Barcelona breathes the Goya Awards with Susan Sarandon, soundtracks, and monumental busts

Barcelona does it again: the city once again applies its formula for major events to go further and impact the daily life of its streets. Now it has been the turn of the Goya Awards: the film night will not land in the city as an isolated gala, but framed within a broad program of activities.

The gala will be held on February 28 at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), in the Fòrum, and will crown a program that will start on February 22 with a concert by the Barcelona Municipal Music Band at L'Auditori. In it, not just any piece will be performed: it will be a journey through musical works recognized by the Film Academy throughout the history of the awards, in an evening that will have actress Victoria Luengo as master of ceremonies.

Among the activities, one event in particular stands out: an open meeting with Susan Sarandon. The American actress, Goya Internacional 2026, will meet the public at 1 p.m. on February 27. Meetings with film protagonists do not end here: names such as Carla Simón, Oliver Laxe, Alba Flores, Álvaro Cervantes, Nora Navas, Patricia López Arnaiz, Ángela Cervantes and Manuel Gómez Pereira, among others, will also participate.

The program will revolve around the screening of nominated films at the Filmoteca and meetings with their artistic teams, which will spread across spaces such as the Born, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the Palau de la Música. Precisely, the modernist auditorium will star in another of the outstanding activities: in it, the Academy will record live the sound fiction of the film Remando al viento, directed by Gonzalo Suárez, Goya de Honor 2026.

Cinema will also come closer to street level with a large-format exhibition in Glòries, about the presence of talent linked to Catalonia throughout the history of the Goya Awards. With more than 60 images of references from the world of cinema, the exhibition can be visited until March 1.

Also until then, and since February 10, a unique sculpture will emerge in the streets of Barcelona: seven monumental-scale Goya statuettes will be located at various points in the city. In addition to the CCIB, which will host the gala, they will take center stage at Jardinets de Gràcia, Glòries Park, Fabra i Coats, Portal de la Pau, Plaça Sant Jaume, and the MNAC. In addition to these monumental sculptures, film fans will also be able to lift a Goya statuette and even take a photo with it at an official photocall that will be set up at the City Hall, which will be open to the public from February 16 to 28.

The activities go beyond selfies and star encounters. The program includes a social and educational aspect through which it will reach spaces such as the Wad Ras Penitentiary Center, where Alba Flores will meet with women deprived of liberty after the screening of Flores para Antonio. In addition, filmmaker Guillermo Galoe will hold a meeting with participants of Horagai, a film training project for young people under the guardianship of the Generalitat.

Thus, the activities aim to bring cinema closer to Barcelona residents beyond the screen, and to strengthen the historical link between cinema and the Catalan capital, in a program presented at an event with the president of the Film Academy, Fernando Méndez-Leite; the Minister of Culture, Sonia Hernández, and Barcelona councilor Xavier Marcé. The presentation was attended by industry leaders such as Juan Antonio Bayona, Rosa Vergés, Sandra Tápia, and Valérie Delpierre.

"Barcelona is a city of cinema," Méndez-Leite highlighted. "The Academy not only wants to offer a memorable gala but also to make the host city proud to host the most important night of Spanish cinema, in an edition that commemorates four decades of history," he added, in a presentation where the minister defended that hosting the gala represents recognition for Catalan cinema, something that Marcé shared: "The celebration of the Goya gala in Barcelona will allow us to continue weaving complicities with the sector and help foster opportunities," with a Barcelona formula that once again seeks to impact beyond the event and permeate the city.