Gay Wedding Ceremony in QUEENS

Hugo Silva, Raúl Jiménez (top) tie the knot; moms Betiana Blum and Carmen Maura (bottom) are on their side

In Manuel Gómez Pereira’s fluffy 2005 Spanish comedy Reinas / Queens, a group of gay men and their mothers get ready for Spain’s first mass gay wedding ceremony. That year, despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church and from religious and social traditionalists (many of whom still miss the good old traditional days of Franco’s right-wing dictatorship), same-sex marriage became legal in Spain following the election of the socialist government led by prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Shockingly, Spanish society hasn’t collapsed under this heavy burden of sin and immorality — though I guess there’s still time [...]

Goya Awards 2007

2007 Goya Awards
Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2007 Goya Award nominations: Dec. 18, 2006
2007 Goya Award winners: Palacio Municipal de Congresos del Campo de las Naciones in Madrid on Jan. 28, 2007
Nominees consist of films released in Spain between Dec. 1, 2005, and Nov. 30, 2006.
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Penélope Cruz, Yohana Cobo, Lola Dueñas in Volver
 

Best Film / Mejor película
Alatriste, by Agustín Díaz-Yanes (Estudios Picasso Fábrica de Ficción SA, Origen PC SA and NBC Universal Global Network España SL)
El Laberinto del fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro (Estudios Picasso Fábrica de Ficción SA, Tequila Gang y Esperanto Filmoj)
Salvador, by Manuel Huerga (Mediapro y Future Films)
* Volver, by Pedro Almodóvar (El deseo DA, [...]

Spanish Film Writers Awards 2007

2007 Spanish Film Writers Circle Awards
2007 Spanish Film Writers Circle Awards: January 16, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz in Volver
 

Best Film
* Volver, by Pedro Almodóvar
El Laberinto del fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro
La noche de los girasoles, by Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo
Un franco, 14 pesetas, by Carlos Iglesias
Best Foreign Film
The Queen, by Stephen Frears (UK-France-Italy)
Copying Beethoven, by Agnieszka Holland (US-Germany)
Little Miss Sunshine, by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (US)
* Crash, by Paul Haggis (US)
Best Documentary
* Cineastas en acción, by Carlos Benpar
La leyenda del tiempo, by Isaki Lacuesta
La silla de Fernando, by Luis Alegre and David Trueba
La gran final, by Gerardo [...]