Lights, camera, action, as the 2022 Goya awards come to Valencia

GLITZ, glamour and red carpets are the order of the day this weekend as Valencia hosts the 36th edition of the Goya film awards.

Los Premios Goya, the Spanish version of the Oscars, which recognises achievement in the Spanish film industry, this year includes a new category, Goya Internacional, an award that will be presented to Australian actor and producer Cate Blanchett.

The event will be particularly poignant this year, reuniting the film industry after two years of disruption due to the pandemic. It also marks the end of the Año Berlanga, a celebration of the life of the Valencian director and screenwriter, Luís García Berlanga, who would have turned 100 in June last year. The gala event will be a homage to the filmmaker in the city where he was born and which he loved,

The ceremony will be held at the city’s Palau de les Arts on Saturday 12 February and shown on TVE from 10pm as well as on the official Goya website and social media. However, the presenters for the evening have yet to be announced.

Goya Internacional

Valencia has the honour of awarding, for the first time, the newly created Goya Internacional. The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, which organises the ceremony, said this award had been created with the aim of “recognising personalities that contribute to the world of cinema as an art form which unites cultures and audiences from around the world.” And they described this year’s recipient, the Australian actor and producer Cate Blanchett, as “an actress who has played unforgettable characters that are part of our memory and our present day.”

Throughout the week, to celebrate Valencians in the film industry, there have been pictures of previous Goya winners from the region outside the city council building, as well as a dozen lifesize Goya statuettes located around the city.

The statues have been made in record time by fallero artists, the craftsmen and women who produce the magnificent monuments for the festival of Las Fallas, and can be found throughout the city in: Plaza del Ayuntamiento; calle Burgos-Virgen de Lluch; plaza de Patraix; plaza del Pintor Segrelles; calle de José Capuz; estación de Metrovalencia de Ayora; Mercado del Cabanyal; plaza de Valvanera; Parque de Orriols; plaza Nueva de la Iglesia de Benicalap; estación de Metrovalència de Benimàmet; and el Palau de les Arts.