THIS year's Oscar Awards has brought three nominations for the Spanish film industry – and the first of his career for Hollywood legend Antonio Banderas.
Málaga-born Banderas, 59, has already received congratulations from his ex-wife Melanie Griffith, from whom he split five years ago – and although the Almodóvar veteran has five Golden Globe, four Goya, and an Emmy, a Tony and two Actors' Union nominations, he has never yet been in the running for an Oscar despite having been in the acting business since 1982.
He is up for Best Actor for his (pictured) rôle in Pedro Almodóvar's Dolor y Gloria ('Pain and Glory'), which is nominated for Best International Film.
The third nomination for Spain is for Klaus, produced by the country's third channel Atresmedia, broadcast by Netflix and directed by Sergio Pablos and Carlos Martínez López, for Best Animated Film.
Dolor y Gloria, nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe, is up against the South Korean black comedy-cum-psychological thriller Parasite, which is the favourite to win a Best International Film Oscar.
Not since Javier Bardem's lead part in Mar Adentro ('The Sea Inside'), based upon the true story of paraplegic Raimon Sampedro and his fight to be allowed to die with dignity, has Spain been in the top five finalists for an Oscar.
Banderas' Best Actor nomination joins those of Leonardo di Caprio for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; Adam Driver in Marriage Story; Joaquín Phoenix in Joker, and Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes.
Best Film Oscar nominations are Joker (Todd Phillips), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino), 1917 (Sam Mendes), The Irishman (Princess of Asturias 2018 Award-winner Martin Scorsese), Little Women (Greta Gerwig), Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach), Parasite (Bong Joon-ho), Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi), Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (J. J. Abrams), The Two Popes (Fernando Meirelles), and Bombshell (Jay Roach).
Best Director nominations have been met with backlash since they are all men – Scorsese, Tarantino, Bong Joon-ho, Mendes, and Phillips – despite Greta Gerwig's production being up for Best Film.
Competing with Klaus – a story of the origins of Father Christmas - for Best Animated Film are How to Train your Dragon 3: The Hidden World (Jean DeBlois), Toy Story 4 (Josh Cooley), Missing Link (Chris Butler), and I Lost My Body (Jérémy Clapin).
With Pixar's Toy Story 4 on the list, it seems Klaus may be unlikely to take away a gold statuette, but the honour of a Spanish film being in the top five nominations is already huge enough for its creators.
Dolor y Gloria will be up against – as well as Parasite –Les Misérables (France, Ladj Ly), Honeyland (Macedonia, Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov), and Corpus Christi (Poland, Jan Komasa).
The 2020 Oscars – the 92nd edition – will take place on Sunday, February 9.
