15/09/2006

The results of the first voting session are in: Pedro Almodóvar's Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile], Manuel Huerga's Salvador [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Agustín Diaz Yanes's Alatriste [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] have been pre-selected by the Academy of Arts and Film Sciences to represent Spain in the running for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The final nominees will be announced on September 28.

The Academy seems to have dismissed smaller titles by younger directors that made a splash earlier this year, such as Sánchez Arévalo's DarkBlueAlmostBlack [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see interview) or Sánchez-Cabezudo's more recent directorial debut, The Night of the Sunflowers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Sigaro
interview: Belén Bernuy
interview: Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo
film profile] (see focus), in favour of titles with stronger international appeal.

Two-time Oscar-winner Almodóvar is the most famous director in the running. Volver (see focus) has been considered by the press as one of the best films of the year since its international premiere in the latest Cannes Film Festival. The film will receive the FIPRESCI award in the upcoming San Sebastian Film Festival and will most probably be a finalist of the European Film Awards (see dossier).

Although the manchego director has so far resisted the temptation to shoot in English, his latest films were very well received in the US. Volver will certainly follow this trend. The film is due to open on November 3 in New York, where a retrospective of Almodóvar's films, entitled "Viva Pedro", was held this past summer.

Huerga's Salvador, which Warner Bros is releasing on Spain's screens today, was one of the most anticipated local films of the year. A Spanish-British co-production starring German star Daniel Bruhl, the film was presented in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section (see news) and, like Volver, is also a potential entry for the European Film Awards, to be held in Warsaw on December 2.

Lastly, Diaz Yanes's Alatriste is the most expensive Spanish production in history. Produced by Estudios Picasso Fabrica de Ficción, NBC Universal Global Networks España and Origen Producciones, on a €22m budget, the film opened locally on September 1 and, according to recent ICAA data, has already attracted 318,517 admissions and grossed over €1.8m. The adventure film set in the 17th century, whose cast is headed by US actor Viggo Mortensen, opposite Unax Ugalde, Eduardo Noriega and Ariadna Gil, was screened earlier this week in the Toronto Film Festival.