Over the last seven years or so, the ever more capitalized Catalan industry, much based in capital Barcelona, has driven into domestic co-production with other parts of Spain. One result: an exciting new generation of young directors and producers, often women, which have scored a Berlin Golden Bear (Carla Simon’s “Alcarràs”) and best lead performance.
The Catalan film-tv industry is now, however, in the throes of a gathering industry makeover which is showing its first fruits. One driver, as so often in Europe, is public sector funding.
In 2019, total allocated Catalan government audiovisual funding stood at €12.6 million ($13.7 million). It rose to €40.8 million ($44.5 million) in 2022 and will rise again to an estimated €50 million ($54.5 million) in 2024, if the Catalan Parliament approves the budget, says Edgar Garcia, director of the governmental culture industry unit Icec.
In response to ramped-up funding, Catalonia industry has grown vibrantly. 130 execs and talent, representing 80 companies, attend 2024’s Berlin Film Market.
The Catalan film-tv industry is now, however, in the throes of a gathering industry makeover which is showing its first fruits. One driver, as so often in Europe, is public sector funding.
In 2019, total allocated Catalan government audiovisual funding stood at €12.6 million ($13.7 million). It rose to €40.8 million ($44.5 million) in 2022 and will rise again to an estimated €50 million ($54.5 million) in 2024, if the Catalan Parliament approves the budget, says Edgar Garcia, director of the governmental culture industry unit Icec.
In response to ramped-up funding, Catalonia industry has grown vibrantly. 130 execs and talent, representing 80 companies, attend 2024’s Berlin Film Market.
- 2/15/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” from Romania’s Radu Jude, added to its ever larger silverware collection, winning the top Albar Award at Spain’s Gijón Festival.
Gijón’s big win join not only a Special Jury Prize at August’s Locarno Film Festival, where the film was the most talked about – one of Jude’s aims– and lauded of competition titles among reviewers, plus a Chicago Silver Hugo best performance nod (Ilinca Manolache) in October and a Lisbon Fest Jury Prize late last month.
Over 61 editions, and most especially when José Luis Cienfuegos, now Valladolid chief, took over its reins in 1995, the Gijón-Xijón Film Festival (Ficx) has carved out an identity as highlighting edgier international auteurs and indie fare, moving into promoting often more singular movies from a burgeoning new generation of Spanish filmmakers, greeted with enthusiasm by discerning and predominantly YA audiences...
Gijón’s big win join not only a Special Jury Prize at August’s Locarno Film Festival, where the film was the most talked about – one of Jude’s aims– and lauded of competition titles among reviewers, plus a Chicago Silver Hugo best performance nod (Ilinca Manolache) in October and a Lisbon Fest Jury Prize late last month.
Over 61 editions, and most especially when José Luis Cienfuegos, now Valladolid chief, took over its reins in 1995, the Gijón-Xijón Film Festival (Ficx) has carved out an identity as highlighting edgier international auteurs and indie fare, moving into promoting often more singular movies from a burgeoning new generation of Spanish filmmakers, greeted with enthusiasm by discerning and predominantly YA audiences...
- 11/27/2023
- by Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
High-flying Madrid-based Caballo Films, behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and “Riot Police” and Borja Soler’s “The Route,” has put into development a fiction series adaptation of Mabel Lozano’s prized same-titled non-fiction work.
Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”
Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”
“Pilar was always on our minds for this project, given her talent, and we wanted a female gaze behind all the key points of creative responsibility,” said Villanueva.
“El Proxeneta” is co-produced by Lozano’s label Mafalda Entertainment.
“My commitment...
Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”
Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”
“Pilar was always on our minds for this project, given her talent, and we wanted a female gaze behind all the key points of creative responsibility,” said Villanueva.
“El Proxeneta” is co-produced by Lozano’s label Mafalda Entertainment.
“My commitment...
- 6/26/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Martinessi’s debut The Heiresses won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 2018.
Narciso, the second feature from Paraguay’s Marcelo Martinessi, has attracted a crop of new co-producers: Spain’s Bteam Prods, Portugal’s Oublaum, Brazil’s Esquina Films and Uruguay’s Mutante Cine.
Martinessi’s debut The Heiresses won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 2018.
The four companies will team with the same production team that backed The Heiresses on Narciso; Paraguay’s La Babosa Films, Germany’s Pandora Filmproduktions and France’s La Fábrica Nocturna Prods.
France’s Luxbox handles international sales.
Based on the novel...
Narciso, the second feature from Paraguay’s Marcelo Martinessi, has attracted a crop of new co-producers: Spain’s Bteam Prods, Portugal’s Oublaum, Brazil’s Esquina Films and Uruguay’s Mutante Cine.
Martinessi’s debut The Heiresses won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in 2018.
The four companies will team with the same production team that backed The Heiresses on Narciso; Paraguay’s La Babosa Films, Germany’s Pandora Filmproduktions and France’s La Fábrica Nocturna Prods.
France’s Luxbox handles international sales.
Based on the novel...
- 3/17/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Segundo Premio will tell the story of influential rock indie group Los Planetas.
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
- 3/10/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Segundo Premio will tell the story of influential rock indie group Los Planetas.
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
- 3/10/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
“Los pequeños amores,” the latest film from Celia Rico who made a splash at the 2018 San Sebastian Festival with “Journey to a Mother’s Room,” has been acquired for international sales by Spain-based Latido Films.
Produced by Barcelona-based Arcadia Motion Pictures, which co-produced Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s 2023 Goya winner and box office breakout “The Beasts, and France’s Noodles Production, Rico’s second feature is set in a bucolic countryside. It weighs in as a mother-daughter two-hander sparked after strongly independent mother Ani falls over walking the dog and is forced to use a wheelchair to get around.
Daughter Teresa cuts short a vacation to come to her side, their co-habitation grating and revealing multiple – sometime generational – differences as the film peels back the layers of their relation, exposing both women’s ambitions and fears.
Adriana Azores plays Ani, María Vázquez is Teresa.
“There are several reasons Latido had to be involved...
Produced by Barcelona-based Arcadia Motion Pictures, which co-produced Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s 2023 Goya winner and box office breakout “The Beasts, and France’s Noodles Production, Rico’s second feature is set in a bucolic countryside. It weighs in as a mother-daughter two-hander sparked after strongly independent mother Ani falls over walking the dog and is forced to use a wheelchair to get around.
Daughter Teresa cuts short a vacation to come to her side, their co-habitation grating and revealing multiple – sometime generational – differences as the film peels back the layers of their relation, exposing both women’s ambitions and fears.
Adriana Azores plays Ani, María Vázquez is Teresa.
“There are several reasons Latido had to be involved...
- 2/19/2023
- by Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
Spain has found a place on the global film industry’s radar as an attractive market for co-producing projects, boosted by its bigger-than-ever-public-sector funding.
The trend comes in a moment of maturity for its audiovisual industry, with competitive tax incentives and the emergence of fresh talent, often female, whether directors or producers. Unlike U.S. indie producers, hard hit by streamers pulling back, European counterparts still have public sector financing.
But to make movies of any artistic ambition, which might justify that funding and break out to foreign sales and a theatrical release, producers are looking overseas more and to other parts of Spain for production partners.
Co-production is booming. Only last year, Spain co-produced 70 films, beating its average production for the period 2018-2022 of 256 titles, according to Spanish film agency Icaa.
Icaa’s selective aid for movie production reached €20 million (21.48 million). Of that, a minimum 5 went to support minority co-productions.
The trend comes in a moment of maturity for its audiovisual industry, with competitive tax incentives and the emergence of fresh talent, often female, whether directors or producers. Unlike U.S. indie producers, hard hit by streamers pulling back, European counterparts still have public sector financing.
