Both shortlists for the Goya Awards and the World Cinema Awards act as a good point of reference for any subtitle-phobic cineastes desperate to venture out of their comfort zone.

What’s more, you can probably pick them up on DVD for under a fiver at your local, ailing entertainment store…

Los Premios Goya, Spain’s prestigious film awards, took place on Sunday, with international stars Benicio Del Toro and Penelope Cruz among the big winners.

Benicio picked up the best actor award for his portrayal of Che Guevara in Che, while Penelope scooped best supporting actor for Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona – due to hit our cinemas this Friday.

Other winners include Carme Elias and Nerea Camacho for their roles in Camino, a film that centres on the influence of Catholicism on a terminally ill girl’s life.

Romanian abortion picture 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days took home the best European film award. This coup echoes the result of the BBC4 World Cinema Awards, where Jonathan Ross presented director Cristian Mungiu and lead actress Anamaria Marinca with the award for best film.

The stark, affecting movie pipped four others to the post including Julian Schnabel’s bittersweet Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical and heavily stylised animation, Persepolis.

Italian mafia picture Gomorrah narrowly missed out, as did Spanish horror The Orphanage, which incidentally picked up a hand full of awards at last year’s Goyas.

Leading industry insiders including actor John Hurt and BFI Film Festival director Sandra Hebron made up the panel, who also dedicated the first ever achievement award to German director Werner Herzog for an archive of films such as Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu The Vampyre and Grizzly Man.