“Handia” and “The Bookshop” lead the nominations for the 2018 Goya Awards

The Spanish Academy of Cinematic Art and Science has shown its love for language diversity during the Goya nominations. Only 2 of the 5 films selected for the Best Movie category are shot in Spanish. “Handia”, a Basque-language movie based on the true story of the 'Giant of Altzo', an unusually tall man who lived in the beginning of the 19th Century, is nominated in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score, among others, for a total of 13 candidacies. The film is followed closely by “The Bookshop”, directed by Isabel Coixet, which gets 12 nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Both British performers Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy hold candidacies for their roles. The drama, based on the novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, shows the difficulties that a middle-aged widow from the late 1950s confronts when she decides to open a bookstore in a small coastal town in Suffolk.

"Handia" is based on the true story of the 'Giant of Altzo', and unusually tall man who lived in the 19th Century.

The small independent Catalan film “Summer 1993”, the Spanish submission to the 2018 Academy Awards, obtains 8 nominations, while “El Autor” earned 9. The fifth nominated in the main category is “Verónica”, a horror movie based on a true story that happened in Madrid in the 1990s.

Spain's most international actor, Javier Bardem, is a candidate for his main role in “Loving Pablo”, the biopic that portrays the story of famous Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar. Bardem's wife, Hollywood star Penélope Cruz, who also features in the film, is nominated as Main Leading Actress.

Both Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are nominated for their roles in "Loving Pablo", Pablo Escobar's biopic.

Bardem shares nomination with Javier Gutiérrez, Antonio de la Torre and Andrés Gertrudix while Cruz competes with Maribel Verdú, Nathalie Poza and Emily Mortimer.

Among the nominees for the Best European Film there is a British movie, “Lady Macbeth”, which competes with the German “Toni Erdmann”, Cannes' Palme D'Or winner “The Square” and the French film “C'est la vie”, directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, who achieved great success with their film “The Intouchables” in 2011.

Actors David Berdaguer and Bárbara Lennie were chosen to announce the nominations to the 2018 Goya Awards. The main national film awards ceremony in Spain will take place at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel on Saturday, February 3rd. The event will be hosted by comedians Ernesto Sevilla and Joaquín Reyes.