It's a great year for Catalan movies and that fact is demonstrated above all in the nominations for the Gaudí Awards 2023, the Catalan Film Academy's annual ceremony, to hold its 15th edition in January. The two films with the numerically best chance of success are Un año, una noche ("One year, one night"), directed by Isaki Lacuesta, a film that focuses on the attacks at the Bataclan music venue in Paris in 2015, and the revelation of the year, Alcarràs, by Carla Simón, which have received a total of 14 nominations each. Pacifiction, Albert Serra's cinematic proposal that was surprisingly overlooked in the nominations for the 2023 Goya Awards, is up for 11 Gaudí awards, while Mikel Gurrea's Suro ("Cork") competes in 10 categories and Oriol Paulo's Los renglones torcidos de Dios ("God's Crooked Lines"), at 8. The annual gala of Catalan cinema will be held on Sunday, January 22nd, in the Oval Room of Barcelona's MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia) and will be presented by the actress Llum Barrera.
Four productions will compete in the Best Picture category in the Catalan language. Alcarràs, by Carla Simón, starts as the big favourite to win the grand prize, having made history by winning the Golden Bear at the Berlinale as well as being Spain's candidate for the Oscar nominations. Competing with Simón's moveie will be Suro, Mikel Gurrea's debut; Nosaltres no ens matarem amb pistoles ("We Won't Kill Ourselves with Pistols"), which is Maria Ripoll's adaptation of Víctor Sànchez Rodríguez's theatre work; and, finally, El fred que crema ("The Burning Cold"), Santi Trullenque's first fiction feature that also adapts a play. In the category of Best Picture in a non-Catalan language, the nominations are Un año,una noche; Pacifiction; Pilar Palomero's La maternal; and Carlos Vermut's Mantícora ("Manticore").
In the Best Director category, this year's Gaudí Awards nominations have gone to two women and two men: Carla Simón, Pilar Palomero, Isaki Lacuesta and Albert Serra will compete for the award. The 2023 edition will be the first to present an award for Best New Director, and here three women and one man are nominated: Avelina Prat for Vasil, Carlota González-Adrio for La casa entre los cactus ("The House Among the Cactuses"), Laura Sisteró for Tolyatti Adrift and Mikel Gurrea for Suro. For the third consecutive year in their fifteen-year history, the Gaudís have once again awarded more nominations to women (reaching 53% this year) than to men. Aside from the new direction category, awards for Best Revelation Performance and Best Adapted Screenplay have also been incorporated.
Anna Castillo and Oriol Pla, among the great acting interpretations of the year
There is immense talent among the actors who have been nominated for the Gaudí Awards 2023. In the female category, among those who stand out are Anna Castillo (Girasoles silvestres, "Wild flowers"), Bárbara Lennie (Los renglones torcidos de Dios), Noémie Merlant (Un año, una noche) and Vicky Luengo (Suro). In the case of the men, the candidates are the French actor Benoît Magimel (Pacifiction), Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (Un año, una noche), Oriol Pla (Girasoles silvestres) and Pol López (Suro). In relation to the prize for the revelation acting performance of the year, which is not divided by gender, the nominees are Albert Bosch and Xènia Roset for Alcarràs, Carla Quílez for La maternal and Zoe Stein for Mantícora.