But to make movies of any artistic ambition, which might justify that funding and break out to foreign sales and a theatrical release, producers are looking overseas more and to other parts of Spain for production partners.
Co-production is booming. Only last year, Spain co-produced 70 films, beating its average production for the period 2018-2022 of 256 titles, according to Spanish film agency Icaa.
Icaa’s selective aid for movie production reached €20 million (21.48 million). Of that, a minimum 5 went to support minority co-productions.
- 2/17/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s take on a western wins nine prizes, but none for Carla Simon’s Berlinale winner
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts scored big at the 37th edition of the Spanish Film Academy Goya awards held on Saturday in Seville, scooping major prizes including best film and best director.
The ceremony celebrated a year hailed as one of the strongest for Spanish cinema in recent memory. However, one of Spain’s most high-profile films on the international stage, Carla Simon’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras, left the Goyas empty-handed despite 11 nominations.
The Beasts, which debuted in Cannes in the Premieres section,...
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts scored big at the 37th edition of the Spanish Film Academy Goya awards held on Saturday in Seville, scooping major prizes including best film and best director.
The ceremony celebrated a year hailed as one of the strongest for Spanish cinema in recent memory. However, one of Spain’s most high-profile films on the international stage, Carla Simon’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras, left the Goyas empty-handed despite 11 nominations.
The Beasts, which debuted in Cannes in the Premieres section,...
- 2/12/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Sorogoyen’s take on a western wins nine prizes, but none for Carla Simon’s Berlinale winner
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts scored big at the 37th edition of the Spanish Film Academy Goya awards held on Saturday in Seville, scooping major prizes including best film and best director.
The ceremony celebrated a year hailed as one of the strongest for Spanish cinema in recent memory. However, one of Spain’s most high-profile films on the international stage, Carla Simon’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras, left the Goyas empty-handed despite 11 nominations.
The Beasts, which debuted in Cannes in the Premieres section,...
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts scored big at the 37th edition of the Spanish Film Academy Goya awards held on Saturday in Seville, scooping major prizes including best film and best director.
The ceremony celebrated a year hailed as one of the strongest for Spanish cinema in recent memory. However, one of Spain’s most high-profile films on the international stage, Carla Simon’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras, left the Goyas empty-handed despite 11 nominations.
The Beasts, which debuted in Cannes in the Premieres section,...
- 2/12/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Paris-based Luxbox has pounced on international rights to “20,000 Species of Bees,” one of Spain’s most anticipated feature debuts in 2023.
Distributor of “Holy Spider” and San Sebastian winner “The Kings of the World,” BTeam Pictures will handle the film’s release in Spain.
The latest movie in a growing canon of titles from young Spanish directors that have a grounded sense of place while dealing in large universal issues – think Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993” and Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” and Elena López Riera “The Water” – “20,000 Species of Bees” marks the first feature by Basque Country-based Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren whose short, “Cuerdas,” won a Cannes Critics’ Week Rails d’Or plaudit in May and was a Forqué Award best short winner this December in Spain.
It turns on an eight-year-old girl who battles with the fact that people keep addressing her in confusing ways.
Distributor of “Holy Spider” and San Sebastian winner “The Kings of the World,” BTeam Pictures will handle the film’s release in Spain.
The latest movie in a growing canon of titles from young Spanish directors that have a grounded sense of place while dealing in large universal issues – think Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993” and Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” and Elena López Riera “The Water” – “20,000 Species of Bees” marks the first feature by Basque Country-based Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren whose short, “Cuerdas,” won a Cannes Critics’ Week Rails d’Or plaudit in May and was a Forqué Award best short winner this December in Spain.
It turns on an eight-year-old girl who battles with the fact that people keep addressing her in confusing ways.
- 1/12/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Often, when embarking on the recent Variety tradition that is this feature — designed to highlight some of the year’s best yet least-Oscar-likely performances — one particular turn will emerge as the poster child. A performance that, for many reasons, really ought to have a shot at Oscar but, being in a language other than English, has little chance. This year, that slot goes to Vicky Krieps who, in Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” does not so much play Empress Elisabeth of Austria (a role previously defined by Romy Schneider in the saccharine “Sissi” trilogy) as entirely reimagine and reclaim her.
Rather like with Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Krieps has the kind of stateside profile that will help “Corsage” stay in the conversation for the best international feature film Oscar shortlist. But the odds of her getting an individual best actress nod remain far slimmer — a shame, given...
Rather like with Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Krieps has the kind of stateside profile that will help “Corsage” stay in the conversation for the best international feature film Oscar shortlist. But the odds of her getting an individual best actress nod remain far slimmer — a shame, given...
- 12/16/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Variety has been given exclusive access to Mubi’s newly cut trailer for writer-director Carla Simón’s “Alcarrás,” Spain’s Oscar entry, which is scheduled to open on Jan. 6 at the Lincoln Center and Quad Cinema in New York.
The 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner was picked up by Mubi earlier in the year and is also opening in the U.K. on the same date.
Produced by Maria Zamora, Stefan Schmitz and Tono Folguera, Simon’s follow up to “Summer 1993,” which itself won Berlin’s 2017 best first feature award.
It tells the story of a hard-working peach-farming family in Lleida, Catalonia, in rural north east Spain, whose livelihood and way of life are condemned to oblivion when an old verbal Spanish Civil War pact on the land rental is ignored and they are faced with eviction.
Inspired in atmosphere and setting by the experience of writer-director Carla Simón’s own grandparents and uncle and aunt,...
The 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner was picked up by Mubi earlier in the year and is also opening in the U.K. on the same date.
Produced by Maria Zamora, Stefan Schmitz and Tono Folguera, Simon’s follow up to “Summer 1993,” which itself won Berlin’s 2017 best first feature award.
It tells the story of a hard-working peach-farming family in Lleida, Catalonia, in rural north east Spain, whose livelihood and way of life are condemned to oblivion when an old verbal Spanish Civil War pact on the land rental is ignored and they are faced with eviction.
Inspired in atmosphere and setting by the experience of writer-director Carla Simón’s own grandparents and uncle and aunt,...
- 12/12/2022
- by Douglas Wilson
- Variety Film + TV
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ’The Beasts’ has 17 nominations.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts leads the nominees for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, with 17, followed closely by Alberto Rodríguez’s Prison 77 on 16.
The Beasts, which had its world premiere at Cannes, centres around a French couple who cause tensions in the local village to which they move. The psychological thriller is nominated in all major categories including best film where it lines up with Prison 77, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Lullaby, Pilar Palomero’s La Maternal and Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs.
Scroll down for the full nominations
Alcarràs is...
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts leads the nominees for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, with 17, followed closely by Alberto Rodríguez’s Prison 77 on 16.
The Beasts, which had its world premiere at Cannes, centres around a French couple who cause tensions in the local village to which they move. The psychological thriller is nominated in all major categories including best film where it lines up with Prison 77, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Lullaby, Pilar Palomero’s La Maternal and Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs.
Scroll down for the full nominations
Alcarràs is...
- 12/1/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The big winner at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2022 was Holy Spider, directed by Swedish-Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi.
Complete list of winners below
The film won the Bronze Horse for Best Film, while lead actor Mehdi Bajestani was named Best Male Actor for his role as serial killer Saeed Hanaei. The film was based on the true story of the so-called ‘Spider-Killer’ who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran. The film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating the crimes.
In presenting Abbasi with his award, the jury said of Holy Spider:
“A groundbreaking film that is done not only with enormous courage but with mastery that leaves us breathless; our insides both speechless and wanting to cream. A punch in the gut for systematic belief systems that oppress rather than support. An eye opener and a most emotional cinematic experience that awakens internal revolutions in us.
