The 2026 Goya Awards gala will be held in Barcelona.
The ceremony will return to the Catalan capital 26 years after it was first held.
Barcelona and TokyoThe next Goya Awards gala will be held in Barcelona. The Catalan capital will host the 40th edition of the awards ceremony early next year. Barcelona, in fact, was the first city to host the awards after Madrid, where the first thirteen galas were held. It was held on January 29, 2000, at L'Auditori, which had just opened the previous year, and the big winner at that gala was All about my mother, by Pedro Almodóvar. It will therefore be 26 years since Barcelona last hosted the awards, organized by the Spanish Film Academy. Last year, the Goya Awards were held in Granada, and in previous editions, the ceremony was held in cities such as Valladolid, Seville, Valencia, and Malaga.
"25 years after our Goya Awards in Barcelona, today we announce that we will return to a city linked to cinema," said the president of the Spanish Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite, who has not yet confirmed the date, which will depend on the schedule of other events such as the Gaudí Awards and the Festival. "There are wonderful venues to hold the Goya Awards in Barcelona," assured Méndez-Leite. One of these venues could be the Auditori del Fòrum, which has hosted some Gaudí galas.
Although the films nominated for the awards have not yet been announced, there are already some strong contenders. One example is Pilgrimage, by Carla Simón, who It has just been presented in the official competition at the Cannes Film FestivalOther films that could be eligible for nominations are Deaf, by Eva Libertad, who won the Bisnaga de Oro in Malaga; The Turtles, by Belén Funes, newly released, and Sirado, Oliver Laxe's film awarded at Cannes. "It's a year of different cinema, with different perspectives. We'll have some very brilliant Goya Awards for the quality of the films," said the academy president.
Salvador Illa and the "good moment for Catalan cinema"
The President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa, welcomed the Spanish Academy's decision to return to Barcelona to hold the ceremony. Speaking to the media from Tokyo on the second day of his official trip to Japan, he highlighted the "positive and thriving moment" Catalan cinema is experiencing, both in terms of production and international awards, as well as audience attendance in movie theaters. He also claimed that this will help strengthen the Tres Chimeneas audiovisual hub.
Regarding the possibility of the organization requesting funding from the Generalitat (Catalan Government) or Barcelona City Council, Illa stated that he is unaware of any such request. However, he expressed the administration's willingness to "help" with the gala. In this regard, the spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Silvia Paneque, explained that this Tuesday the Executive Council approved providing "institutional support for the 40th edition of the Goya Awards." According to Paneque, the gala will be "a turning point for Catalan audiovisual and a great opportunity to position Catalonia as one of the great European hubs for cultural creation, production and innovation" because it occurs at a time of "maximum projection of the Catalan audiovisual sector, which has consolidated a notable presence throughout the country and internationally, both non-internationally."
The Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar, explained that the fact that Barcelona will host the Goya Awards in 2026 "is a very good opportunity to express support for cinema and audiovisual in our country." Hernández added that cinema "is a very important sector in Catalan culture and economy" and highlighted that in Catalonia "there are many filmmakers who are winning awards at the most important festivals in the world."