Dec 1, 2023

Pablo Berger's "Robot Dreams" nominated for four Goya Awards at the Spanish Academy

The Spanish Academy Goya Awards have announced this year's nominees, and Pablo Berger's debut feature "The Robot's Dream" has been nominated in four categories. This is the most for an animated feature film since "Buñuel's Labyrinth" in 2020.

In addition to the animated feature nominations, "Robot Dreams" will compete against live action films in the Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Music, and Best Editing categories.

"Robot Dreams" is Berger's first animated feature, but he is an accomplished director whose 2012 feature "Blancanieves (Snow White)" is considered a modern Spanish classic. The film has won numerous national and international awards, including 10 Goya Awards.

The official synopsis of the film, adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Sarah Vallon, is as follows:

A dog and a robot are the best friends in the world. One fine day they decide to go to the beach, but at the end of the day the robot is rusty and completely paralyzed! Not knowing what to do, his friend leaves without him. As the seasons roll around and Dog tries to find a new friend, Robot can only dream of a more ideal situation.

Neon has acquired North American distribution rights to "Robot Dreams" at the Cannes Film Festival, but the company has yet to announce plans for the film.

Although its four nominations are impressive, "Robot Dreams" faces stiff competition in the animated feature category at Goyards. This year's nominees include:

They Shot the Piano Player, a huge success at the festival, is directed by the Academy Award-nominated Chico & Rita duo of Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal. Isabel Huelguera's "Sultana's Dream," the most aesthetically ambitious of the films, was well received at the festival; Juan Jesús García Galocha's "Mummies," the biggest commercial hit of the year's nominees and the most successful film of the festival, was also nominated for an Oscar, It impressed audiences in several European regions. The fifth film in the category, the CG preschool feature Hanna and the Monsters, looks hopeless given the impressive profiles of the other nominees.

Other animation-related Goya nominees include:

"Becarias" directed by Marina Colton, Marina Donderis and Nuria Poveda

"To Bird or Not To Bird" directed by: Martín Romero

Todo Bien -Directed by Diana Asien Mansooro

Todo está Perdido -Directed by Carla Pereira, Juanfran Jacinto