Animated cinema, Woody Allen and Alberto Iglesias represent Spain at the Oscars

by Sergio Ríos Pérez

25/01/2012 - Although Spanish cinema’s official representative for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Black Bread [trailer], won’t be in Los Angeles, the Spanish film industry will vie for the film world’s most coveted statuettes through animated cinema, the talent of its artists and co-production.

The delightful Chico y Rita [trailer, film focus] [pictured], directed by Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba (who already knows what it’s like to win an Oscar, with The Age of Beauty) and Tono Errando, has made it onto the list of five finalists in the Best Animated Feature category. Despite its Caribbean themes, it is representing European cinema, together with Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol’s A Cat in Paris [trailer], up against the big productions by Hollywood studios.

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Deserving a special mention is composer Alberto Iglesias, who will vie for the Best Original Score Oscar for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [trailer]. Thrice nominated for this gong and winner of two European Film Academy (EFA) awards, his career confirms him as one of the greatest European talents in his field.

Last but not least, given that it is the one with the greatest number and most important nominations, is Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris [trailer]. A 50/50 production between the US and Spanish company Mediapro, the Spanish creative and artistic stamp is almost imperceptible, but it is an impeccable exercise in production that has brought enormous benefit to the domestic film industry (the film’s sales, for example, were managed by Imagina International Sales).

(Translated from Spanish)