Sundays wins Best Film at Goyas as stars denounce Gaza war

Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Basque family drama Sundays swept Spain’s 40th Goya Awards, taking Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress as the Spanish Academy crowned the film that had already won San Sebastián’s Golden Shell. The ceremony at the Barcelona International Convention Centre on Feb. 28, 2026 turned into a political evening, with onstage denunciations of the war in Gaza and visible pro-Palestine gestures among winners and hosts.

Sundays’ principal producers accepted the Best Film prize alongside Ruiz de Azúa; credits reported in photo-call coverage include Manu (Manuel) Calvo, Marisa Fernández Armenteros, Sandra Hermida and Nahikari Ipiña (Ipina). Patricia López Arnaíz won Best Actress for her central role, and Nagore Aramburu (spelled in some dispatches as Nagore Aranburu) took Best Supporting Actress, cementing the film’s status as the academy’s consensus pick.

Oliver Laxe’s techno-dystopia Sirāt dominated the technical categories, collecting six Goyas for cinematography, production design, art direction, editing, music and sound. The film’s sound team—Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas—has been referenced in coverage as Oscar-recognized, a reminder that Spanish technical crews are increasingly part of transnational awards campaigns and festival pipelines.

The gala’s political tenor was unmistakable. Co-host Luis Tosar wore a Palestine-flag pin and from the stage condemned the “Gaza genocide,” a remark that drew sustained applause. Multiple winners wore “Free Palestine” or “Stop Genocide” badges, and hosts and recipients used acceptance speeches to widen the night’s focus beyond cinema. Joaquín Oristrell, accepting the adapted screenplay Goya for La Cena, declared, “Dictators can govern countries by whims. That can be denying gender violence and climate change, invading countries and deporting immigrants,” a line that provoked raucous applause. Variety and other outlets also reported references to Donald Trump among the evening’s condemnations.

Susan Sarandon, who received an Honorary Goya, blended gratitude with moral appeal. She praised Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Spanish artists for speaking “with such moral lucidity,” spoke of a world marked by “cruelty” and “violence,” and said, “It helps me to feel less alone, part of a larger community.” She quoted Howard Zinn: “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.”

Other awards underscored a night of regional pride and festival crossovers. José Ramón Soroiz won Best Actor for Maspalomas and delivered much of his acceptance speech in Basque, telling the audience, “You have made me very happy, and I hope all the Vicentes [his character] in the world will be too.” Deaf, a Berlinale Panorama audience favorite, earned Eva Libertad the Best New Director prize and multiple acting honors, while Albert Serra received his first Goya for the documentary Afternoons of solitude, thanking participants for the “virtually unbelievable” access that enabled his film’s portrait of bullfighters.

Industry commentators noted two clear takeaways: Spanish auteurs and technical crews are trading festival laurels for domestic recognition, and the producers who backed Sundays—small-scale independents who now compete on bigger canvases—highlight calls to scale budgets toward wider European co-productions. Culturally, the night demonstrated that Spain’s film community is using high-visibility ceremonies to amplify political and humanitarian messages, a posture likely to shape debates about public funding, international partnerships and the social role of cinema going forward.

Note: some reports referenced a Feb. 2 timing; the ceremony date cited in photo-call coverage and multiple outlets is Feb. 28, 2026.