News

Spain’s Latido Films has acquired Eva Libertad’s upcoming feature “Sorda,” adapted from her 2023 Spanish Academy Goya Award-nominated short of the same name.

“Sorda,” which translates to “deaf” in English, tells the story of Angela, a pregnant deaf woman, and Hector, her hearing partner. Pregnancy brings to the surface her fears about motherhood and how she will be able to communicate with her daughter. The arrival of the girl generates a crisis in the couple and leads Angela to face the upbringing of her daughter in a world that is not made for her.

Libertad wrote and is directing the film, a continuation of her 2023 short of the same name that starred her sister, Miriam Garlo. In addition to a Spanish Academy Goya nomination, the film was selected by more than 110 festivals and won more than 60 awards.

“A few years ago, my sister began to consider becoming a mother,...

Spain has been named the Country in Focus for the upcoming European Film Market at the 75th Berlinale. The EFM will run Feb. 13-19.

According to market organizers, Spain’s “many filmmakers make Spain a dynamic and strong European film location with international appeal, as well as a long-standing and successful tradition of numerous films in the festival program as well as at the EFM and in the Berlinale’s industry initiatives.”

EFM’s choice to shine a light on Spain is the latest in a string of recognitions for the Southern European country, which featured as the Country of Honor at the 2023 Marche du Film, Locarno’s Open Doors focus territory this past summer and will be the Country of Honor at Mipcom 2024 later this month.

“Spanish filmmaking has enriched the Berlinale program for decades,” Festival Director Tricia Tuttle said in a release. “Many hundreds of Spanish productions, created by outstanding and acclaimed talents,...

A museum curator faces all facets of mourning in Spanish director Sergi Pérez’s upcoming feature “Memorial,” selected to participate at Madrid’s 7th Annual Ecam Incubator, among Spain’s most prestigious international co-production forums.

Written by Pérez and Anna Cammany, the project is produced by Eave and Berlinale Talents Alum Carla Sospedra Salvadó and her production outfit Edna Cinema (“Mamífera”). Other producers include Jofre Ferré and Ander Sagardoy at Barcelona’s Sumendi Filmak (“Betiko Gaua”), Alex Lafuente at Madrid’s B Team Pictures (“Reinas”) and Jerome Vidal at Paris-based Noodles Production (“Robot Dreams”).

Having contributed to the pre-production of Carla Simon’s Golden Bear-winning Berlinale title “Alcarràs,” Sospedra has also produced Isabel Coixet and Laura Ferrés’ 2022 San Sebastian stunner “El techo amarillo,” Bélen Funes’ “Sara a la Fuga” and Simon’s 2020 short “Correspondencias,” co-directed with Dominga Sotomayor. She’s also worked with Elena Trapé, Liliana Torres (“Mamífera”) and Alba Cros...

Spanish producer Maria Zamora of Elástica Films, who has championed emerging and mostly female filmmakers through most of her 20-year career, received this year’s annual National Cinematography Award at the 72nd San Sebastian Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21.

On hand to introduce her were filmmakers Elías León Siminiani, Paula Ortiz and Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun.

Siminiani, who worked on two documentaries with Zamora in the span of 10 years, said: I’ve seen her career rise like a hot air balloon. After we stopped working together, she promptly snagged a Berlinale Golden Bear for ‘Alcarràs,’ a San Sebastian Golden Shell for ‘O Corno,’ a Goya for ‘Libertad’ and a Cannes Directors’ Fortnight award for ‘Creatura,’” he quipped.

“Indeed, in these uncertain times, we need a stabilizing force like Maria,” said Ortiz, a multi-Goya nominated filmmaker whose film “La Virgen Roja” (previously titled “Hildegart”), Elástica’s co-production with Prime Video, premieres on Sept.

Catalan Carlos Marqués-Marcet’s best film win at Toronto’s Platform for “They Will Be Dust” points to a larger trend.

Backed by generous government support, experienced producers and sales and distribution companies with impeccable track records domestically and abroad, there is a generation of Catalan filmmakers that is hitting its stride with some of the most exciting titles set to come out of Europe over the next year.

The directors who make up this group of contemporaries can no longer be called new, although many are still young and are arriving in the early middle of their careers. Most have prestigious award wins on their mantles already but still have an energy and urgency to their craft that makes their films must-watch fare.

Perhaps the most highly anticipated Catalan film on the horizon is Carla Simon’s “Romería,” the third part of a trilogy begun by 2017’s Berlin Best...