Complete list of winners below
The film won the Bronze Horse for Best Film, while lead actor Mehdi Bajestani was named Best Male Actor for his role as serial killer Saeed Hanaei. The film was based on the true story of the so-called ‘Spider-Killer’ who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran. The film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating the crimes.
In presenting Abbasi with his award, the jury said of Holy Spider:
“A groundbreaking film that is done not only with enormous courage but with mastery that leaves us breathless; our insides both speechless and wanting to cream. A punch in the gut for systematic belief systems that oppress rather than support. An eye opener and a most emotional cinematic experience that awakens internal revolutions in us.
- 11/19/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival runs November 9-20.
The Stockholm International Film Festival will present 130 films from 50 countries, opening on November 9 with Sweden’s international Oscar submission, Boy From Heaven by Tarik Saleh.
Political thriller Boy From Heaven premiered in competition at Cannes where it was awarded best screenplay.
Actor Fares Fares will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award on opening night. His credits include Easy Money, Safe House, Westworld and Chernobyl.
The Stockholm Visionary Award will go to Sam Mendes who will present the Nordic premiere of Empire Of Light.
Other notable selections include Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King...
The Stockholm International Film Festival will present 130 films from 50 countries, opening on November 9 with Sweden’s international Oscar submission, Boy From Heaven by Tarik Saleh.
Political thriller Boy From Heaven premiered in competition at Cannes where it was awarded best screenplay.
Actor Fares Fares will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award on opening night. His credits include Easy Money, Safe House, Westworld and Chernobyl.
The Stockholm Visionary Award will go to Sam Mendes who will present the Nordic premiere of Empire Of Light.
Other notable selections include Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King...
- 10/13/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
The event runs on November 13 across 700 cinemas globally
Filmmakers Lukas Dhont, Alice Diop, Emily Atef, Pilar Palomero, Agnieszka Smoczynska and Valerio Mastandrea have been named ambassadors for the European Arthouse Cinema Day (November 13).
The event will take place in 700 cinemas globally and aims to promote European film.
The programme includes classic titles, premieres and previews as well as panels, exhibitions, Q&a’s and programmes for young people. The ambassadors will take part in some of the events.
The event is organised by the International Federation of Arthouse Cinemas (Cicae) in collaboration with participating cinemas, its national associations, distributors and sales agents.
Filmmakers Lukas Dhont, Alice Diop, Emily Atef, Pilar Palomero, Agnieszka Smoczynska and Valerio Mastandrea have been named ambassadors for the European Arthouse Cinema Day (November 13).
The event will take place in 700 cinemas globally and aims to promote European film.
The programme includes classic titles, premieres and previews as well as panels, exhibitions, Q&a’s and programmes for young people. The ambassadors will take part in some of the events.
The event is organised by the International Federation of Arthouse Cinemas (Cicae) in collaboration with participating cinemas, its national associations, distributors and sales agents.
- 10/12/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The Kings Of The World Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Laura Mora’s Columbian film The Kings of the World took home the Golden Shell at San Sebastian Festival’s 70th edition. The film - a coproduction Luxembourg, France, Mexico and Norway - blends the harsh reality for a bunch of streetkids with something more mystical as they go on an, at times surreal, road trip in order to reclaim a patch of land.
The Silver Shell for Best Director went to Genki Kawamura's consideration of the impact of Alzheimer's on a strained mother and son relationship in A Hundred Flowers (Japan), while the Best Screenplay Award went to Dong Yun Zhou and Wang Chao for their work on the latter’s movie A Woman (China).
Young stars Carla Quílez and Paul Kircher landed the Silver Shell ex-aequo for Best Leading Performance in Pilar Palomero’s hybrd...
The Silver Shell for Best Director went to Genki Kawamura's consideration of the impact of Alzheimer's on a strained mother and son relationship in A Hundred Flowers (Japan), while the Best Screenplay Award went to Dong Yun Zhou and Wang Chao for their work on the latter’s movie A Woman (China).
Young stars Carla Quílez and Paul Kircher landed the Silver Shell ex-aequo for Best Leading Performance in Pilar Palomero’s hybrd...
- 9/25/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora has clinched the Golden Shell in the main competition of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival with her latest feature The Kings of the World (Los reyes del mundo).
Billed as a subversive tale of disobedience, friendship, and dignity, the film follows five boys living on the streets of Medellín who set out on a journey in search of the promised land. The film is a Colombian co-production with Luxembourg, France, Mexico, and Norway.
This is the third year running that a film helmed by a woman has taken home the Golden Shell following Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning in 2020 and Alina Grigore’s Blue Moon last year. This is also the first time a Colombian production has picked up San Sebastian’s top prize in the festival’s seven decades.
In other main competition awards, Japanese writer Genki Kawamura picked up the Silver Shell for Best...
Billed as a subversive tale of disobedience, friendship, and dignity, the film follows five boys living on the streets of Medellín who set out on a journey in search of the promised land. The film is a Colombian co-production with Luxembourg, France, Mexico, and Norway.
This is the third year running that a film helmed by a woman has taken home the Golden Shell following Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning in 2020 and Alina Grigore’s Blue Moon last year. This is also the first time a Colombian production has picked up San Sebastian’s top prize in the festival’s seven decades.
In other main competition awards, Japanese writer Genki Kawamura picked up the Silver Shell for Best...
- 9/24/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Laura Mora’s Columbian drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 2022 San Sebastián film festival, Spain’s premiere film fest. Mora’s sophomore feature follows five young men growing up on the streets of Medellín who set off on a journey in search of the promised land.
Best director went to Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura for dementia-focused drama Hyakka, his feature debut. Kawamura is best known as the producer of such hit Japanese animated features as Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019).
Marian Mathias’ drama Runner, the story of an 18-year-old girl who decides to fulfill her dead father’s last wish to be buried in his hometown along the Mississippi, won the festival’s special jury prize.
The Silver Shell for best performance went, jointly, to Paul Kircher for his performance in Christophe Honoré...
Laura Mora’s Columbian drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 2022 San Sebastián film festival, Spain’s premiere film fest. Mora’s sophomore feature follows five young men growing up on the streets of Medellín who set off on a journey in search of the promised land.
Best director went to Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura for dementia-focused drama Hyakka, his feature debut. Kawamura is best known as the producer of such hit Japanese animated features as Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019).
Marian Mathias’ drama Runner, the story of an 18-year-old girl who decides to fulfill her dead father’s last wish to be buried in his hometown along the Mississippi, won the festival’s special jury prize.
The Silver Shell for best performance went, jointly, to Paul Kircher for his performance in Christophe Honoré...
- 9/24/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Colombian director Laura Mora’s coming-of-age drama “Kings of the World” has taken the Golden Shell for Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival, marking the third consecutive year that a female filmmaker has taken the top prize at the Spanish fest.
The film, Mora’s second feature, is a raw, unusual coming-of-age drama, supplanting the sentimentality that tends to dominate that genre with delirious, even surreal energy in its story of five Medellin street kids who venture from the city into the jungle, in pursuit of ancestral land. Premiering in the latter days of the fest, it proved popular with critics, but nonetheless represents an underdog victor in a competition that included such established names as Sebastian Lelio, Hong Sangsoo and Christophe Honoré.
Instead, youth dominated the slate of winners, with freshman American filmmaker Marian Mathias taking the runner-up Special Jury Prize for her debut feature “Runner,” while...
