For Spain’s film industry, the Goyas are more than a night of trophies. In the wake of the 40th edition, the awards are still functioning as a visibility boost, a prestige marker and, for some titles, an effective lever in sales and international positioning.
The timing is useful. And the Goya Goes To… New Spanish Films is carrying a selection of 2026 winners and nominees to New York, extending the shelf life of the prizes and giving Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences another platform from which to press the market value of its top honors.
“When a film is still in theaters, the Goyas can deliver a clear box office boost, and they also drive viewing on platforms, which increasingly schedule premieres and specials around the awards,” says Rafael Portela, vice president of the Spanish Academy.
The point underlines the broader commercial afterlife the Goyas can generate for a film. Nominations and wins no longer function only as a short burst of awards-season attention, but as a marker that can help extend a title’s market value.
Oliver Laxe, on the set of ‘Sirāt’
Credit: Quim Vives
“Nominations, and above all the Goya Awards themselves, place films in the public memory. The Spanish films we will keep talking about in the years ahead, the ones we will continue to watch and that will go on moving us, are the films distinguished by the Goyas each year,” Portela adds.
The Academy VP also frames the argument outward. “The Goyas increase interest and clearly help Spanish films reach audiences all over the world,” he says, singling out Europe and Ibero-America. In those territories, the awards function as shorthand for quality and relevance.
This year’s winners gave the Academy a solid case study. Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Sundays,” about a brilliant 17-year-old, Ainara, whose decision to enter a cloistered convent jolts her family, emerged as the ceremony’s big winner, taking best picture, director, actress, supporting actress and original screenplay. Oliver Laxe’s “Sirāt,” meanwhile, swept the craft categories with six wins. Together, the two titles projected a valuable double image of Spanish cinema: one rooted in emotionally charged drama with strong domestic traction, the other in auteur filmmaking already supported by festival and international awards momentum.
From Awards Night to Ticket Sales
“You see it first in the box office rebound in the following two or three weeks. It is the best communications milestone you can have if you want theaters to bring the film back, and then it also helps close sales, especially in a territory like Latin America, which remains very tied to the Goyas,” says Buena Pinta Media’s Marisa Fernández Armenteros, producer of “Sundays.”
The Goyas arrived at an especially opportune moment for Ruiz de Azúa’s film. By then, “Sundays” had already gathered festival prestige, including San Sebastián’s 2025 Golden Shell, and box office traction. The awards gave it an additional lift at a decisive stage in its domestic and international careers, handled respectively by BTeam Pictures and French co-producer Le Pacte.
“The film already had visibility because of its box office performance, the many awards it had received and the conversation around it. But the Goyas gave ‘Sundays’ the final push to hit the €5.0 million [$5.9 million] box-office mark and, above all, to close the U.S. sale. At the same time, the film launched on Movistar Plus+ and performed extraordinarily well. What we saw was that there was still an audience in theaters and on the platform at the very same time,” Fernández Armenteros says.
The overlap between late theatrical life and platform takeoff is one of the clearest signs of how the Goya effect has evolved.
“There is no doubt that winning the Goya gives you far greater visibility. The sector pays more attention to you, and for the general public it becomes an incentive when choosing what film to go see. In a documentary that is not usually as pronounced, but our case was special because the film resonated beyond whether it was a documentary or not,” says LaCima Producciones’ Pedro Palacios, producer of Albert Serra’s “Afternoons of Solitude.”
Serra’s portrait of active bullfighting star Andrés Roca Rey reached the Goyas after a substantial first release and festival cycle, having won San Sebastian’s top prize in 2024.
“We arrived at the Goyas at the end of the first commercial cycle. We opened in March 2025 and had already gone through most of the festivals. The award was the culmination of a full year of promotional work. But we do think it will have an impact on international sales, which were already strong. Distributors look at prizes like the Goya when deciding to acquire films. A film that wins comes with a certain aura that helps its commercial positioning,” Palacios says.
A Domestic Lift With International Value Too
Oriol Maymó, producer at Corte y Confección de Películas, draws a telling distinction in the case of “Sirāt.” “There is a ‘Goya effect,’ especially on the film that wins best picture. The communication around the Goyas, and especially around the winning film, increases public interest and that is also reflected in its international projection,” he says.
In practical terms, however, Maymó describes the awards as one layer within a wider trajectory already powered by other milestones. “It led to the film being programmed again in theaters, and although the impact was not very large at this late stage, we did manage to give people who had not seen it the chance to watch it on the big screen,” he says.
“At the international level, I think there were other impacts that were more important for ‘Sirāt,’ such as the selection in two Oscar categories.”
For some titles, especially those already supported by Cannes, Berlin or the Oscars, the Goyas may not be the main catalyst for international reach. Their value often lies less in opening a film abroad than in consolidating its standing once that path is already beingv trodden.
Visibility, Talent Positioning and Shelf Life
A wider role also emerges repeatedly around the Goyas. Even when they do not drive demand abroad directly, the awards can extend a film’s shelf life, sharpen its profile and strengthen the positioning of the filmmakers and crews behind it.
“Yes, there is a ‘Goya effect,’ although it depends a great deal on where the film is in its release cycle. It is not the same for a film still in theaters as for one already on platforms, but in both cases the Goyas provide a meaningful boost. Where you feel it most clearly is in visibility: they amplify the conversation around the title and reactivate audience interest,” says Xabier Berzosa of Basque powerhouse Irusoin.
Maspalomas
Maspalomas Film Factory Entertainment
For “Maspalomas,” directed by Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga, that point was especially clear. The film, about a 76-year-old man pushed back into the closet in a care-home environment, emerged as one of the year’s stronger domestic contenders and eventually took best actor for José Ramón Soroiz.
“The Goyas were key in broadening the film’s reach. They allowed us to connect with a wider audience, reinforced the film’s visibility and strengthened its life on platforms and its future television exploitation. For a project like ‘Maspalomas,’ that backing is fundamental if you want to extend its commercial life,” Berzosa says.
He draws a line, however, on foreign impact. “I think their effect on the international circulation of a particular film is relative. That depends much more on festivals, sales and distribution strategy. Where the Goyas do have a very clear effect is in the positioning of talent. They strengthen the profile of filmmakers and crews, and that does increase the international potential of their future projects.”
“There is a Goya effect,” coincides Antonio Saura, CEO of Latido Films, international sales house behind Eva Libertad’s “Deaf,” which won best new director, new actress for Miriam Garlo and supporting actor for Álvaro Cervantes.
“Nominations create one wave of visibility and wins create another. We use them as a marketing tool to differentiate movies in the global market,” Saura says.
A Stamp That Travels
“The most visible effect often starts even before the awards are handed out, in the frantic campaign push around the contenders,” says Chelo Loureiro of adult animated feature “Decorado.”
Directed by Alberto Vázquez, the existential story won the Goya for animated feature and added another high-profile label to a title whose international play was already central to its business logic.
For Loureiro, the practical post-Goya upside has been clearest abroad. Adult animation does not usually benefit from theatrical rebooking in Spain, but internationally the prize can help a title travel wider and sometimes at better prices.
Maymó makes a similar point from the perspective of international circulation. “The Goyas have consolidated themselves as an important recognition for the best films of the year, as valued by the industry itself,” he says. “I believe the selected productions, especially those present in several categories, generate greater interest from international distributors, which is very positive for our cinema.”
