23/01/2007

Penélope Cruz has just made history by becoming the first ever Spanish actress to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. She achieved this with her impressive performance as a Spanish mother in Almodóvar's family drama Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile], which is surprisingly absent from the final list of nominees in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Cruz thus revives the dream of an acting Oscar for Spain, after Javier Bardem’s 2001 nomination for his performance as writer Reynaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls. That year, the Academy ultimately gave the award to Russell Crowe for Gladiator.

Mexican-Spanish co-production Pan's Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] has also made a splash, with nominations in six categories: Best Foreign Language Film (Mexico), Art Direction, Cinematography, Make-up, Original Score (for Javier Navarrete) and Original Screenplay.

Directed by Mexican-born Guillermo Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth – which has also been nominated for several Goyas, to be presented next Sunday night – was produced in Spain by Estudios Picasso Fabrica de Ficción with the support of TeleCinco. Distributed by Warner Bros Entertainment España last October, the film grossed over €7m domestically and garnered over 1.32m admissions, according to ICCA data.