Pedro Almodóvar's 'Pain and Glory' Sweeps Spain's Goya Awards

The Oscar contender won seven Goyas, including for best film, director and actor for Antonio Banderas' starring role in the feature, which is closely based on Almodóvar's life and work.

Pedro Almodóvar’s Oscar-nominated, semi-autobiographical drama Pain and Glory was the big winner Saturday at the 34th Goya Awards, Spain's top film honors, taking home prizes for best picture, director and original screenplay.

Additionally, Pain and Glory star Antonio Banderas was named best actor for his role as depressed director Salvador Mallo, while the film also nabbed Goyas for editing and original music and a best supporting actress nod for Julieta Serrano, who plays Mallo's aging mother.

Alejandro Amenábar’s Spanish Civil War epic While at War went into the ceremony with 17 nominations, ahead of Pain and Glory's 16, but in the end, Pain and Glory came out on top with seven Goyas to five for While at War, which nabbed honors for best production design, art direction, makeup and hair design and costume design, as well as a best supporting actor nod for Eduard Fernández.

Best actress honors went to Belén Cuesta for her starring role in The Endless Trench, another drama about the Spanish Civil War, which was the breakout hit from last year's San Sebastian International Film Festival. Les Misérables — Ladj Ly's social drama about life in the Parisian Banlieues and, like Pain and Glory, a nominee for the best international feature film Oscar — took home the Goya for best European film.

But the evening was all about Almodóvar. While accepting his acting honor, Banderas, who is up for a best actor Oscar for the same role, thanked the director for giving him a life in film.

“In 40 years, I’ve never met an artist with the loyalty you have to your cinema,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from you, not only about the art world, but also about life. I had to meet you to get here. I have done my best work with you. ... Today is three years since I had a heart attack. Not only am I alive, but I feel very alive.”

Almodóvar used his awards platform to address what he sees as a crisis in Spanish cinema brought on by streaming platforms such as Netflix. Upon accepting the best director Goya, the veteran filmmaker called on Spain's newly elected Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to support “auteur cinema, independent, outside the margins of the platforms,” which, he said, is “in serious danger of extinction.”

While theater attendance in Spain in 2019 was up 8 percent to 105 million tickets sold, the highest level of the past decade, according to Comscore figures, Spanish films only drew 15.9 million viewers, or 15 percent of the total, the worst level in six years.

This year's lifetime achievement Goya went to Pepa Flores, better known as Marisol, a child actress who starred in dozens of musicals and reached her height of popularity in the 1960s and 1970s.

A list of winners for the 2020 Goya Awards follows.

BEST PICTURE

Pain and Glory by Pedro Almodóvar

BEST DIRECTOR

Pedro Almodóvar for Pain and Glory

BREAKOUT DIRECTOR

Belén Funes for A Thief’s Daughter

BEST ACTRESS

Belén Cuesta for The Endless Trench

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas for Pain and Glory

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Julieta Serrano for Pain and Glory

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Eduard Fernández for While at War

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Pedro Almodóvar for Pain and Glory

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Benito Zambrano, Daniel Remón and Pablo Remón for Out in the Open

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Mauro Hercé for Fire Will Come

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

Alberto Iglesias for Pain and Glory

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Intemperie by Javier Ruibal for Out in the Open

BEST NEW ACTOR

Enric Auquer for Eye for an Eye

BEST NEW ACTRESS

Benedicta Sánchez for Fire Will Come

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles by Salvador Simó

BEST IBEROAMERICAN FILM

Heroic Losers by Sebastián Borensztein, Argentina

BEST EUROPEAN FILM

Les Misérables by Ladj Ly, France

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Ara Malikian: una vida entre las cuerdas by Nata Moreno

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

Suc de Síndria by Irene Moray

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Madrid 2120 by José Luís Quirós, Paco Sáez

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Our Life as Refugee Children in Europe by Silvia Venegas

BEST EDITING

Teresa Font for Pain and Glory

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Carla Pérez de Albéniz for While at War

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Sonia Grande for While at War

BEST ART DIRECTION

Juan Pedro de Gaspar for While at War

BEST SOUND

Inaki Díez, Alazne Ameztoy, Xanti Salvador, Nacho Royo-Villanova for The Endless Trench

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR DESIGN

Ana López-Puigcerver, Belén López-Puigcerver, Nacho Díaz for While at War

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

Mario Campoy, Inaki Madariaga for The Platform

HONORARY GOYA

Pepa Flores