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BEIJING,
Dec. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- She followed Antonio Banderas to Hollywood with high
hopes, but after a couple of mediocre films with big-name male stars
Tom Cruise ("Vanilla Sky") and Nicholas Cage ("Captain Corelli's Mandolin"),
Hollywood directors were saying "Penelope who?"
So Penelope Cruz went home to Spain, got back
together with director Pedro Almodovar, and is now being touted as a potential
Oscar winner for her role in "Volver," which translates to "go
back." They last worked together seven years ago on All About My Mother, in
which Cruz played a nun, and before that in Live Flesh in 1997.
Cruz, 32, and her five key cast mates, including
Carmen Maura, Yohana Cobo and Lola Duenas, shared the actress prize at the
Cannes Film Festival in May. The film, a comic drama about women making do
without men, also won the screenplay honor for director Almódovar.
"It's such an honor to be able to share this award
with all these amazing women," Cruz said at the Cannes awards ceremony. "I think
this award really belongs to Pedro, the master. ... Thank you so much, Pedro,
for what you do for women."
Saturday, Cruz won best actress at the European Film
Awards in Poland.
Cruz spoke emotionally about working with Almodovar.
"Pedro, I love you so much," she said, almost in
tears. "Thank you for believing in me. You're changing not only my career, but a
lot of things in my life."
Almodovar himself won best director at the European
awards as "Volver" trumped "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" by British
director Ken Loach to take four prizes altogether.
The cinematography prize was shared between Jose Luis
Alcaine for "Volver" and Barry Ackroyd for "The Wind That Shakes the Barley."
Loach, 70, who won a special jury prize at the
British Independent Film Awards in London last week, had been shortlisted for
best director for his Irish civil-war saga which had received five nominations
in all.
But Cillian Murphy, its star, lost best actor award
to Ulrich Muehe in "Das Leben der Anderen" (The Lives of Others). The German
film beat Neil Jordan's "Breakfast on Pluto," "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"
and Michael Winterbottom's "The Road to Guantanamo" to win movie of the year.
Other honors included a lifetime achievement award
for Roman Polanski while the British producer Jeremy Thomas, whose works include
"The Last Emperor" and "Young Adam," received the European achievement in world
cinema prize.
(Agencies)
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