The film, Mora’s second feature, is a raw, unusual coming-of-age drama, supplanting the sentimentality that tends to dominate that genre with delirious, even surreal energy in its story of five Medellin street kids who venture from the city into the jungle, in pursuit of ancestral land. Premiering in the latter days of the fest, it proved popular with critics, but nonetheless represents an underdog victor in a competition that included such established names as Sebastian Lelio, Hong Sangsoo and Christophe Honoré.
Instead, youth dominated the slate of winners, with freshman American filmmaker Marian Mathias taking the runner-up Special Jury Prize for her debut feature “Runner,” while...
- 9/24/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
It takes a village to raise a child, goes the old saying, and at least in the figurative sense, Spanish director Pilar Palomero’s tremendous sophomore feature “La Maternal” shows that to be true. Before that can happen, however, pregnant 14-year-old Carla needs to get out of the village and into the city — specifically, to a Barcelona shelter for teenage mothers where the troubled adolescent finds the community and empathy her life has been missing all along. Female solidarity drives Palomero’s follow-up to the celebrated, similarly sisterhood-themed “Schoolgirls,” but without any glib girl-power sloganeering: A tough, unsweetened work of social realism built around an astonishing screen debut by Carla Quílez, “La Maternal” sentimentalizes not one detail of juvenile motherhood, truly earning its flashes of hope and grace.
Though it racked up festival mileage at the Berlinale and beyond, “Schoolgirls” never made quite the impression internationally that it did in...
Though it racked up festival mileage at the Berlinale and beyond, “Schoolgirls” never made quite the impression internationally that it did in...
- 9/23/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Pilar Palomero’s second feature film “La Maternal” had its world premiere in main competition at Spain’s San Sebastián Film Festival on Tuesday. The Spanish filmmaker, who won Goyas for best picture, best new director and best original screenplay with her debut film “Las Niñas,” produced like “La Maternal” by Valérie Delpierre at Inicia Films, returns to the Basque Country festival with another invigorating work that explores the challenges and joys of girlhood.
“I never made a decision to explicitly focus on girlhood,” Palomero says. “I think it’s a coincidence that both are about young women, but I guess there’s something inside me that I’m not aware of that’s leading me to this subject.”
In “La Maternal,” sold by Elle Driver, Palomero turns her attention to teen mothers in Barcelona and the social attitudes that condemn them. 14-year-old Carla leaves home when she discovers she...
“I never made a decision to explicitly focus on girlhood,” Palomero says. “I think it’s a coincidence that both are about young women, but I guess there’s something inside me that I’m not aware of that’s leading me to this subject.”
In “La Maternal,” sold by Elle Driver, Palomero turns her attention to teen mothers in Barcelona and the social attitudes that condemn them. 14-year-old Carla leaves home when she discovers she...
- 9/21/2022
- by Caitlin Quinlan
- Variety Film + TV
Festival runs October 12-23.
Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer, and Sergei Loznitsa’s The Natural History Of Destruction are among the international competitions line-up at the 58th Chicago International Film Festival next month.
This year’s competitions include 10 films receiving their North American premiere and 17 getting their US premiere as the entries vie for the festival’s Gold Hugo award in the categories of international feature, international documentary, and new directors.
The festival runs October 12-23. The full international competition line-ups are below.
Playing in International Feature Competition are: The Beasts (Sp-Fr), Rodrigo Sorogoyen, US premiere; Before,...
Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer, and Sergei Loznitsa’s The Natural History Of Destruction are among the international competitions line-up at the 58th Chicago International Film Festival next month.
This year’s competitions include 10 films receiving their North American premiere and 17 getting their US premiere as the entries vie for the festival’s Gold Hugo award in the categories of international feature, international documentary, and new directors.
The festival runs October 12-23. The full international competition line-ups are below.
Playing in International Feature Competition are: The Beasts (Sp-Fr), Rodrigo Sorogoyen, US premiere; Before,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Packing its first full-on onsite edition since the pandemic, Spain’s San Sebastian Festival has never been busier or bigger. 10 Takes on what is shaping up as a vibrant edition:
Playing Off Powerful Market Forces
Nine of Netflix’s 20 Top 10 non-English-language films and TV series are sourced from Spain or Latin America. Platforms are battling to tie down talent.
This year, eight movies from Spain and Latin America play in competition alone at San Sebastian, the most important film event in the Spanish-speaking world. The fest’s main sidebar is its New Directors strand. San Sebastian’s focus on the Spanish-speaking world and new talent now aligns with powerful market forces. That fact plays out over the 2022 edition.
San Sebastian’s New Creative Investors’ Conference
CAA Media Finance is teaming with San Sebastian to organize the festival’s first Creative Investors’ Conference, running Sept. 19-20. Attendees take in international film...
Playing Off Powerful Market Forces
Nine of Netflix’s 20 Top 10 non-English-language films and TV series are sourced from Spain or Latin America. Platforms are battling to tie down talent.
This year, eight movies from Spain and Latin America play in competition alone at San Sebastian, the most important film event in the Spanish-speaking world. The fest’s main sidebar is its New Directors strand. San Sebastian’s focus on the Spanish-speaking world and new talent now aligns with powerful market forces. That fact plays out over the 2022 edition.
San Sebastian’s New Creative Investors’ Conference
CAA Media Finance is teaming with San Sebastian to organize the festival’s first Creative Investors’ Conference, running Sept. 19-20. Attendees take in international film...
- 9/16/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
San Sebastian festival director José Luis Rebordinos: “It’s a sweet moment for the Spanish industry”
The San Sebastian festival director reflects on the innovations for the 70th anniversary
José Luis Rebordinos has been the director of the San Sebastian International Film Festival since 2011.
He talks to Screen about this year’s 70th anniversary edition which will celebrate San Sebastian’s history as well as the exciting present moment for Spanish cinema and host an expanded industry section.
The festival opens today, Friday September 16, and runs until September 24.
San Sebastian prides itself as a festival that showcases both new and established Spanish filmmakers. How would you describe the Spanish productions selected this year?
There’s a...
José Luis Rebordinos has been the director of the San Sebastian International Film Festival since 2011.
He talks to Screen about this year’s 70th anniversary edition which will celebrate San Sebastian’s history as well as the exciting present moment for Spanish cinema and host an expanded industry section.
The festival opens today, Friday September 16, and runs until September 24.
San Sebastian prides itself as a festival that showcases both new and established Spanish filmmakers. How would you describe the Spanish productions selected this year?
There’s a...
- 9/16/2022
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
The 70th San Sebastián Film Festival unveiled its competition line-up Tuesday, with new works from award-winning directors Sebastián Lelio, Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl in the running for the 2022 Golden Shell.
Chilean filmmaker Lelio, who won an Oscar for best international feature with A Fantastic Woman (2017), will premiere his latest, The Wonder, in San Sebastián. The period drama, based on the Emma Donoghue novel, is set in mid-19th century Ireland and stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke and Toby Jones.
The prolific Hong Sang-Soo, who just won the Jury Prize in Berlin in February for The Novelist’s Film, brings his latest minimalist drama, Walk Up, to the Spanish festival. The plot involves a middle-aged film director and his estranged daughter who are being shown around a building owned by an interior designer.
Seidl, the Austrian director who has made a career...
The 70th San Sebastián Film Festival unveiled its competition line-up Tuesday, with new works from award-winning directors Sebastián Lelio, Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl in the running for the 2022 Golden Shell.
Chilean filmmaker Lelio, who won an Oscar for best international feature with A Fantastic Woman (2017), will premiere his latest, The Wonder, in San Sebastián. The period drama, based on the Emma Donoghue novel, is set in mid-19th century Ireland and stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke and Toby Jones.
