Academy copy of De la Iglesia movie pirated

The question of how a copy of Alex de la Iglesia's film, A Sad Trumpet Ballad, intended solely for Cinema Academy members voting for the Goya Awards made it onto internet download sites last week was still hanging in the air on Friday.

Producer Tornasol mailed, via the Academy, 940 DVDs - with the phrase "Copy for Academy members only" visible over various scenes of the film - to Goya voters prior to the awards. While most received their envelopes, EL PAÍS has talked to a handful who did not.

Academy President De la Iglesia announced his resignation in January after disagreements over the recently passed "Sinde" anti-downloading law. De la Iglesia called the net the "savior of our cinema" at the Goyas. The director had attempted to mediate with web users before the final version of the law was approved.

The site Megaupload removed the film from its "movie menu" on Friday.

Spain has earned an international reputation as a haven for internet piracy and has been criticized repeatedly by US copyright protection agencies.