As bestas, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and the Apagon series, the anthology created by Fran Araujo, have been the winners in film and television, respectively, of the main awards at the 28th edition of the Forque awards, given by the partners of Egeda, the entity for managing the rights of Spanish audiovisual producers.
With this triumph, the drama halfway between a thriller and a western that Sorogoyen has produced, with Isabel Pena as co-writer, about a crime in deep Galicia becomes the favorite for the Goya awards. Not only does it have 17 nominations for the Spanish Film Academy awards (five more than its fiercest rival, Alcarras, by Carla Simon, winner of the Berlinale Golden Bear), but since 2015, for example, the two galas They just didn’t coincide in 2020, when The Infinite Trench won at the Forques and at the Goyas the best film was Pain and Glory. In the rest of the editions, the producers’ trophies, which on this occasion were delivered on Saturday night at the Municipal Conference Center in Ifema, have pointed the way to the Goya for best film. Last year, the victory went to The Good Patron, by Fernando Leon de Aranoa. Sorogoyen received the award and decided, in a beautiful speech, to praise and explain his admiration for the other three films, and his directors, who competed with him for that award.
As bestas not only won best film, but its protagonist, the Frenchman Denis Menochet, won the best film actor in the surprise of the night: it is the first time that someone who does not speak Spanish has won this award. On stage, he took advantage of the mobile to read the speech, and mixed French, Spanish and English, and insisted on “how incredible is that this.” The best actress award went to Laia Costa, for her mother’s character surpassed by her impossible day-to-day performance in Cinco lobitos. Costa’s rivals were not the same as those that make up the Goya quintet, although this victory reinforces the possibility of a double. Cinco lobitos, by Alauda Ruiz de Azua, also won the award for Cinema in Education and Values.
In the documentary section, Labordeta, a man without more, by Paula Labordeta and Gaizka Urresti, won, which delves into the life of the Aragonese singer-songwriter, activist and congressman. And Argentina, 1985, by Santiago Mitre, who is currently in the race for the Oscars as a candidate for her country, won the award for best Latin American film. Finally, Strings, the short film by Estibaliz Urresola, won in its category after its previous triumphant festival run.
On television Apagon, five episodes coordinated by Fran Araujo (one of whom also directs Sororgoyen) for Movistar+ that show the collapse of the West, and especially Spain, when a devastating solar storm hits Earth, won the award for best series . Jesus Carroza, the goatherd in the episode Survival, directed by Alberto Rodriguez, that is, the fourth installment in Apagon, won the award for best actor in a series. Monica Lopez, through her civil guard who lives in a small town in Galicia in Rapa, took him away in the women’s section.
In this edition, the Gold Medal, an honorary award that Egeda grants to a producer, went to Jose Luis Bermudez de Castro, who has worked with Sergio Leone, Mariano Ozores, Fernando Fernan Gomez, Javier Aguirre and Eloy de la Iglesia, among others, in more than a hundred movies. In his speech, he explained after acknowledging that he was not used to speaking on stage: “If I lived a thousand lives, I would dedicate them a thousand times to this profession.” And he left a message for his younger colleagues: “Do not give up your attempt: persevere. Cinema, if you do it with love, will reward you. Do not doubt it, never throw in the towel”.
The gala, plumbea as usual, was presented by the actors Adrian Lastra and Esmeralda Pimantal, and there were tributes to Atraco a las tres, directed by Jose Maria Forque, the director and producer who names these awards and in which Jose Luis appeared Lopez Vazquez, of whom the centenary of his birth was celebrated in 2022, and the actress Veronica Forque, daughter of this filmmaker, winner of four Goya awards and who died a little over a year ago, on December 13, 2021. That moment was presented by Antonio Resines, who cried on several occasions, and Silvia Abascal, who spoke of the privilege of having worked with her, “of the passion with which she made films and that was transformed into magic on the screen”, and of enjoying “Your wonderful company.” Their parliaments ended with the stalls standing very excited.
