 1,400 guests, seated at 130 round tables, the CCIB will be transformed for the occasion into “the temple of the Catalan film industry”, with a heartfelt tribute to the spectators, who are invited to “raise their heads from the mobile screen to enjoy the magic of cinema as a community”, the motto of this year's promotional campaign. A spectator who will be the protagonist of a protest party filled with feminist humor that will be displayed by the hosts of the evening, Maria Rovira and Ana Polo, creators of the Oye Polo podcast. The production of the show, equipped with a stage of modern and simple shapes and presided over by a large screen that represents the cinema, is carried out by Focus and will be directed by Oriol Faura.
The president of the Catalan Cinema Academy, Judith Colell, is committed to a ceremony that will be “very cool, elegant and fun”, and insists that 2023 has been a “year of pride” with a “spectacular harvest” at the cinematographic level. for the quality of the films produced and for cinema in Catalan, with a significant increase in the number of films and budgets, as well as in terms of presence and recognition at the most prestigious festivals in the world. “There are films that have connected a lot with viewers and we have had a good box office.”
Creatura, the second feature film directed by Elena Martín that exposes the traumas of female sexuality, and Saben esall, a biopic of the comedian Eugenio directed by David Trueba, with 15 and 13 nominations, stand out as favorite titles, followed by the nine of 20,000 species of bees, by Estíbaliz Urresola, the eight of Un amor, by Isabel Coixet, and the six of The teacher who promised the sea, by Patricia Font, and The movie teller, by Lone Sherfig. In the best direction section, Elena Martín, Trueba and Coixet compete for a recognition that also includes the last work behind the camera of Agustí Villaronga (Loli Tormenta), who died a year ago, just the day the XV was celebrated Gaudí edition.
Finalists, deliverers, artists and authorities will parade along the red carpet, 120 meters long. Among the latter is confirmed the presence of the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun; the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès; the president of the Parliament, Anna Erra; the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga.
Music will also be very present throughout the evening. Julieta will reinterpret the classic Al vent, by Raimon; Guillem Gisbert will sing Un home realitzat for the first time, a tribute to the figure of the screenwriter; The drag queen artist Sharonne will be in charge of In memoriam, and the protagonists of the series Jo mai mai will perform a new version of Petar-ho, by Oques Grasses, a hymn to the celebration of singularity and diversity.
The Gaudí Honorary-Miquel Porter award will go to the film and television director and screenwriter Rosa Vergés, recognized for works such as Boom boom, Souvenir, Tic tac or Iris.
This year the Academy highlights that there is a record number of nominations in the history of the Gaudí of seventy Catalan production titles, to which we must add a dozen European films, with a total of 33 finalist titles (28 Catalan productions and 5 European). And the majority presence of women finalists also stands out, as in the last two editions, with 57% compared to 43% of men.
