Spanish filmmakers try to sell Goya film award in second-hand store
Bajo Ulloa brothers put prize for 1992 movie screenplay up for sale for just under €5,000
Two Spanish filmmakers who shot to fame in the 1990s with a trio of box-office successes have caused uproar in the country’s movie industry after they put their 1992 Goya award, Spain’s equivalent to the Oscar, up for sale in a second-hand store.
The award, a bronze bust of Spanish painter Goya, had been on display in the brothers’ home city of Bilbao, in northern Spain, for two weeks until Wednesday, with an asking price of €4,999.
An assistant at the shop said one of the brothers brought the statuette in, but declined to give further details. He added that following the “uproar” in the media, the award has since been returned to the Bajo Ulloa brothers.
Juanma and Eduardo Bajo Ulloa won a 1992 Goya for the screenplay to Alas de Mariposa (or, Butterfly wings). The brothers went on to make La madre muerta (The dead mother) and Airbag. Juanma Bajo Ulloa won another Goya the same year for Alas de mariposa in the Best New Director category, and was awarded his first in 1990 for a short film. He was nominated in 1994 for La madre muerta.
The award has since been returned to the Bajo Ulloa brothers
Juanma Bajo Ulloa reportedly had to remortgage his home to fund Alas de mariposa.
After a five-year absence, Juanma Bajo Ulloa returned to Spanish movie screens in 2004 with a feature film, Frágil (Fragile), which was largely panned by the critics and did poorly at the box office. He followed this up with a number of shorts and documentaries, and in 2015, released El Rey Gitano, a spoof action thriller.
English version by Nick Lyne.
