Second prizeof Isaki Lacuestawill be the film that will represent Spain at the 97th edition of the Oscars, which will take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The Academy of Cinema announced it this Wednesday at its headquarters in Madrid, and the person in charge was the actor Eduardo Noriega. If the film passes the next two screenings of the Hollywood Film Academy, it will be one of the five candidates for the Oscar for best international film.
Isaki Lacuesta’s film was pre-selected by the Spanish Film Academy on September 4 alongside two excellent biopics, Frameby Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño, about the fake survivor of the Nazi concentration camps Enric Marco, and The Blue Starby Javier Macipe, about the chimerical rocker from Zaragoza Mauricio Aznar. Finally it will be Second prize WHO will seek Spain’s fifth Oscar in the category of best international film.
The film tells the story the creation by the Granada group Los Planetas of one of the great albums in the history of Spanish rock: A week in the engine of a bus. A process marked by the abandonment of the band’s bassist, the guitarist’s problems with heroin and the singer’s ambition, in what is presented as a story that delves into the legend of the Granada band, more than into the reality of what happened.
“The story of drugs, betrayals, fears and insecurities of Second prize is not new, but Lacuesta (co-writer with Fernando Navarro) He tells it with force, with emotion and lively and authentic dialogues full of humor.” wrote Juan Sarda in his review of the film, which won the Golden Biznaga at the Malaga Festival, in addition to awards for best direction and best editing.
The film had a turbulent production. Originally conceived by the filmmaker Jonas Truebawhich he later abandoned due to “loss of enthusiasm and ceasing to dream about the project”, later It was taken over by Isaki Lacuesta, who developed a new script with Fernando Navarro. For family reasons (his daughter was diagnosed with leukemia), the director was unable to be present on site. together filming. So he had to work telematically in collaboration with the director Pol Rodriguez.
“The Planets had agreed to make a film, but the principle was that no matter what we did, they weren’t going to like it, so Finally we did what we wanted“, Lacuesta commented in our pages. “Of course, with all the love and admiration that I feel for their songs, but without taking into account the opinion of any of them. In addition, it is a very unofficial group, and they do not even agree on how things happened.”.
Spain has won the Oscar for best international film four times.: in 1982, with start againof José Luis Garci; in 1993, with Belle Epoqueof Fernando Trueba, in 1993; in 1999, with All About My Motherof Pedro Almodóvar, and in 2004, with at seaof Alejandro Amenabar.
Since this last victory, our cinema has only managed to register the five nominees twice, with pain and gloryAlmodóvar, in 2019, and in the latest edition with The Snow Societyof JA Bayona. However, the film about the tragedy of the Andes would succumb to The area of interestof Jonathan Glazer.
