All the president's nominations

When actors Jorge Sanz and Marta Etura read out the nominations for this year's Goya Awards, the Cinema Academy's annual film awards, on Tuesday, the institution's president, Álex de la Iglesia, could be seen holding a nervous smile as the title of his film kept being repeated. The director's A Sad Trumpet Ballad received the most nods for prizes - 15 - more than any other president of the Academy has ever obtained.

Close behind were Agustí Villaronga's Pa negre with 14 nominations, Iciar Bollain's Even the Rain with 13, and 10 for Rodrigo Cortés's Buried.

These four movies will all compete for the best film and best director prizes. Meanwhile, Biutiful earned eight nominations, Lope got seven and Room in Rome achieved four.

'A Sad Trumpet Ballad' has earned more nods than any other president's film

De la Iglesia was the first to speak after the announcement of the nominations and made a nervous confession: "I thought about not putting the film forward for the Goyas, but it was very unfair for the rest of the team... What's more the film isn't mine, it's the producers'. I also thought about resigning... whatever I did was going to be criticized." Of all the nominations, the director said he was most thrilled by those for best screenplay (it is the first script he has written alone) and "another that you can imagine and I won't say," most likely referring to the naming of Carolina Bang, his partner, in the best female newcomer category.

Not that he has lot of time to savor the moment. De la Iglesia has his head in a lot of places right now. Not only - as Academy president - will he be organizing the most spectacular award ceremony in the history of the Goyas, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary with a gala in Madrid's Teatro Real and a videowall in the Puerta del Sol, but he'll also be starting shooting on his new film, La chispa de la vida. Another tragicomedy like A Sad Trumpet Ballad, it stars José Mota and Salma Hayek as a couple whose life curiously changes for the better after he, a down-on-his-luck publicist, is paralyzed when a metal bar falls on his head in a Roman amphitheater.

On top of that, De la Iglesia is still hoping he can convince Mario Vargas Llosa's doctors to let the Nobel laureate travel to Madrid to present the best screenplay Goya and get confirmation that Iker Casillas is to attend the February 13 ceremony. "[The Goyas] are for people who feel that the movies are theirs," he said. "That's why we do this now in the center of Madrid. The Goyas are more popular every year; they are a great show... Next year I would like them to be in Barcelona's Liceo, where the Academy also has a base."

He hopes the nominations for A Sad Trumpet Ballad will have an impact on its box office, sentiments echoed by Academy vice president Iciar Bollain, whose Even the Rain earned 13 nods. "We have opened well at the box office. And the Goyas are a party, yes, but one with a lot of repercussions." She gave little truck to the idea of any possible conflicts between positions and competition. "There are many people on the board of directors who have received nominations this year: we are active and that is good."

Agustí Villaronga said "he had not expected so many" nominations, revealing he received the news when he was buying artichokes in the grocery store. "Pa negre has given me a lot of joy since shooting it, " said the Mallorcan, who thinks there's no need to attach much importance to the fact his Civil War drama is in Catalan. "They have evaluated it and evaluated it normally. Those of us who defend languages know they also serve to unite."

Buried director Rodrigo Cortés, who starts filming Red Lights with Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver in three weeks, was working on Tuesday when he heard about the nominations. "I've been in the same van since 9.30 this morning," he said. "I wasn't expecting anything, which is why it all surprised me." Among the film's 10 nominations is one for star Ryan Reynolds in the best actor category: "He is the film," said the director.

And will the Academy honor a film that's different? "You don't know, because it is not concrete, it is not an old woman with fixed tastes. There, we get into hermeneutics."