Agora, Cell 211, The Dancer and the Thief, The Secret of Their Eyes and Me Too , Finalists for the Jose Maria Forque Award

Actress Natalia Verbeke and EGEDA Chairman Enrique Cerezo have just publicly announced the Jose Maria Forque Award nominees: Agora, produced by Telecinco Cinema, S.A., Himenoptero, S.L., Mod Producciones, S.L. and directed by Alejandro Amenabar; Cell 211 [Celda 211 ] , produced by Vaca Films Studio, S.L., Morena Films, S.L., Telecinco Cinema, S.A., La Fabrique de Films-Testimonio Grafico and directed by Daniel Monzon; The Dancer and the Thief [El Baile de la Victoria ] produced by Fernando Trueba, P.C. and directed by Fernando Trueba; The Secret of Their Eyes [El Secreto de Sus Ojos ], produced by Tornasol Films, S.A., Haddock Films, 100 Bares Producciones, El Secreto de sus Ojos agrupacion de interes economico [El Secreto de Sus Ojos financial interests group], and directed by Juan Jose Campanella; and Me Too [Yo, tambien ], produced by Alicia Produce, S.L. y Promico Imagen and directed by Antonio Naharro and Alvaro Pastor.

The EGEDA Gold Medal, awarded to a producer for total lifetime achievement in Spanish cinema, is being given at the next edition to producer Julio Fernandez for his great dedication on behalf of cinema. Avante-garde, creator and promoter of large projects, Julio Fernandez has produced more than 100 titles, getting many of them distributed internationally. Creator of the Fantastic Factory, Fernandez has had a major influence on the horror and fantasy genres in Spain, and, with his contributions to animation films, has had five productions which have won Goya Awards.

Best Male and Female Performance , created in collaboration with the AISGE Foundation and the Asociacion de la Prensa [Spanish press association], to focus on the work of actors in Spanish feature films. In January, the candidates for these awards will be announced at the gala along with the other awards winners. This new awards will come with 3,000 euros in prize money for each category.

The Jose Maria Forque Award was established 15 years ago by EGEDA and aims to contribute to the circulation and promotion of the films and Spanish cinema, in general. Competing in this fifteenth edition are 130 fiction feature films, 35 documentaries and 9 feature-length animation films which premiered between 1st December 2008 and 30th November 2009.

The EGEDA Special Award for Best Feature-Length Documentarhy or Animation Film comes with 6,010 euros in prize money and will be announced on the same day of the gala.

The gala for this year will take place on 28th January at Madrid’s Palacio de Congresos, and will be hosted by actor Alex O'Dogherty and presenter and actress Mar Flores.

Filmotech.com will have a special feature on the Jose Maria Forque Awards which will offer Internet users some of the films which have received the award.