Penélope Cruz + Javier Bardem
A FOCUS ON SPAIN’S MOST OSCAR-WINNING DUO
Celebrating their 2022 Oscar nominations for Being the Ricardos and Parallel Mothers, and the 30th anniversary of Jamón Jamón, the Festival is proud to present these iconic collaborations of Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem and encore screenings of Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, for which Penélope won the Best Actress Award at the Venice International Film Festival.
One of the most charismatic couples in cinema, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem met in 1992 while filming Bigas Luna’s Jamón Jamón, a sensual film that launched their careers.
They coupled up and married after filming Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), for which Penélope’s won the 2009 Best Supporting Actress Oscar, making history as the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar. In 2022, the duo became the sixth married couple to be nominated in acting categories in the same year at the Oscars, joining the likes of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem’s first film together, in Jamón Jamón a would-be bullfighter who models underwear is hired to seduce away the lover of a wealthy woman’s son.
In the early 1980s, a Colombian journalist (Penélope Cruz) begins a tumultuous love affair with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar (Javier Bardem) in this lavish drama based on Virginia Vallejo´s bestselling memoir.
A beautiful drama from critically acclaimed director Pedro Almodóvar, Parallel Mothers tells the story of two women who give birth in a shared maternity ward, featuring Penélope Cruz in her Venice Best Actress award-winning performance.