The prolific Hong Sang-Soo, who just won the Jury Prize in Berlin in February for The Novelist’s Film, brings his latest minimalist drama, Walk Up, to the Spanish festival. The plot involves a middle-aged film director and his estranged daughter who are being shown around a building owned by an interior designer.
Seidl, the Austrian director who has made a career...
- 8/2/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Further titles include Mikel Gurrea’s ‘Suro’, Pilar Palomero’s ‘La Maternal’ and TV series ‘Offworld’.
A total of 18 Spanish productions have been selected for the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 16-24, including Fernando Franco’s The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera).
This is Franco’s third feature, following the Silver Shell for best actress received by Marian Álvarez for 2013’s The Wound (La Herida) and special screening title Dying (Morir) in 2017.
The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera) follows the meeting between an 18-year-old girl, played by Valèria Sorolla, and a young boy with cerebral palsy,...
A total of 18 Spanish productions have been selected for the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 16-24, including Fernando Franco’s The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera).
This is Franco’s third feature, following the Silver Shell for best actress received by Marian Álvarez for 2013’s The Wound (La Herida) and special screening title Dying (Morir) in 2017.
The Rite Of Spring (La Consagración De La Primavera) follows the meeting between an 18-year-old girl, played by Valèria Sorolla, and a young boy with cerebral palsy,...
- 7/15/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Fernando Franco’s coming of age drama “The Rite of Spring” and Mikel Gurrea’s rural drama “Suro” will vie for the top Golden Seashell at September’s 70th San Sebastian Festival, the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world.
Also making the cut are Jaime Rosales’s female emancipation tale “Wild Flowers” and Pilar Palomero’s teen motherhood story “La Maternal.”
The four titles form part of a Spanish film line-up which looks to be “the strongest Spanish movie presence at San Sebastian in the 11 years I’ve been directing the festival,” San Sebastian director José Luis Rebordinos said on Friday.
One or two more Spanish films could still be added to the selection, including one more in New Directors, he went on.
Galvanizing the selection is new talent. Five of the 10 movies in San Sebastian’s principal sections for new movies – main competition, out of competition, special screenings,...
Also making the cut are Jaime Rosales’s female emancipation tale “Wild Flowers” and Pilar Palomero’s teen motherhood story “La Maternal.”
The four titles form part of a Spanish film line-up which looks to be “the strongest Spanish movie presence at San Sebastian in the 11 years I’ve been directing the festival,” San Sebastian director José Luis Rebordinos said on Friday.
One or two more Spanish films could still be added to the selection, including one more in New Directors, he went on.
Galvanizing the selection is new talent. Five of the 10 movies in San Sebastian’s principal sections for new movies – main competition, out of competition, special screenings,...
- 7/15/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Pedro Almodóvar has put his considerable weight behind Spaniard Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s first feature, ”Lullaby” (“Cinco Lobitos”) as it has initiated a spirited run at Spain’s box office.
“It is undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” Almodóvar announced in a statement, describing the mother-daughter relationship drama as “a portrait of the role of women within the family, which is truthful, devoid of sentimentality and that does not exclude humor.”
“Life could offer another destiny for women other than caring for the whole family. [The film offers] very accurate interpretations, where Laia Costa stands out and I suppose will sweep all this year’s awards. You have to see it before the heat wave takes it away. Summer is the worst enemy of the theaters.”
Almodóvar’s advocacy is highly necessary as an exciting new generation of cineastes, often female, galvanizes Spain’s arthouse scene led by Carla Simón...
“It is undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” Almodóvar announced in a statement, describing the mother-daughter relationship drama as “a portrait of the role of women within the family, which is truthful, devoid of sentimentality and that does not exclude humor.”
“Life could offer another destiny for women other than caring for the whole family. [The film offers] very accurate interpretations, where Laia Costa stands out and I suppose will sweep all this year’s awards. You have to see it before the heat wave takes it away. Summer is the worst enemy of the theaters.”
Almodóvar’s advocacy is highly necessary as an exciting new generation of cineastes, often female, galvanizes Spain’s arthouse scene led by Carla Simón...
- 5/28/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
“El agua,” (Elena López Riera)
A Directors’ Fortnight title, the feature debut of Locarno winning López Riera (“Los Que Desean”), a fantasy-laced village-set critique of gender violence. S.A. Elle Driver
“Alcarràs,” (Carla Simón)
The 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner, Simón’s follow-up to “Summer 1993” and the flagship title for Catalonia and Spain’s newest filmmaking generation. S.A. MK2 Films
“Amazing Elisa,” (Sádrac González-Perellón)
The next from 2017 BiFan Grand Jury Prize winner González-Perellón (“Black Hollow Cage”), once more mixing fantasy and family dynamics as Elisa, 12, plans revenge after her mother’s tragic death. S.A. Filmax
“The Beasts,” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
One of 2022’s most awaited Spanish titles, playing Cannes Premiere, a Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”), produced by Arcadia, Caballo Films and Le Pacte. S.A. Latido Films
“The Communion Girl,” (Víctor García)
A revenge thriller involving an urban legend about a girl in a communion dress. S.
A Directors’ Fortnight title, the feature debut of Locarno winning López Riera (“Los Que Desean”), a fantasy-laced village-set critique of gender violence. S.A. Elle Driver
“Alcarràs,” (Carla Simón)
The 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner, Simón’s follow-up to “Summer 1993” and the flagship title for Catalonia and Spain’s newest filmmaking generation. S.A. MK2 Films
“Amazing Elisa,” (Sádrac González-Perellón)
The next from 2017 BiFan Grand Jury Prize winner González-Perellón (“Black Hollow Cage”), once more mixing fantasy and family dynamics as Elisa, 12, plans revenge after her mother’s tragic death. S.A. Filmax
“The Beasts,” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
One of 2022’s most awaited Spanish titles, playing Cannes Premiere, a Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”), produced by Arcadia, Caballo Films and Le Pacte. S.A. Latido Films
“The Communion Girl,” (Víctor García)
A revenge thriller involving an urban legend about a girl in a communion dress. S.
- 5/19/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
“Alcarràs,” from Catalonia’s Carla Simón, won Berlin’s top Golden Bear in February. “One Year, One Night,” from Catalan Isaki Lacuesta, also played in main competition. This May “Pacifiction,” from Albert Serra, another Catalan, has scored a competition berth at Cannes.
Thanks to these three titles, Catalonia has more directors this year in the key section at Europe’s two biggest festivals than Italy (2), Germany (1) or the U.K. (none at all). Other Catalan productions to play at Cannes: Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” in Premiere and Anna Fernández’s “I Didn’t Make It to Love Her,” a Critics’ Week short.
If big fest selection is any measure, with just 7.6 million inhabitants and Barcelona as its capital, Catalonia is building as an upscale European movie powerhouse.
The build, however, is far broader based. In the pipeline, all from Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, are major Netflix titles such as David...
Thanks to these three titles, Catalonia has more directors this year in the key section at Europe’s two biggest festivals than Italy (2), Germany (1) or the U.K. (none at all). Other Catalan productions to play at Cannes: Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” in Premiere and Anna Fernández’s “I Didn’t Make It to Love Her,” a Critics’ Week short.
If big fest selection is any measure, with just 7.6 million inhabitants and Barcelona as its capital, Catalonia is building as an upscale European movie powerhouse.
The build, however, is far broader based. In the pipeline, all from Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, are major Netflix titles such as David...
- 5/18/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
From Berlin Golden Bear winner ‘Alcarrás’ to Cannes Competition title ‘Pacifiction,’ these projects will represent Catalonia at Cannes.
Alcarràs
Director: Carla Simón
The 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner, a family farm drama marking the flagship title for Catalonia’s newest generation of cineastes.
