On Tuesday, Oct. 5, the Academy defined what films will represent Spain at the 2022 Oscars, and one of films in the running is Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas). For the second time, Spanish actress Penelope Cruz could be nominated for an Oscar statuette for her role in the film.

"The three times it has happened it has been a surprise and a great joy, I still can't believe it and I don't expect it to happen again, but if it ever happens again I will live it like the first time, but don't expect anything," the actress told EFE. 

Cruz is in the running among a number of possible actresses nominated at the upcoming Oscars. The actress has already received an Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, directed by Woody Allen in 2009, becoming the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar.

In Parallel Mothers, Cruz plays Janis, a professional photographer raised by her grandmother and determined to fulfill her last wish: to find the remains of her great-grandfather who died at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. A pregnant Janis crosses paths with Ana, a teenage single mother, like herself, with whom she shares the delivery room. 

The honesty of her character has been something Cruz highlights.

"She has been fighting all her life to give that grandfather a dignified burial because she is an orphan, she was raised by this grandmother to whom she feels she owes everything, but she never had a normal family," she said.

The Film Academy will announce on Oct. 5 which Spanish film will enter the race to represent the country at the Oscars and among the selections are Parallel Mothers, The Good Patron, and Mediterranean. 

At 47 years old, Cruz could be nominated for her second Oscar and is at an important point in her career. The premiere of Paralel Mothers has been delayed to Oct. 8 in Spain.