The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has honored key figures in the Spanish entertainment industry in its first-ever international awards ceremony. The 2024 MPA Awards, held at the Byne House in Madrid Friday night, celebrated Spanish contributions to creativity, policy, and law enforcement in the audiovisual sector. The event was co-hosted by MPA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin and U.S. Ambassador to Spain Julissa Reynoso.
Juan Antonio Bayona received the MPA Creator Award for his career in filmmaking. Bayona, whose credits include horror classic The Orphanage, and the Oscar-nominated survival thrillers The Impossible and Society of the Snow, as well as Universal blockbuster Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom thanked the MPA for the honor, saying he had devoted his career “to creating films that make a real difference” in the world.
Nadia Calviño, a former First Vice President of Spain and current president of the European Investment Bank Group, was honored with the MPA Industry Champion Award for her role in developing Spain’s “Audiovisual Hub” initiative, which has significantly boosted international production in the country. The most recent figures show that the initiative helped boost international investment by some $200 million last year, creating more than 10,000 jobs.
The Spanish National Police received the inaugural MPA Creative Protector Award, honoring their long-standing efforts to combat digital piracy. Spain created its first specialized IP protection group in the 1980s, and has more people investigating IP crime than any other European nation. The MPA, which recently hired former FBI official Larissa Knapp to lead its content protection services, has collaborated with the Spanish police on multiple anti-piracy operations. Francisco Pardo, Director-General of the police force, called digital piracy “an evolving menace,” which “drains Spain’s economy, endangers our citizens and poses an existential threat to our creative community.”
The MPA said the decision to hold its annual awards in Spain reflects the country’s growing international influence and signals the MPA’s recognition of the increasingly global nature of film and television production.
