Alejandro Amenabar scooped eight of Spain's Goya Awards on Saturday (Jan 2) with his international co-production The Others in a brisk ceremony which offered few surprises and no other stand-out winners.

Amenabar and team triumphed in more than half of The Others' 15 nominated categories, including best film, director, original script, production design, editing, photography, artistic direction and sound.

Julio Medem's Sex And Lucia (Lucia Y El Sexo), nominated for 11 awards, went home with two Goyas: best new actress for Paz Vega and best original musical score. Agustin Diaz Yanes' No News From God (Sin Noticias De Dios) went home empty-handed without garnering a single award from its 11 nominations.

Vicente Aranda's historical drama Mad Love (Juana La Loca) won three of its 12 nominations, including wardrobe and hair/make-up. Juana lead, newcomer Pilar Lopez de Ayala, won the best actress award in what was possibly the most controversial category of the night.

Contenders included Nicole Kidman (The Others), Paz Vega (this time for Solo Mia) and veteran Veronica Abril (No News), whose co-star Penelope Cruz was overlooked by the nominations - and absent from the ceremony (as were Kidman and Abril).

Juana director Aranda last week denounced The Others' dominance of the Goya nominations, including Kidman's, telling local press: "The Others is an American film more than a Spanish film... The Americans already have our cinemas and now they want the Goyas."

The Others child actors James Bentley and Alakina Mann, both British, also walked away empty-handed from the best new actor and actress categories.

Other non-Spanish nominees caused less of a ruckus, including Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal (No News), who lost the supporting actor prize to Spanish veteran Emilio Gutierrez Caba (El Cielo Abierto). Argentina's Leonardo Sbaraglia won best new actor for Intact (Intacto), which also garnered a best new director nod for Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.

Intact's Eusebio Poncela, Lucia's Tristan Ulloa and Solo Mia's Sergi Lopez lost best actor to underdog Eduard Fernandez (Fausto 5.0). Rosa Maria Sarda (Without Shame) won best supporting actress. Carlos Molinero's Savages (Salvajes) won a best adapted script award, while Jose Luis Guerin's Work In Progress (En Construccion) took home the newly created best documentary prize while The Living Forest (El Bosque Animado) won best animated film.

Best European film went to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie and the best foreign Spanish-language film Goya went to Argentine-Spanish co-production La Fuga.