Sales: MK2 Films
Amazing Elisa
Director: Sadrac González-Perellón
The next from 2017 BiFan Grand Jury Prize winner González- Perellón (“Black Hollow Cage”), once more mixing fantasy and family dynamics as Elisa, 12, seeks revenge after her mother’s tragic death. La Charito Films produces.
Sales: Filmax
The Beasts
Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
One of 2022’s most awaited Spanish titles, selected for Cannes Premiere, a Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”), produced by Arcadia, Caballo Films and Le Pacte.
Sales: Latido Films
The Communion Girl
Director: Víctor García
Film Factory’s genre play for Cannes: A revenge thriller drawing on an urban legend about a girl in a communion dress.
Sales: Film...
Alcarràs
Director: Carla Simón
The 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner, a family farm drama marking the flagship title for Catalonia’s newest generation of cineastes.
Sales: MK2 Films
Amazing Elisa
Director: Sadrac González-Perellón
The next from 2017 BiFan Grand Jury Prize winner González- Perellón (“Black Hollow Cage”), once more mixing fantasy and family dynamics as Elisa, 12, seeks revenge after her mother’s tragic death. La Charito Films produces.
Sales: Filmax
The Beasts
Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
One of 2022’s most awaited Spanish titles, selected for Cannes Premiere, a Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”), produced by Arcadia, Caballo Films and Le Pacte.
Sales: Latido Films
The Communion Girl
Director: Víctor García
Film Factory’s genre play for Cannes: A revenge thriller drawing on an urban legend about a girl in a communion dress.
Sales: Film...
- 5/18/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
The event is a major showcase of Spanish and Latin American content to the international market.
The world premiere of Jorge Coira’s Codigo Emperador, starring Luis Tosar, opens the 25th edition of the Málaga Film Festival (Mff) today (March 18), marking the first time the Spanish and Latin American-focused event has run in-person for two years. The spy thriiller also opens in Spain today.
Roberto Bueso’s Full Of Grace is the closing night film, screening out of competition.
Codigo Emperador is playing in competition along with Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s directorial debut Lullaby, starring Laia Costa and Susi Sánchez,...
The world premiere of Jorge Coira’s Codigo Emperador, starring Luis Tosar, opens the 25th edition of the Málaga Film Festival (Mff) today (March 18), marking the first time the Spanish and Latin American-focused event has run in-person for two years. The spy thriiller also opens in Spain today.
Roberto Bueso’s Full Of Grace is the closing night film, screening out of competition.
Codigo Emperador is playing in competition along with Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s directorial debut Lullaby, starring Laia Costa and Susi Sánchez,...
- 3/18/2022
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Spain has two films in this year’s main competition at the Berlinale, and a record haul of films participating across all sections. Similarly, the country boasts an impressive list of productions looking for buyers at the festival’s EFM. Below, a list of standouts from Spain looking to make moves on the global market.
“Prison 77” (Alberto Rodríguez)
A potential jewel in Spanish cinema’s 2022 crown, “Modelo 77” is produced by Spanish pay TV-vod giant Movistar Plus and Madrid-based Atípica Films, Rodríguez’s career-long producer. S.A. Film Factory
“Alcarràs” (Carla Simón)
In Berlin’s main competition, the much anticipated follow up to Simón’s “Summer 1993,” “Alcarrás” tracks the final harvest at a multi-generational family farm. Co-produced with Italy. S.A. MK2 Films
“The Beast” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
A Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”) and his regular co-scribe Esther Peña.
“Beyond the Summit” (Ibon Cormenzana)
Javier Rey and Patricia Lopez...
“Prison 77” (Alberto Rodríguez)
A potential jewel in Spanish cinema’s 2022 crown, “Modelo 77” is produced by Spanish pay TV-vod giant Movistar Plus and Madrid-based Atípica Films, Rodríguez’s career-long producer. S.A. Film Factory
“Alcarràs” (Carla Simón)
In Berlin’s main competition, the much anticipated follow up to Simón’s “Summer 1993,” “Alcarrás” tracks the final harvest at a multi-generational family farm. Co-produced with Italy. S.A. MK2 Films
“The Beast” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
A Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”) and his regular co-scribe Esther Peña.
“Beyond the Summit” (Ibon Cormenzana)
Javier Rey and Patricia Lopez...
- 2/11/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga and Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based Elle Driver has acquired world sales rights outside Spain and France to “La Maternal,” the second film from Pilar Palomero whose 2019’s “Schoolgirls” (“Las niñas”) made her only the fifth first feature director to win a Spanish Academy Best Picture Goya.
BTeam Pictures is handling distribution in Spain.
“Schoolgirls” also won Goyas for director, original screenplay and cinematography (Daniela Cajías), establishing Palomero as a leading light of Catalonia’s newest – and often female – generation of cineastes, making movies which are grounded in authentic local realities, but alert to broader social trends.
Produced like “Schoolgirls” by Spain’s Inicia Films, whose credits also include Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993,” and BTeam Productions, “La Maternal” sees Palomero once more explore the borders between child and adulthood.
“What does it mean to be mother, what does it mean to be a child ? At 14 years old, Carla is both…” runs the film’s logline.
BTeam Pictures is handling distribution in Spain.
“Schoolgirls” also won Goyas for director, original screenplay and cinematography (Daniela Cajías), establishing Palomero as a leading light of Catalonia’s newest – and often female – generation of cineastes, making movies which are grounded in authentic local realities, but alert to broader social trends.
Produced like “Schoolgirls” by Spain’s Inicia Films, whose credits also include Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993,” and BTeam Productions, “La Maternal” sees Palomero once more explore the borders between child and adulthood.
“What does it mean to be mother, what does it mean to be a child ? At 14 years old, Carla is both…” runs the film’s logline.
- 2/11/2022
- by John Hopewell and Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Rapidly emerging as one of Spain’s foremost hothouses for new producer and creative talent, the Ecam Madrid Film School’s Incubator program has chosen five titles for its 2022 program:
“Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes,” “Disposable,” “Macrame,” “Festina Lente” and “Ripli.”
Launched to connect early career talent in Spain with Europe’s film industry, the 5th Incubator runs from Feb. 23 through July.
The program will be overseen by writer-director Rafa Alberola, who serves as the new manager of The Screen, Ecam’s industry initiative umbrella.
This year’s lineup announcements comes as one Incubator project, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” is set to world premiere in Berlin’s Panorama section later this week.
Chema García Ibarra’s “Sacred Spirit” proved a standout at August’s Locarno Festival, another Incubator debut, Javier Marco’s Javier Marco’s “Josefina” was for many the most notable Spanish feature debut...
“Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes,” “Disposable,” “Macrame,” “Festina Lente” and “Ripli.”
Launched to connect early career talent in Spain with Europe’s film industry, the 5th Incubator runs from Feb. 23 through July.
The program will be overseen by writer-director Rafa Alberola, who serves as the new manager of The Screen, Ecam’s industry initiative umbrella.
This year’s lineup announcements comes as one Incubator project, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” is set to world premiere in Berlin’s Panorama section later this week.
Chema García Ibarra’s “Sacred Spirit” proved a standout at August’s Locarno Festival, another Incubator debut, Javier Marco’s Javier Marco’s “Josefina” was for many the most notable Spanish feature debut...
- 2/8/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
In a sign of just how much the film and TV industry has evolved over the past few years, 25% of participants at the Malaga Festival’s new Spanish Screenings Xxl will represent in one way or another VOD platforms, the organizers announced Tuesday.
After taking place in November 2020 and October 2021 during two years of pandemic, Malaga’s leg of the 2022 Spanish Screenings Xxl will take place over March 21-24 as part of an even larger Malaga Festival Industry Zone (Mafiz).
