Film about children living in darkness on Madrid’s doorstep up for award

Even Though it’s Night, which chronicles the conditions of Europe’s largest shantytown, Cañada Real, in running for a Goya

A short film that chronicles the lives of the forgotten, deprived and marginalised children who live in Europe’s largest shantytown, just outside Madrid, is in the running for Spain’s equivalent of an Oscar at the Goya awards on Saturday.

Aunque es de noche (Even Though it’s Night), which was shot on location in the Cañada Real informal settlement, using a cast of residents, follows 13-year-old Toni as he prepares to say goodbye to his best friend, Nasser, who is moving to France, and to his own childhood.