Spanish Affair | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Spanish | Ocho apellidos vascos |
Directed by | Emilio Martínez-Lázaro |
Written by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Gonzalo F. Berridi Juan Molina |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Universal Studios |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | Spain |
Language | Spanish |
Budget | US$3 million |
Box office | US$78.7 million [1] |
Spanish Affair (Spanish: Ocho apellidos vascos; lit. 'Eight Basque surnames') is a 2014 Spanish comedy film directed by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro. [2] It premiered in Spain on 14 March 2014. Six weeks after its release, it became the second biggest box-office hit ever in Spain, behind Avatar . [3]
Rafa has never left his native Seville in Andalusia, until he meets a Basque woman named Amaia, who resists his seduction techniques. Against his friends' advice, he follows her to the Basque Country after she stays the night in his house and forgets her purse. A series of misunderstandings forces Rafa to impersonate a Basque boasting of a stock featuring eight traditional Basque surnames (Gabilondo, Urdangarín, Zubizarreta, Arguiñano from the father and Igartiburu, Erentxun, Otegi and Clemente from the mother, even though Clemente is not authentically Basque). [4] [n. 1] He gets more and more entangled in that character in order to please Amaia.
The weekend of its premiere, the film gathered an audience of 404,020 which resulted in box office grossing of 2.72 million euros. [6] On its second weekend its grossing increased by 56%, third best behind The Impossible and Avatar in its first ten days with a total 4.4 million euros. [7] By April it became the most watched Spanish film in Spain with more than 6.5 million viewers and the second film with the greatest box office grossing in Spain, only behind Avatar , with a box-office of more than 45 million euros (more than 62 million dollars). [8] It has grossed US$77 million in Spain [9] and a total of US$78.7 million internationally. [10] [1]
Critics were divided about the film, but were mostly positive. For magazine Cinemanía , Carlos Marañón stressed that the movie was "extremely funny". [11] This comment was repeated in many reviews that highlighted the film is "funny", [12] and for some, "inspired and bright". [13] Federico Marín Bellón journalist of ABC , spoke of a "brave and timely movie", [12] highlighting another aspect, the opportunity of its theme, which has also been emphasized by most critics who often compared it to the French film Welcome to the Sticks . Writing for daily newspaper El País , Borja Valero even predicted it could be the movie of the year. [14]
On the negative side, Luis Martínez from El Mundo , said that the film is "a bad comedy" [15] while Jordi Costa, from El País, said the development was irregular and ended catastrophically. Fausto Fernández, in the magazine Fotogramas , labelled it as impersonal and described its development as flat. [16]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
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2015 | 20th Forqué Awards | Best Fiction Feature Film | Nominated | [17] | |
Best Actor | Karra Elejalde | Nominated | |||
2nd Feroz Awards | Best Comedy | Nominated | [18] | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Karra Elejalde | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Carmen Machi | Nominated | |||
Best Trailer | Nominated | ||||
29th Goya Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Karra Elejalde | Won | [19] | |
Best Supporting Actress | Carmen Machi | Won | |||
Best New Actor | Dani Rovira | Won | |||
Best Cinematography | Kalo Berridi | Nominated | |||
Best Original Song | "No te marches jamás" by Fernando Velázquez | Nominated | |||
24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards | Best Film Actress in a Leading Role | Clara Lago | Nominated | [20] [21] | |
Best Film Actress in a Secondary Role | Carmen Machi | Won | |||
Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role | Karra Elejalde | Won |
A sequel, Ocho apellidos catalanes (English: Eight Catalan Surnames) was released on 20 November 2015. Emilio Martínez-Lázaro repeated as director and Borja Cobeaga and Diego San José repeated as screenwriters. The original cast was joined by Berto Romero, Rosa Maria Sardà and Belén Cuesta. [22]
A film with the working title Casi familia ("Almost Family") was released in 2023 as Ocho apellidos marroquís ("Eight Moroccan surnames"). Its cast does not include actors from both earlier films. [23]
Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón is a politician from the Basque Country who has been the General Secretary of Basque nationalist party EH Bildu since 2017. He was member of the Basque Parliament for both Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok. He was a convicted member of the ETA, a banned armed separatist group organization, in his early years. He was one of the key negotiators during the unsuccessful peace talks in Loiola and Geneva, in 2006.
Emilio Martínez-Lázaro Torre is a Spanish filmmaker known for directing box office hits such as The Other Side of the Bed (2002) and Spanish Affair (2014).
María del Carmen Machi Arroyo is a Spanish actress. She become popular for her role as Aída in the television series 7 vidas and Aída.
Clara Lago Grau is a Spanish actress.
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Carlos Elejalde Garay better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker.
The 2016 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 25 September 2016, to elect the 11th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional election in Galicia. Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu announced that the election would be held one month ahead of schedule, on 25 September 2016, based on the "climate of ungovernability" affecting national politics as a result of the ongoing Spanish government formation negotiations, intending to move the regional election as far away as possible from a possible new general election. This prompted Galician president Alberto Núñez Feijóo to hold the Galician regional election in the same date.
Eusko Alkartasuna is a Basque nationalist and social-democratic political party operating in Spain and France. The Basque language name means Basque Solidarity and abbreviated as EA. The party describes itself as a "Basque nationalist, democratic, popular, progressive and non-denominational party". The party has adopted the slogan "Euskal Sozialdemokrazia".
Daniel Rovira de Rivas is a Spanish comedian and actor.
Spanish Affair 2 is a 2015 Spanish comedy film directed by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro. It is the sequel to the 2014 box-office hit Spanish Affair, with the four main actors reprising their characters.
Jesús Castro Romero is a Spanish actor known for starring in El Niño. He is considered to be one of the new sex symbols of the Spanish cinema.
Patricia López Arnaiz is a Spanish actress, best known for her roles in 2020 drama film Ane Is Missing and television series A Different View.
Loreto Mauleón is a Spanish actress. Early recognisable to a Basque audience for her performance in the soap opera Goenkale, she became known to a wider Spanish audience for her performances in El secreto de Puente Viejo and Patria. She has also featured in thriller film God's Crooked Lines (2022).
David Verdaguer Ruiz is a Spanish actor and comedian. His career include works both in Spanish and Catalan such as 10,000 km (2014), Summer 1993 (2017), for which he received the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor and One for All (2020). He won the Goya Award for Best Leading Actor for his portrayal of comedian Eugenio in Jokes & Cigarettes (2023).
I Can Quit Whenever I Want is a 2019 Spanish crime comedy film directed by Carlos Therón starring David Verdaguer, Ernesto Sevilla and Carlos Santos. It is a remake of the 2014 Italian film of the same name.
Lullaby is a 2022 Spanish drama film written and directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa. It stars Laia Costa and Susi Sánchez alongside Ramón Barea and Mikel Bustamante.
A Moroccan Affair is a 2023 Spanish romantic comedy film directed by Álvaro Fernández Armero from a screenplay by Daniel Castro which stars Julián López, Michelle Jenner, Elena Irureta, and María Ramos. Originally known under the title of Casi familia, it was retitled and rebranded as a sequel to box-office hits Spanish Affair and Spanish Affair 2.