And the first Oscar for Spanish cinema went to... José Luis Garci

Louise Rainer - a two-time Oscar winner, the first in 1936 for 'The Great Ziezfeld' and the second in 1937 for 'The Good Earth', based on the novel by Pearl S. Buck - accompanied by the president of the Motion Pictures Association, Jack Valenti, presented the young, thirty-nine-year-old Spanish director with the coveted trophy at 6:15 this evening (local time). This trophy, after its success at the recent Berlin Film Festival, has placed Spanish cinema in the foreground of attention, interest and expectation. 'Volver a empezar' was the first Oscar to be sung on this almost sweltering evening, which brought more than two thousand five hundred guests together in the theatre, while the film was broadcast on television by the ABC channel, with an estimated audience of 450 million viewers.

Plácido Domingo was an exceptional witness to this great cinematic event when he presented the Oscar for Best Original Composition to John Williams for 'ET'. It's a shame that Néstor Almendros, whose photography in 'Sophie's Choice', was the big loser to Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor for 'Gandhi'. The film that ousted 'ET' for the top prize, and whose actor, Ben Kingsley, did the same with Paul Newman, who, after six nominations, has once again missed out on an Oscar.

José Luis Garci , upon receiving the statuette, made a loving comment to the people who have helped him most in achieving this company, who have been his partner Esteban Alenda, the producer Milton Goldstein, Fox and the author of this brief chronicle.

While the guests at the 'Governor's Ball', in one of the most central hotels in Beverly Hills, are still celebrating this party, considered throughout the world to be the most representative and eagerly awaited in cinema, Garci, in a greeting, made a very special mention to the former well-known film critic and ABC contributor Alfonso Sánchez , closing words - spoken, moreover, in correct English - with a greeting and a memory in Spanish. ' Volver a empezar ', 'To begin again', as it is titled here, which is beginning to be known in North American cinemas, nothing like Latin American cinemas, where Spanish films are usually shown, has undoubtedly been the film, of the five nominated for the Oscar in this category, that has had the most careful distribution, as demonstrated by the fourteen screenings that have been offered to the members of the Academy so that they could judge it.

A Spanish holiday today in Los Angeles, where a few days ago Garci, Antonio Ferrandis, and Encarna Paso were very busy granting interviews to the Spanish press and television, accredited here, as many as they were requested. In closing this chronicle, I would like to fondly remember Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis García Berlanga, Rovira Beleta (nominated twice), Luis Buñuel (although he won with a French film and a Mexican passport), Jaime de Armiñán (twice), and Carlos Saura , who were the precursors to José Luis Garci's Oscar, which will benefit Spanish cinema worldwide.