We have arrived.
After two years of distribution, the short film Madre has secured an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. It has been a long road with many stages, but it has been worth it.
It must be acknowledged that everything is going well with this short film, which is not common at all.
Madre is now the seventh Spanish live-action short film to be nominated for an Oscar, and the second to be part of Madrid en corto, after That Wasn’t Me.
These are all the live-action short films nominated to date:
- Esposados (1996)
- 7:35 de la mañana (2004)
- Éramos pocos (2006)
- Binta y la gran idea (2007)
- Aquel no era yo (2013)
- Timecode (2017)
- Madre (2019)
Furthermore, if we include animation, there would be eight nominations for Spanish short films, thanks to the one achieved by The Lady and the Reaper in 2009.
The distribution of Madre began at the Málaga and Medina festivals; in other words, it has been exactly two years since the first selection email was received (Málaga is already notifying those selected, although it is not yet public).
The distribution of Madre so far
To learn how we planned the distribution of Madre, you can review these two posts: The first phases in the distribution strategy of Madre, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and The distribution of MADRE for over a year through festivals
Now that it has been in festivals for two years, distribution has slowed down after submissions to many festivals during the initial phases. In any case, as a result of the nomination, screenings will increase and new windows will open, both in terms of sales and theatrical releases.
These are the festival figures for Madre at the time the nomination was announced:
- 192 festivals in which it has participated, 10 of which are Oscar-qualifying and 29 Goya-qualifying.
- 106 awards.
- 524 festival submissions.
To visualize its journey through the festival circuit more clearly, I have grouped all the data into a single monthly chart, starting in March 2017:
Some keys to the nomination
Madre reaches the nomination at a very good time, being a very special case for several reasons.
The team behind Madre has already made the feature film based on the short, which is not common at all. Usually, winning an Oscar or even just the nomination helps both the director and the producer to carry out a feature film project. But Madre already is one; therefore, the nomination can help its national and international distribution like never before.
The production of the Madre feature film was made possible thanks to several independent production companies, including Malvalanda and Caballo Films, as well as French co-producers.
Furthermore, it should be noted that Rodrigo is nominated for the Goya Awards this year with his previous feature film, The Realm, another unprecedented fact in Spanish cinema. Never before has a director nominated for a Goya been simultaneously nominated for an Oscar for a short film.
To all this, we must add that Madre is Rodrigo’s second short film, following Iluso in 2014 and after having made three feature films: 8 Dates, Stockholm, and May God Save Us.
In other words, this case demonstrates that there is no problem with a feature film director making short films; moreover, this short has helped internationalize Rodrigo’s career and has given it a new boost.
He has been able to reach places with the short film that he hasn’t reached with his feature films, once again questioning all those who see the short film as a minor format.
Ultimately, this is a success not only for the Madre team, but for all of Spanish cinema and the grants that make it possible for young production companies and directors to continue making films and taking risks.
As I mentioned when Timecode was nominated, we must invest in promoting the short film in Los Angeles; winning an Oscar is not just a matter of quality, you have to work very hard on promotion and allocate all necessary resources.
Let’s cross our fingers and hope that Spanish cinema finally gets its well-deserved Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.