In line with the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris a fortnight ago, the event will expand to take in not only recent Spanish movies but series, animation and, in the case of the Spanish Screenings, straight to digital formats.
“Not just features get sold these days,” said Malaga Festival director Juan Antonio Vigar. “Spain is beginning to be a reference in the production of series, documentaries, animation, digital creators and talent.
After taking place in November 2020 and October 2021 during two years of pandemic, Malaga’s leg of the 2022 Spanish Screenings Xxl will take place over March 21-24 as part of an even larger Malaga Festival Industry Zone (Mafiz).
In line with the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris a fortnight ago, the event will expand to take in not only recent Spanish movies but series, animation and, in the case of the Spanish Screenings, straight to digital formats.
“Not just features get sold these days,” said Malaga Festival director Juan Antonio Vigar. “Spain is beginning to be a reference in the production of series, documentaries, animation, digital creators and talent.
- 1/25/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Few phenomena in Spanish film have proved so striking in recent years as the emergence last decade of a new generation of Catalan filmmakers, very often women, making resonant movies grounded in highly specific local realities.
Think Clara Simon’s “Summer 1993,” a Berlin First Feature Award winner, or Pilar Palomero’s “Schoolgirls,” which walked off with best picture at this year’s Spanish Academy Goyas.
For years, prominent Catalan auteurs – José Luis Guerín, Marc Recha, Isaki Lacuesta – have made movies straddling documentary and fiction.
Sold by Beta Cinema, “The Off-Job Men,” directed by Pompeu Fabra U. alum Neus Ballús, drinks deep from both traditions.
Its stars, Mohamed Mellali, Valero Escolar and Pep Sarrá, are real life plumbers who, in a fiction-set up created by Ballús, play employees at Instalaciones Losilla, a small handyman firm on the outskirts of Barcelona. Over six days, Moha, a Moroccan new recruit on a one-week trial,...
Think Clara Simon’s “Summer 1993,” a Berlin First Feature Award winner, or Pilar Palomero’s “Schoolgirls,” which walked off with best picture at this year’s Spanish Academy Goyas.
For years, prominent Catalan auteurs – José Luis Guerín, Marc Recha, Isaki Lacuesta – have made movies straddling documentary and fiction.
Sold by Beta Cinema, “The Off-Job Men,” directed by Pompeu Fabra U. alum Neus Ballús, drinks deep from both traditions.
Its stars, Mohamed Mellali, Valero Escolar and Pep Sarrá, are real life plumbers who, in a fiction-set up created by Ballús, play employees at Instalaciones Losilla, a small handyman firm on the outskirts of Barcelona. Over six days, Moha, a Moroccan new recruit on a one-week trial,...
- 8/8/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Feature comedies “El Cover,” the directorial debut of actor Secun de la Rosa, and Ana Murugarren’s “García y García,” will respectively open and close Spain’s 24th Malaga Film Festival, the country’s biggest event dedicated exclusively to films and TV in Spain and Latin America.
Running June 3-13, the festival focus will fall on its usefulness for the region’s film and TV industries, prioritizing cinema exhibition over social events.
The main competition, a faithful reflection of the most recent cinema produced both in Spain and Latin America, combines highly experienced filmmakers with up-and-coming talents. In total, it will highlight 23 features, 15 Spanish and eight Latin American.
Sold by Latido Films, Benidorm-set musical comedy “El Cover” is produced by Kiko Martínez at Madrid’s Nadie Es Perfecto (“Perfectos desconocidos”) in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and Gts Entertainment.
Toplining Spanish comedians Pepe Viyuela and José Mota (“Padre no hay...
Running June 3-13, the festival focus will fall on its usefulness for the region’s film and TV industries, prioritizing cinema exhibition over social events.
The main competition, a faithful reflection of the most recent cinema produced both in Spain and Latin America, combines highly experienced filmmakers with up-and-coming talents. In total, it will highlight 23 features, 15 Spanish and eight Latin American.
Sold by Latido Films, Benidorm-set musical comedy “El Cover” is produced by Kiko Martínez at Madrid’s Nadie Es Perfecto (“Perfectos desconocidos”) in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video and Gts Entertainment.
Toplining Spanish comedians Pepe Viyuela and José Mota (“Padre no hay...
- 6/2/2021
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
As part of the Restart Conference, we speak to key players of the new wave of Catalan women directors.
As part of the Restart Conference (May 18-20), we speak to key players of the new wave of Catalan women directors who are enjoying the international spotlight at festivals and markets.
We discuss success stories such as Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 and Pilar Palomero’s The Girls as well as the new names and projects - like Simon’s upcoming shoot Alcarrás - that will shape the region’s future Film & TV Series landscape.
The panel explores the factors that have...
As part of the Restart Conference (May 18-20), we speak to key players of the new wave of Catalan women directors who are enjoying the international spotlight at festivals and markets.
We discuss success stories such as Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 and Pilar Palomero’s The Girls as well as the new names and projects - like Simon’s upcoming shoot Alcarrás - that will shape the region’s future Film & TV Series landscape.
The panel explores the factors that have...
- 5/26/2021
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Time and date: 14:00pm, Thursday May 20
As part of this week’s Restart conference (May 18-20), we will speak to key players of the new wave of Catalan women directors who are enjoying the international spotlight at festivals and markets.
Register here
Our panelists are Valerie Delpierre, producer at Inicia Films; Clara Roquet, writer and director of 10,000 km and Petra, and Berlinale selection committee member Paz Lazaro.
The session, chaired by Screen International’s Spain Correspondent Elisabet Cabeza, will take place on 14:00pm, Thursday May 20. It is sponsored by Catalan Films and the Catalunya Film Commission
It will...
As part of this week’s Restart conference (May 18-20), we will speak to key players of the new wave of Catalan women directors who are enjoying the international spotlight at festivals and markets.
Register here
Our panelists are Valerie Delpierre, producer at Inicia Films; Clara Roquet, writer and director of 10,000 km and Petra, and Berlinale selection committee member Paz Lazaro.
The session, chaired by Screen International’s Spain Correspondent Elisabet Cabeza, will take place on 14:00pm, Thursday May 20. It is sponsored by Catalan Films and the Catalunya Film Commission
It will...
- 5/18/2021
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
One of Southern Europe’s fastest growing industry events, Spain’s Malaga Festival is pushing back its industry centerpiece Spanish Screenings from June in order to be able to celebrate an on-site event.
“Last year and this, we’ve learnt not to make [longterm] plans. We don’t have a definitive date but it could be this fall, though everybody’s moving back to the fall so we will have to choose our dates carefully,” Malaga Industry Co-ordinator Annabelle Aramburu, announced at a Sanfic Industria panel.
Spain’s biggest showcase for the market premieres of new and recent Spanish features, the Screenings benefit hugely from a physical event, she argued.
“On an industrial level, we want to return as soon as possible to normality. Negotiations need people to look each other in the eye,” said Aramburu.
Parallel to the Screenings, Malaga will celebrate on site its inaugural Hack Mafiz Malaga, an...
“Last year and this, we’ve learnt not to make [longterm] plans. We don’t have a definitive date but it could be this fall, though everybody’s moving back to the fall so we will have to choose our dates carefully,” Malaga Industry Co-ordinator Annabelle Aramburu, announced at a Sanfic Industria panel.
Spain’s biggest showcase for the market premieres of new and recent Spanish features, the Screenings benefit hugely from a physical event, she argued.
“On an industrial level, we want to return as soon as possible to normality. Negotiations need people to look each other in the eye,” said Aramburu.
Parallel to the Screenings, Malaga will celebrate on site its inaugural Hack Mafiz Malaga, an...
