Catalonia's film industry is counting down to its big night of the year, the Gaudí Awards 2024. The 16th annual celebration of the best in Catalan cinema, to be held this Sunday night, February 4th, sees the film Creatura, from director Elena Martín, as the big favourite of the night with a total of 15 nominations, becoming the third most nominated film in the history of the awards. But Martin's fearless exploration of an often-taboo subject - female sexual desire - competes with other nominated movies that are also getting their share of audience and critical praise, and first and foremost is Saben aquell. That title roughly translates as "Did you hear the one about...", and is the biopic of the Catalan comedian Eugenio, with actor David Verdaguer in the chain-smoking title role. It has 13 nominations to its name. Then there are proposals such as the feature debut from Laura Ferrés La imatge permanent ("The permanent picture") and Un amor from consecrated director Isabel Coixet. Thus, the Gaudís 2024, presented this year by comedians Ana Polo and Maria Rovira, will once again showcase the best of Catalonia's cinematic output. And before you ask, "what about 'Sociedad de la Nieve?'" - the J.A.Bayona true-life survival epic, with two Oscar nominations to its name, does indeed have a Catalan director, and many Catalan film professionals worked on it too, but since its producers were from Madrid and the US (Netflix), it doesn't get enough "points" to be classified as a local movie. It does, however, qualify for a Best European Film nomination on Sunday night.
As usual, the celebration of the 2024 Gaudí Awards gala will take place in Barcelona, but it will not be held at the traditional venue. This year, the awards will be presented at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), located beside the Parc del Fòrum, instead of the National Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) as in recent years. The awarding of all those statuettes based on Antoni Gaudí's famous Pedrera chimneys will take place on Sunday, February 4th at 10pm and it can be followed live right here at the ElNacional.cat website.
'Creatura', 15 nominations
Last year's Gaudís were certainly dominated by the spirit of Alcarràs, Carla Simón's phenomenal Golden Bear-winning feature, but on the night, the awards ended up being shared around quite widely. The 2024 nominations have produced the third most nominated movie in the history of the Catalan awards: Creatura, directed by Elena Martín, whose 15 nominations include best film, best director and male protagonist (Oriol Pla), in a film which centres on the theme of female sexual desire. Then there's Saben Aquell (English title - a little unfortunate: "Jokes and Cigarettes") which will also fight to become the arithmetical winner on the night. The biopic directed by David Trueba is also present in all the main categories: film, director, male lead and female lead. Also widely nominated is 20.000 especies de abejas with 9 nominations, while Un amor is present in 8 categories. In addition, the filmmaker Rosa Vergés will receive the Honorary Gaudí in this edition of the Catalan cinema awards.
In the acting categories, the nominees for Best Female Lead are Bruna Cusí (Upon Entry), Patricia López Arnaiz (20.000 especies de abejas, "20,000 species of bees"), Carolina Yuste (Saben aquell) and Laia Costa (Un amor). In the category of Best Male Lead are David Verdaguer (Saben aquel), Enric Auquer (El mestre que va prometre el mar, "The Teacher who Promised the Sea"), Alberto Amman (Upon Entry) and Oriol Pla (Creatura). Other movies films that have made their presence felt in the nominations are La imatge permanent by Laura Ferrés, which also competes for best film together with Els encantats ("The Enchanted"), by Elena Trapé.
Ana Polo and Maria Rovira present the 2024 Gaudís
The presenters of Gaudí 2024 are Ana Polo and Maria Rovira, better known collectively as Oye Polo, which is the title of their Radio Primavera Sound podcast which mixes humour, feminist perspectives and social criticism. The two comedians will MC the gala for the very first time.
