‘La odisea de los giles’ wins prestigious prize at Goya Awards

La Odisea de los Giles, the tragicomedy about the Argentina's infamous corralito in 2001, won honoured this Saturday as the Best Ibero-American Film at a gala for the Goyas, the so-called 'Oscars of Spanish-language cinema.'

"It is a film that talks about the capacity that we have as people to face adversity and to get ahead," declared Matías Mosteirín, one of the hit film's producers, upon receiving the coveted statuette at the gala, held in the Andalusian city of Málaga.

La odisea de los giles has been a huge box office success since its premiere in Argentina on August 15. The award is another for director Sebastián Borensztein, who won in the same category for his 2012 film, Un cuento chino.

As in the latter, Ricardo Darín is once again Borensztein's leading man. Though this time, the acting legend was paried with his son Chino (both co-producers, moreover), Luis Brandoni, Daniel Aráoz and Verónica Llinás, and other cast members.

In total there are nine 'Giles' who star in the film, modest people from a rural area who in 2001 were robbed of the money they had collected, in dollars, to build a grain cooperative. They go in search of the swindler who has taken their savings, deposited in a bank, but with a simple rule: not to use violence against him.

The film, which screened in September at the San Sebastian Film Festival – out of competition, as it had been previously released – is an adaptation of Eduardo Sacheri' novel ‘a noche de la Usina, which won the Alfaguara Prize in 2016.

La odisea de los giles saw off strong competition for the prize, including Chilean film Araña, the Costa Rican production El despertar de las hormigas and Colombian film Monos. Last year's winner was Roma, Alfonso Cuarón's masterpiece that went on to global success in awards shows.

The film also cements Argentina's dominance of the prize at the Goyas – local productions have won the prize on 18 of 33 occasions.

The last local winner for Best Ibero-American film was El ciudadano ilustre, by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, in 2017.

– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL