Goya Awards 2023 | Rodrigo Sorogoyen: “It is unfair that ‘Alcarràs’ has not won any Goya”

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After shining like a comet one night in February 2022 and conquering a Historic Golden Bear in Berlin by unanimous decision of the jury chaired by M. Night Shyamalan, gave the impression that the almost ethereal magic of ‘Alcarrás’ something seemed to have vanished of late. Maybe it was because of his fleeting presence in the race to the Oscarsbecause he could not even enter the semifinal ‘shortlist’, or because ‘As bestas’, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, entered the box office with wild fury and left viewers (and academics) speechless since its premiere in Spain last October. Nothing, however, suggested that ‘Alcarràs’ could go empty at the gala of the 37th edition of the Goya, held this Saturday in Seville. The choral story about being rooted in a place, beautifully drawn by Carla Simon, He was up for 11 statuettes, but in a cruel way he fell to zero in the box, capitulating to the almost animal dominance of ‘As bestas’, who swept the night away with nine awardsincluding film, direction, original screenplay, lead actor, and supporting actor.

even his own sorogoyen, necessarily euphoric in his great night of glory, felt something strange. “I thought that Carla [Simón] I was going to win [el Goya a mejor dirección] and It seems unfair to me that ‘Alcarràs’ no prize has been won, but this is proof that the prizes are unfair”, stated the director of ‘As bestas’ in a meeting with the press just after the ceremony. He did not say it with a small mouth, because Sorogoyen is not one of those who keep quiet about what they think, but with the conviction that there is something random, and unfair, in the prize system. He himself experienced a bittersweet feeling when in 2019 he won the Goya for best direction and screenplay, together with Isabel Peña, for that electrifying ‘The kingdom‘, but ended up surrendering the highest prize to a well-intentioned work in the social sphere, but artistically minor as ‘Champions’by Javier Fesser.

“Let’s not think about it anymore: the prizes are unfair. ‘Alcarràs’ is a great movie, it has won in Berlin and has touched the public& rdquor ;, settled the director, who claimed to feel “overwhelmed and grateful & rdquor; for the overwhelming success achieved in Seville. “It may sound cliché or predictable, but we have seen all our expectations exceeded. When the nominations came out, and seeing the general level, we already felt that it was an honor to have achieved so many. This year there have been too many great films that have ended up having too little visibility,” Sorogoyen analyzed, perhaps in allusion, as he had done JA Bayonne during the ceremony (in which he presented the award for best director) to the scandalous ninguneo to ‘Pacifiction’, by Albert Serrawhich was not nominated for anything despite its resounding success in France and its succulent string of awards at recent gaudi. It was certainly not a good night for him. catalan cinemabecause the zero for ‘Alcarràs’ (painful, still, for the eyes) could barely be alleviated by the Goya for Best Adapted Screenplay for Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo for ‘One year, one night’.

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The forgetfulness of ‘Alcarràs’ by the members of the Spanish Film Academy made us immediately think how strange it was that same entity that had decided that Simón’s film was his representative for the Oscars. It is true that the election and voting processes are different, but it is hard to understand why the same academics have suddenly stopped believing in ‘Alcarràs’ to the point of leaving it insignificant. “I don’t know, it’s striking that he hasn’t won anything,” he mused. Alauda Ruiz de Azuabrand new winner for new director for ‘Five little wolves’, just after the gala. “But I don’t know if it was by one, two, three or five votes. These are internal mechanisms of the Academy that escape me”, added the Basque director, who continued the happy circumstance that, since 2017, the Goya for best new director has gone to a female director: Simón herself (‘Summer 1993’), Arantxa Echevarría (‘Carmen y Lola’), Belén Funes (‘The daughter of a thief’), Pilar Palomero (‘Las niñas’), Clara Roquet (‘Libertad’) and , now, Ruiz de Azúa.

Its success, however, cannot hide another fact that also provoked debate right after the ceremony: despite the fact that there was finally parity in the two directing categories, it was relatively strange that ‘As bestas’ and ‘Modelo 77’, by Alberto Rodriguez, two films directed by men, once again took the lion’s share of awards. “The fact that this parity was already seen in the nominations is exciting; and I think that what changes must be valued, but there is still work to be done,” Ruiz de Azúa pointed out, accurate.



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