Vicky Eguia, top public relations executive for Amazon Studios, has died from cancer at the age of 48, her family announced on social media.
After 15 years in PR and publicity work at studios such as Millennium Entertainment and Newmarket Films, where she worked on the publicity campaign for “The Passion of the Christ” in 2004, Eguia joined Amazon Studios in 2015 and played a key role in its efforts to expand into theatrical distribution.
In 2017, Eguia oversaw the awards campaign for Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester By The Sea,” a film which became the first from a streaming studio to get nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. The film won two Oscars with Lonergan winning for Best Original Screenplay and lead star Casey Affleck winning for Best Actor. Since then, Eguia oversaw awards campaigns for Oscar nominated films like “Sound of Metal” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”
Under Eguia’s direction, Amazon Studios has also released several non-English films that have earned nominations in the Best Foreign Language/Best International Film category, with Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” winning in that category in 2017.
Other international films distributed by Amazon that earned nominations include Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” and Ladj Ly’s Cannes Jury Prize winner “Les Miserables.”