- 3/23/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
UK, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, among buyers.
Highland Film Group has closed multiple sales on Robert De Niro and Jack Huston thriller Wash Me In The River and will distribute the film theatrically in the US through its releasing division The Avenue.
Rights have gone in Germany (Capelight), France (Studiocanal), UK (Signature), Spain (Inopia), Middle East (Eagle Films), Eastern Europe and Russia (Daro), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Japan (Happinet), Benelux (Premiere TV), Italy (Italian International Film), India (PictureWorks), Taiwan (MovieCloud), South Africa (FilmFinity), Greece (Spentzos Films), and Portugal (Lusomundo).
Paramount Home Entertainment will handle Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, and digital rights.
Highland Film Group has closed multiple sales on Robert De Niro and Jack Huston thriller Wash Me In The River and will distribute the film theatrically in the US through its releasing division The Avenue.
Rights have gone in Germany (Capelight), France (Studiocanal), UK (Signature), Spain (Inopia), Middle East (Eagle Films), Eastern Europe and Russia (Daro), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Japan (Happinet), Benelux (Premiere TV), Italy (Italian International Film), India (PictureWorks), Taiwan (MovieCloud), South Africa (FilmFinity), Greece (Spentzos Films), and Portugal (Lusomundo).
Paramount Home Entertainment will handle Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, and digital rights.
- 3/8/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Pilar Palomero’s début feature was the winner of some of the Spanish Film Academy’s most coveted accolades, presented last Saturday at a ceremony broadcast from Malaga. It was a hybrid event (a format all-too familiar from last year’s festival season) that set the scene for a hotly anticipated edition of the Goya Awards on Saturday 6 March, adjudicated by the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.While the presenters held court over an empty Malaga auditorium, nominees dialled in from home via video link. As we all expected in light of its triumph at the Forqué (see our report here) and Forez Awards (here), the night belonged to Schoolgirls, the début feature from Aragon-born director Pilar Palomero. Palomero’s film was celebrating on four accounts, having bagged the Goyas for Best Cinematography (for Daniela Cajías), Best Original Screenplay (written by the director based on her own school days), Best New.
“The opportunity to be more innovative has been interesting,” said Gff co-director Allison Gardner.
Sweetheart, the debut film by UK director Marley Morrison, has won the audience award at the closing event of the 2021 Glasgow Film Festival (Gff), which ran online-only from February 24 to March 7.
The film made its world premiere at the festival.
The coming-of-age story, charts the relationship between two young women during a summer holiday at a caravan park in Dorset. It is the final title to come out of the latest Film London Microwave slate of low-budget projects.
It is produced by Michelle Antoniades for Hazey Jane Films,...
Sweetheart, the debut film by UK director Marley Morrison, has won the audience award at the closing event of the 2021 Glasgow Film Festival (Gff), which ran online-only from February 24 to March 7.
The film made its world premiere at the festival.
The coming-of-age story, charts the relationship between two young women during a summer holiday at a caravan park in Dorset. It is the final title to come out of the latest Film London Microwave slate of low-budget projects.
It is produced by Michelle Antoniades for Hazey Jane Films,...
- 3/8/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Schoolgirls took home four Goyas The directorial debut of Pilar Palomero has won the top prize at Spain's Goya awards - the country's equivalent of the Oscars.
Coming-of-age drama Schoolgirls won four of the nine Goyas for which it was nominated, including best film and best new director, at the hybrid ceremony, which saw the nominees take part from home.
It was also a good night for refugee crisis drama Adú, which also received four awards, including best director for salvador Calvo.
Ane Is Missing, by David Pérez Sañudo, won three Goyas, including best actress for Patricia López Arnaíz - Mario Casas was named best actor for Cross The Line - while witch hunt drama Akelarre won five and Icíar Bollaín’s Rosa’s Wedding won two.
The winners are below:
Best film - Schoolgirls
Best director - Salvador Calvo for Adú
Best new director - Pilar Palomero for Schoolgirls
Best...
Coming-of-age drama Schoolgirls won four of the nine Goyas for which it was nominated, including best film and best new director, at the hybrid ceremony, which saw the nominees take part from home.
It was also a good night for refugee crisis drama Adú, which also received four awards, including best director for salvador Calvo.
Ane Is Missing, by David Pérez Sañudo, won three Goyas, including best actress for Patricia López Arnaíz - Mario Casas was named best actor for Cross The Line - while witch hunt drama Akelarre won five and Icíar Bollaín’s Rosa’s Wedding won two.
The winners are below:
Best film - Schoolgirls
Best director - Salvador Calvo for Adú
Best new director - Pilar Palomero for Schoolgirls
Best...
- 3/7/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Goyas were presented by Antonio Banderas from the theatre he owns in Malaga.
Pilar Palomero’s directorial debut Schoolgirls won the best film and best new director award at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday March 6 in a pandemic-era ceremony that celebrated fresh voices and a strong female presence.
The hybrid ceremony - all the nominees were at home - was sober and started with a minute’s silence for the pandemic’s victims. It was also much shorter than usual. The socially-distanced red carpet was only for the celebrities in charge of giving the awards and Antonio Banderas,...
Pilar Palomero’s directorial debut Schoolgirls won the best film and best new director award at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday March 6 in a pandemic-era ceremony that celebrated fresh voices and a strong female presence.
The hybrid ceremony - all the nominees were at home - was sober and started with a minute’s silence for the pandemic’s victims. It was also much shorter than usual. The socially-distanced red carpet was only for the celebrities in charge of giving the awards and Antonio Banderas,...
- 3/7/2021
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Pilar Palomero’s coming of age drama The Girls has won the 2021 Goya Award for best film, Spain’s top film honor.
Palomero, who is a first-time feature director, was also awarded Goyas for best new director and best screenplay for her drama set in a convent school.
Netflix drama Adú was the frontrunner leading up to the ceremony with 14 nominations, and director Salvador Calvo was awarded the best director trophy. His sophomore feature follows three interconnected stories all set in Africa.
The Goya 2021 best film nominees included Ane Is Missing from David Pérez Sañudo, Icíar Bollaín’s La boda de Rosa (Rosa’...
Palomero, who is a first-time feature director, was also awarded Goyas for best new director and best screenplay for her drama set in a convent school.
Netflix drama Adú was the frontrunner leading up to the ceremony with 14 nominations, and director Salvador Calvo was awarded the best director trophy. His sophomore feature follows three interconnected stories all set in Africa.
The Goya 2021 best film nominees included Ane Is Missing from David Pérez Sañudo, Icíar Bollaín’s La boda de Rosa (Rosa’...
Pilar Palomero’s coming of age drama The Girls has won the 2021 Goya Award for best film, Spain’s top film honor.
Palomero, who is a first-time feature director, was also awarded Goyas for best new director and best screenplay for her drama set in a convent school.
Netflix drama Adú was the front-runner leading up to the ceremony with 14 nominations, and director Salvador Calvo was awarded the best director trophy. His sophomore feature follows three interconnected stories all set in Africa.
The Goya 2021 best film nominees included Ane Is Missing from David Pérez Sañudo, Icíar Bollaín’s La boda de Rosa (Rosa’...
Palomero, who is a first-time feature director, was also awarded Goyas for best new director and best screenplay for her drama set in a convent school.
Netflix drama Adú was the front-runner leading up to the ceremony with 14 nominations, and director Salvador Calvo was awarded the best director trophy. His sophomore feature follows three interconnected stories all set in Africa.
The Goya 2021 best film nominees included Ane Is Missing from David Pérez Sañudo, Icíar Bollaín’s La boda de Rosa (Rosa’...
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