Awakening Beauty
2025 film
Awakening Beauty (Spanish: Bella) is a 2025 animated drama film directed by Manuel H. Martín and Amparo Martínez Barco. It tackles violence against women and its red flags.
01Plot
The plot follows Bella a young woman with a brilliant future who falls for artist Ponce. Moving forward six years, they are married, had children and are living in a luxury residence but, as her "Prince Charming" turns out to be a monster, she is also enduring protracted psychological violence and abuse.
02Cast
- Michelle Jenner as Bella
- Víctor Clavijo as Ponce
03Production
Written by Manuel H. Martín and Carmen Jiménez, the screenplay is freely inspired by the real life experiences of Ana Bella Estévez, a Sevillian activist against gender violence. The film is a Spanish-American co-production by La Claqueta PC alongside Bella Animación La Película AIE, Tal y Cual, and Miami Film Gate.
04Release
Awakening Beauty had its world premiere at the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival on 27 October 2025. Distributed by Syldavia Cinema, it was released theatrically in Spain on 28 November 2025.
05Reception
Salvador Llopart of La Vanguardia rated Awakening Beauty 2 out of 5 stars, deeming it to be, rather than a film, "a pamphlet that is not ashamed to be one".
David Arroyo of MeriStation rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, declaring it a sort of "instruction manual with examples of abuse, consequences, and solutions", albeit a quite comprehensive and well developed one.
06Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31st Forqué Awards | Best Animation Film | Nominated | ||
| 2026 | 5th Carmen Awards | Best Animation Film | Won | ||
| 81st CEC Medals | Best Animation Film | Nominated | |||
| 40th Goya Awards | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Awakening Beauty”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Awakening Beauty poster.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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