Silent film to be Spain's entry at Oscars

Blancanieves, a silent film shot in black and white, will represent Spain in the non-English best film category at the 85th edition of the Oscars and at Mexico's Ariel awards.

Blancanieves, a silent film shot in black and white, will represent Spain in the non-English best film category at the 85th edition of the Oscars and at Mexico's Ariel awards.

"I hope that the film has the success it deserves and that it will be the fifth Oscar in Hollywood" for Spanish moviemaking, said the president of the Film Academy, Enrique Gonzalez Macho.

Four movies from Spain, Mar adentro, Volver a empezar, Belle Epoque and Todo sobre mi madre, have won the Oscar for best non-English-language film.

Blancanieves, directed by Pablo Berger, beat out El artista y la modelo, by Fernando Trueba and Grupo 7, by Alberto Rodriguez, in the voting conducted mainly online by the Spanish academy members, Gonzalez Macho added.

Starring Maribel Verdu, Macarena Garcia and Daniel Gimenez Cacho, the film begins showing in Spanish theaters Friday after being screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it enjoyed great critical success.