title: The Year of Maria
text: # The Year of Maria
  
  The Year of Maria (Spanish: Año mariano) is a 2000 Spanish black comedy film directed by Karra Elejalde and Fernando Guillén Cuervo, who also star in the film alongside Manuel Manquiña, Gloria Muñoz, and Sílvia Bel.
  
  ## Plot
  
  Mariano, an alcoholic cassette salesman, crashes on a marijuana plantation being burned by Guardia Civil agents, so dazed and hallucinated by narcotics, he sees the Virgin Mary. With help from a middling showman (Tony Towers) he becomes a messianic figure in rural southern Spain.
  
  ## Cast
  
  * Karra Elejalde as Mariano
  * Fernando Guillén Cuervo as Antonio Torres (Tony Towers)
  * Manuel Manquiña as sargento Pablo Talavera
  * Gloria Muñoz as sor Trini
  * Sílvia Bel [es] as María Vélez
  * Fernando Guillén as don Simón
  * Juan Viadas as don Javier
  * Pepín Tre [es] as Hopper
  * Karlos Arguiñano as Viriato
  
  ## Production
  
  The film was produced by Asegarce with the collaboration of TVE, Vía Digital [es], and ETB. Shooting locations in the province of Almería included Cala Carbón (Níjar).
  
  ## Release
  
  Distributed by Aurum, the film was released theatrically in Spain on 11 August 2000. It was the second-largest grossing Spanish film at the 2000 domestic box-office after Common Wealth.
  
  ## Reception
  
  Jonathan Holland of Variety deemed the film (otherwise stylistically a baby brother to Juanma Bajo Ulloa's Airbag), to be "at worst sloppy and uncontrolled, at best nicely imaginative".
  
  ## Accolades
  
  | Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 2001 | 15th Goya Awards | Best Special Effects | Juan Ramón Molina, Alfonso Nieto | Nominated | |
  