Oliver Lacks’s notebook-based journey through the Moroccan desert, Silat, swept the craft category at the 40th Spanish Academy Goya Awards. Variety called it “a wonderfully bizarre and cult-favorite vision that tests the human psyche to its limits,” adding, “‘Sirat’ has been nominated for two Oscars and has already won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.”
‘Sirat’ won the most awards at Saturday’s Goya Awards ceremony. But Arauda Ruiz de Azua’s “Sundays,” about a fractured family relationship plagued by intolerance, won the biggest awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Patricia López Arnaiz) and Best Original Screenplay. “Sundays” won San Sebastian’s top Golden Shell last September.
With Oscar voting in full swing, sound was left to the Oscar-nominated all-female team Sirāt. supervising sound editor Laia Casanovas, re-recording mixer Yasmina Praderas, and production sound mixer Amanda Villavieja, who spent nine months off and on in the sound design process.
But the night’s biggest draw was “Deaf,” winner of the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, which depicts the challenges faced by a deaf person, in this case a mother, in a world where she is expected to be deaf.
Barcelona is not Berlin. At Saturday’s Goya Awards, co-host Louis Tosar, wearing a Palestinian pin, took just 150 seconds to denounce the “Gaza genocide.” The audience erupted in almost unanimous applause.
Susan Sarandon, this year’s International Goya of Honor recipient, expressed her gratitude to Spanish President Pedro Sánchez and the country’s many artists who “speak with great moral clarity.” In a world dominated by “brutality” and “violence,” she added, “it made me feel less alone and part of a larger community.”
“A dictator can rule a country at his whim, whether it’s by denying gender violence or climate change, by invading countries and expelling immigrants,” said Joaquín Ostrell, co-winner of the screenplay award for “La Sena,” to another round of applause.
In her acceptance speech, Sarandon quoted American author Howard Zinn as saying, “Having hope in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is not only a history of cruelty, but also a history of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness.”
40th Spanish Academy Goya Awards, 2026
Best work award
“Sunday” Manu Calbo, Marisa Fernández Armenteros, Sandra Hermida, Najikari Ipinha,
director
Arauda Ruiz de Azua “Sunday”
actress
Patricia Lopez Arnaiz
actor
Jose Ramon Solois “Maspalomas”
new director
Eva Libertad “Def”
original script
Arauda Ruiz de Azua “Sunday”
adapted screenplay
Joaquín Ostrell, Manuel Gomez Pereira, Yolanda Garcia “La Cena”
art direction
Laia Ateka “Silato”
new director
Eva Libertad “Def”
supporting actor
Alvaro Cervantes “Deaf”
supporting actress
Nagore Aramburu “Sunday”
new actress
Miriam Garlo “Def”
new actor
Toni Fernandez Gabale “The Sleepless City”
Documentary feature
Albert Serra “A Lonely Afternoon”
Animation feature
“Decorado”, Alberto Vázquez, Cello Loureiro, Iván Mimabres, Jose María Fernández de Vega
sound
Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, Yasmina Praderas, “Sirat”
original music
Kanding Ray “Silat”
Cinematography
Mauro Else “Silato”
edit
Cristóbal Fernández “Sirato”
production design
Oriol Maymo “Silato”
original song
Alba Flores and Sylvia Perez Cruz “Flowers for Antonio”
special effects
Paula Garifa Rubia, Ana Rubio “Los Tigres”
costume design
Helena Sanchis “La Sena”
makeup and hair styling
Ana López-Puigselver, Belén López-Puigselver, Nacho Diaz “The Captive”
Ibero-American film
“Belen”, Dolores Fonzi, Argentina
european movies
short story
“Anglo Muerto” Cristian Beta
short animation
“Gilbert”, Jordi Jimenez, Arturo Racal, Alex Sarru
documentary show
“El Santo” by Carlo Dursi.
honor goya
Gonzalo Suarez
International Honorary Goya
susan sarandon
