by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
Juan José Campanella
ARGENTINA AGAIN: One of two South American Spanish-language films nominated for an Oscar this year was a winner at this month’s ceremony.
Argentina’s El secreto de sus ojos, from director Juan José Campanella, took the Academy Award in the foreign language category. It was the second film from that country ever to win. In 1985 Luis Puenzo’s La historia oficial won. For the sixth time, a film from Argentina was nominated. It was the second time for Campanella, whose El hijo de la novia was a contender in 2001.
Campanella, whose Hollywood work includes episodes for various TV dramas, received the award from Spanish Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar at the March 7 ceremony in Los Angeles. This year’s other candidates for the foreign-language Oscar included the first film from Perú that was ever nominated: Claudia Llosa’s La teta asustada.
Argentina is the only Latin American country ever to have won. Mexico has been nominated seven times. With 19 nominations, Spain has take the Oscar four times.
TROOPER TENOR: Plácido Domingo was reportedly rehearsing just days after having surgery to remove a localizaed malignant polyp in his colon.
Plácido domingo
The Spanish tenor, 69, was discharged from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City March 7 and, according to a representative, was following doctors’ orders to rest for six weeks. Domingo has cancelled performances in several cities but is expected to return to singing in a scheduled April 16 performance of Simon Boccanegra in Milan, Italy.
But friend and colleague José Carreras, also a Spanish tenor, told reporters in Mexico March 10 that he had called Domingo’s home in New York and was told he was conducting a rehearsal for an upcoming project. Carreras said he finally spoke with Domingo in the afternoon and said he was in “an extraordinary mood.”
Known for for his apparently tireless energy Domingo continues his administrative duties as director of both the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. In September, he is scheduled to add a new character to his extensive repertory, singing as Pablo Neruda in the world premiere of Il Postino in Los Angeles.
ONE LINERS: Panamanian singer-songwriter Rubén Blades, who holds a law degree from Harvard, says he is returning to school to get a doctorate in sociology from Columbia…. Mexican actress Kate del Castillo will take the lead role in Telemundo’s telenovela adaptation of La reina del sur, Arturo Pérez Reverte’s best-selling novel…
