By Francisco Salazar (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Feb 18, 2013 09:38 AM EST

On Feb. 17 the Spanish Academy handed out their top honors the GOYA awards.

Pablo Berger's "Blancanieves" took home 10 statues including best film. The black and white silent retelling of the Snow White classic beat out favorite "The Impossible."

"Blancanieves" also won Best Actress for Maribel Verdu who said during her acceptance speech the she had "grown to enjoy playing the bad guy." The actress beat Oscar nominee Naomi watts, Penelope Cruz and Aida Folch. The film also won Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Score, Makeup and Song.

Regardless of its Best Film loss, "The Impossible" also took home five awards. The film tells the story of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of a tsunami. The film won Best Director for Juan Antonio Bayona. During his acceptance speech he stated, "It's good to make big films, it doesn't mean you are arrogant. The Spanish industry needs big, medium and small films." The director also brought down the house when he left for a moment to bring Maria Belon, the mother of the real-life family that survived the 2004 tsunami and which the film is based on.

The film also won Best Production Design, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.

The Best Actor award went to Jose Sacristan for "The Dead Man and Being Happy" while the Best Supporting Actress award went to Candela Pena for "Una Pistola en Cada Mano." Julian Villagran won Best Supporting Actor for his work on "Grupo 7."

The awards ceremony was filled with many political messages including one by the Academy President Enrique Gonzalez who railed against sales tax increase. He stated "It's not good news that Spain has the highest sales tax on culture in Europe. Other countries like Holland and Portugal had a very high rate and they realized it and lowered it. Only fools don't change their mind," He also stated "It's not demagoguery to say that the disappearance of piracy would bring more benefits than raising taxes."

Javier Bardem also spoke out in defense of human rights in the Sahara when he accompanied Alvaro Longoria to the stage to accept the award for Best Documentary "Sons of Clouds."  

Full List of Winners:

Film-Blancanieves

Director-Juan Antonio Bayona for The Impossible

Actor-Jose Sacristan for The Dead Man and Being Happy

Actress-Maribel Verdu for Blancanieves

Original Screenplay-Pablo Berger for Blancanieves

Adapted Screenplay-Javier Barreira, Gorka Magallon, Ignacio del Moral, Jordi Gasull and Neil Landau for Tad, the Lost Explorer

Supporting Actor-Julian Villagran for Grupo 7

Supporting Actress-Candela Pena for Una Pistola en Cada Mano

Honorary Goya-Concha Velasco

Production Design-Sandra Hermida Muniz for The Impossible

Artistic Director-Alain Bainee For Blancanieves

Photography-Kiko de la Rica for Blancanieves

Special Effects-Pau Costa and Felix Berges for The Impossible

Wardrobe-Paco Delgado for Blancanieves

Editing-Bernat Vilaplano and Elena Ruiz for The Impossible

Sound-Peter Glossop, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago for The Impossible

Original Score-Alfonso Villalonga for Blancanieves

Original Song-No Te Puedo Encontrar from Blancanieves

New Actor-Joaquin Nunez for Grupo 7

Makeup and Hair-Sylvie Imbert and Fermin Galan for Blancanieves

New Actress-Macarena Garcia for Blancanieves

New Director-Enrique Gato for Tad, the Lost Explorer

Animated Feature Film-The Adventures of Tadeo Jones

Documentary Film-Sons of the Clouds, The Last Colony

European Film-Untouchable (France)

Ibero-American Film-Juan de los Muertos (Cuba)

Animated Short-Jaime Maestro for El Vendedor de Humo

Fiction Short-Esteban Crespo Garcia for Aquel no Era Yo