Stand-up comedian Eva Hache to host next Goya Awards

Comedian and actress Eva Hache has been named the host of the 26th Goya Awards ceremony, to be held in Madrid on February 19.

"It is a huge honor for me to be adopted by the film world," said the 39-year-old at the Cinema Academy, just after her name was announced. "The gala will be focused on cinema. Our aim is to be entertaining and fun, for it to be a good television program." The ceremony will be broadcast live by TVE state television from 10pm on the night.

"Presenting the award is [...] a difficult job. It's a ceremony where the important thing is the winners - but their speeches can wreck the ceremony. As an actress and a presenter, it's a challenge and a gift for me, albeit a bit of a poisoned one," she noted.

The crisis has quashed Academy President Enrique González Macho's plans to hold the gala in the Palacio de Deportes arena in the center of the capital and so it returns once again to the Palacio Municipal de Congresos, its preferred site of recent years (last year's 25th anniversary gala at the Teatro Real was an exception). "We have had to change our initial decision," said González Macho.

Hache notes that chat-show host Andreu Buenafuente, who attracted an average audience of 4.5 million viewers presenting the two previous galas, has set the bar very high. "His ceremonies have been excellent from a TV point of view, but our job is always to improve," she said.

The gala script will be written by some of Hache's regular writers. "It's not the time to do anything different. I know the scriptwriters well and we are going to try to get everything connecting fluently. We're conscious that it's a prize-giving ceremony and that the winners have to have their time. You need to balance the moments from a TV point of view," she said.

The funnywoman, who presents the TV show El club de la comedia (or, The comedy club)on La Sexta, revealed there would be surprises, several costume changes. And, if it's necessary, and she is "happy," she will sing. "The Goyas are a show for film industry people and those in the stalls. The aim is not to make it a chore for those watching at home."

The candidates for the 2012 Goyas will be announced on January 10. Filmmaker Josefina Molina is set to receive an honorary award at the ceremony.