‘Emilia Pérez’ Wins Best European Film At Spain’s Goya Awards; J.A. Bayona Says Attacks On Karla Sofía Gascón Must Ease Up
Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón was, as expected, not in attendance at this evening’s Goya Awards in Spain, but was clearly on the minds of some folks who were. When accepting the Goya for Best European Film (the only prize for which Emilia Pérez was nominated), representatives from the movie’s Spanish distributors gave a shoutout to the actress which was met with cheers and applause from the audience at the ceremony in Granada. “In the face of hatred and ridicule,” the distributors called for “more cinema, more culture.”
Earlier, on the sidelines of the ceremony, Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona, who was a member of last May’s Cannes jury which awarded the Best Actress prize to the film’s four female leads, including Gascón, commented, “Everything that is happening with Emilia Pérez makes me sad because there is a great film behind it.”
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He was referring to the fallout from Gascón’s racist and Islamophobic social media comments and told El Pais, “Karla Sofía Gascón has made a mistake and her messages are inexcusable. She was surely not prepared to live through everything she has lived through and in such a short time she was not well advised. But in the end, if it is about defending tolerance, tolerance also goes hand in hand with compassion. I think that there is a lynching around Karla Sofía Gascón… and we have to put the brakes on a little and also think about the film and all the people who have worked on that film.”
In the wake of revelations about Gascón’s controversial past statements, she has scaled back and shifted her awards-season appearances. Earlier this week it appeared she might attend the Goyas, but it was later reported that a decision had been made to skip the awards after a series of conversations between Goya organizers and Gascón.
Emilia Pérez‘s win in Spain this evening is not a huge surprise since, similar to last night’s Critics Choice Awards, ballots were due before the January 30 scandal first surfaced.
Other films in the Best European Film Goya category this evening were France’s The Count of Monte-Cristo, Latvia’s Flow, Italy’s La Chimera and last year’s International Feature Oscar winner from the UK, The Zone of Interest.
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