All of the nominations for the Gaudí Awards 2024
Best film
- Creatura
- Saben aquell
- Els encantats
- La imatge permanent
Best actress
- Laia Costa for Un amor
- Bruna Cusí for Upon Entry (L'Arribada)
- Carolina Yuste for Saben aquell
- Patrícia López Arnaiz for 20.000 especies de abejas
Best actor
- David Verdaguer for Saben aquell
- Enric Auquer for El maestro que prometió el mar
- Alberto Ammann for Upon Entry (L'Arribada)
- Oriol Pla for Creatura
Best film in a language other than Catalan
- 20.000 especies de abejas by Estibaliz Urresola
- Un amor by Isabel Coixet
- El maestro que prometió el mar by Patricia Font
- Upon entry by Juan Sebastián Vásquez and Alejandro Rojas
Best direction
- Isabel Coixet for Un amor
- David Trueba for Saben aquell
- Elena Martín for Creatura
- Agustí Villaronga for Loli tormenta
Best new director
- Alejandro Marín for Te estoy amando locamente
- Estibaliz Urresola for 20.000 especies de abejas
- Juan Sebastián Vásquez and Alejandro Rojas for Upon Entry (L'Arribada)
- Laura Ferrés for La imatge permanent
Acting relevation
- Ainara Elejalde for Els encantats
- Alicia Falcó for Las buenas compañías
- Clàudia Malagelada for Creatura
- La Dani (Dani F. Pozo) for Te estoy amando locamente
Best original script
- Elena Martín i Clara Roquet for Creatura
- Estibaliz Urresola for 20.000 especies de abejas
- Juan Sebastián Vásquez and Alejandro Rojas for Upon Entry (L'Arribada)
- Isa Campo, Andrea Queralt and Víctor Iriarte for Sobre todo de noche
Best adapted script
- Albert Val for El maestro que prometió el mar
- David Trueba and Albert Espinosa for Saben aquell
- Isabel Coixet and Laura Ferrero for Un amor
- Pablo Berger for Robot Dreams
Best production direction
- Andrés Mellinas for Creatura
- Eduard Vallés for Saben aquell
- Elisa Sirvent and Patricio Pereira for La contadora de películas
- Eva Taboada for Un amor
Best documentary
- Mentre siguis tu, l’aquí i l’ara de Carme Elías by Claudia Pinto Emperador
- Muyeres by Marta Lallana
- Alteritats by Alba Cros i Nora Haddad
- Hermano caballo by Marcel Barrena
Best short film
- Blow! by Neus Ballús
- El bus by Sandra Reina
- La herida luminosa by Christian Avilés
- Tots els meus colors by Anna Solanas i Marc Riba
Best made-for-TV film
- Miró by Oriol Ferrer
- Quico Sabaté, sense destí by Sílvia Quer
Best animated film
- Robot dreams by Pablo Berger
- Dispararon al pianista by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
- Hanna i els monstres by Lorena Ares
- Heavies tendres by Joan Tomàs
Best artistic direction
- Josep Rosell for El maestro que prometió el mar
- Sylvia Steinbrecht for Creatura
- Marc Pou for Saben aquell
- Izaskun Urkijo Alijo for 20.000 especies de abejas
Best supporting actress
- Aina Clotet for Els encantats
- Ane Gabarain for 20.000 especies de abejas
- Ana Torrent for Sobre todo de noche
- Clara Segura for Creatura
Best supporting actor
- Alex Brendemühl for Creatura
- Daniel Brühl for La contadora de películas
- Hugo Silva for Un amor
- Pedro Casablanc for Saben aquell
Best editing
- Ana Pfaff for Sobre todo de noche
- Ariadna Ribas for Creatura
- Bernat Aragonés for La contadora de películas
- Raúl Barreras for 20.000 especies de abejas
Best original music
- Andrea Motis for Saben aquell
- Alfonso de Vilallonga for Robot Dreams
- Clara Aguilar for Creatura
- Maria Arnal and Nora Haddad Casadevall for Alteritats
Best photography
- Alana Mejía González for Creatura
- Agnès Piqué Corbera for La imatge permanent
- Bet Rourich for Un amor
- Gina Ferrer for 20.000 especies de abejas
Best wardrobe
- Isis Velasco for Te estoy amando locamente
- Lala Huete for Saben aquell
- Maria Armengol for El maestro que prometió el mar
- Mercè Paloma for La contadora de películas
Best sound
- Albert Gay, Enrique G. Bermejo i Carlos Jiménez for Un amor
- Xavi Mas, Eduardo Castro and Yasmina Praderas for Saben aquell
- Eva Valiño, Koldo Corella and Xanti Salvador for 20.000 especies de abejas
- Leo Dolgan, Oriol Donat and Laia Casanovas for Creatura
Best visual effects
- Bernat Aragonés for La contadora de películas
- Cristina Garmón for Creatura
- David Martí and Montse Ribé for Secaderos
- Wesley Barnard and Míriam Piquer for Saben aquell
Best makeup and hairdressing
- Caitlin Acheson, Nacho Días i Benjamín Pérez for Saben aquell
- Danae Gatell and Àlex Salvat for Creatura
- Patricia Reyes for El maestro que prometió el mar
- Patricia Reyes and Jesús Martos for La contadora de películas
Best European film
- La sociedad de la nieve by J. A. Bayona (Spain)
- Aftersun by Charlotte Wells (UK)
- Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund (Sweden)
- The eight mountains by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch (Italy)
- Close by Lukas Dhont (Belgium)
