‘Second Prize’, the film inspired by the story of Los Planetas, directed by Isaki Lacuesta, has been shortlisted for the Oscars in the category of Best International Film. It is competing in the shortlist with two other films, ‘Marco’ by Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño, and ‘La estrella azul’ by Javier Macipe.
The shortlisted films were announced this morning by Malena Alterio, Victoria Luengo and Belén Cuesta during a press conference held at the Madrid headquarters of the Spanish Film Academy.
Like ‘Second Prize’, ‘Marco’ and ‘The Blue Star’ are two feature films that tell stories based on – or inspired by – reality; in the case of ‘The Blue Star’, it is also a musical. Specifically, ‘Marco’ tells the infamous story of the Catalan trade unionist Enric Marco, who for decades invented the story of having lived locked up in Nazi concentration camps, while ‘The Blue Star’ tells a story about the ill-fated Zaragoza rocker Mauricio Aznar, leader of Más Birras who died 24 years ago.
Juan Antonio Bayona’s ‘La sociedad de la nieve’ made it through the preselection last year and was nominated for an international Oscar, which it lost to ‘La zona de interés’.
The next Oscars, which will be the 97th edition, will be held on March 2, 2025, as usual, in Los Angeles.