In “They Will Be Dust,” Carlos Marqués-Marcet, the Goya-winning director of “10,000 Km,” heads into a genre-bending exploration of life, love, and death. World Premiering at this year’s stacked Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform strand, the film is far from a conventional musical. It fuses contemporary dance and musical elements with the stark realities of a right-to-die story.

Co-written with Clara Roquet, whose “Libertad” garnered acclaim at both the Goya and Gaudí awards, the film is co-produced by Lastor Media, Alina Film, and Kino Produzioni— part of the same team behind Carla Simón’s Golden Bear-winning “Alcarràs.” Latido Films handles international sales.

The film centers on Claudia, played by Ángela Molina, who decides not to wait for her terminal illness to strip her of agency. Instead, she and her beloved Flavio embark on a plan to end their lives together in Switzerland. Their adult children are particularly appalled...

Last September, we had the first details on what Summer 1993 and Golden Bear winning Alcarràs (read review) filmmaker Carla Simón was cooking up for a third feature. Yesterday, we learned via the Cineuropa folks that production on Romería began this month. Newcomer Llúcia Garcia and Mitch are toplining the project with supporting players in Tristán Ulloa (of Sex and Lucía fame), Janet Novás (The Rye Horn) Celine Tyll, Miryam Gallego, Sara Casasnovas and José Ángel Egido complete the cast. Described earlier as a neorealist flamenco musical, gem cinematographer Hélène Louvart is onboard here and naturally so is producer María Zamora.…...

Carla Simón regresa con un nuevo largometraje inspirado en los orígenes de su familia biológica paterna. © Elástica Films

Comienza el rodaje en Vigo de Romería, tercer largometraje de Carla Simón tras Alcarràs y Estiu 1993, en el que vuelve a explorar las relaciones familiares, esta vez inspirándose en los orígenes de su familia biológica paterna.

Romería sigue a Marina, que viaja a Vigo para conocer a la familia de su padre biológico, que murió de sida, como su madre, cuando ella era muy pequeña. A través de los encuentros con sus tíos, tías y abuelos, Marina intenta reconstruir un relato coherente de su padre y de la historia de amor que vivió con su madre, pero no lo consigue: todos sienten demasiada vergüenza por los conflictos de la pareja con las drogas, algo que Marina les recuerda con su presencia. Será la historia de amor adolescente que vive con su primo...

New films by Julio Medem, Alejandro Amenábar, Alberto Rodríguez, Isaki Lacuesta, Jonas Trueba and Oliver Laxe join a brace of smart thrillers in a rich Cannes lineup from Spain.

“8,” (Julio Medem)

Medem returns towhat he does best: a love story transcending time and space and a poetic critique of recent history, according to sales agent Latido Films. “Fariña’s” Javier Rey and “La Mesías” Ana Rujus star as the lovers. Morena Films produces.

Sales: Latido

“As Neves,” (Sonia Méndez)

After a magic mushroom-fueled party, teens in a snowbound Galician village discover one of them is missing. The film was well-received at the Malaga festival.

Sales: Begin Again Films

“Barren Land,” (Albert Pintó)

From a director on “Money Heist” and “Berlin,” this suspense thriller captures how the drug trade devastates friendships and lives in Andalusía’s Cádiz. Film sports a great cast: Luis Zahera (“The Beasts”), Karra Elejalde (“While at War...

Spanish cinema is expanding, opening up attractive film avenues to reach the worldwide market, driven by upscale commercial projects, blending of genres and a new generation of emerging female directors.

The country’s filmmakers landed three Oscar nominations: Juan A. Bayona with “Society of the Snow” (inter- national feature and makeup and hair styling); and Pablo Berger with “Robot Dreams” (animated feature). Also, four of Netflix’s top five most-popular non-English films ever are from Spain.

“The boom in talent is making for a unique and very diverse cinema,” says Guillermo Farré, Movistar Plus+ head of original films and Spanish cinema.

“The great foreign perception of Spanish cinema is driven by the productions’ quality and their international diffusion,” says Elástica Films’ María Zamora, producer of Carla Simón’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner “Alcarrás.”

“Spanish cinema is evolving with the appearance of new voices especially female and new ways of narrating,...

Catalan films routinely punch above their weight at high-profile international festivals: Think 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs.” That trend looks primed to continue in 2024.

Catalan auteur Albert Serra will debut “Afternoons of Solitude,” co-produced by Catalan companies Andergraun Films and Lacima, with Ideale Audience and Tardes de Soledad.

A fall fest bet, “They Will Be Dust,” from Carlos Marqués- Marcet, is produced by Catalonia’s Lastor Media alongside Chile’s Alina Film and Kino Produzioni in Italy.

Few regions boast a lineup of female filmmakers as impressive as Catalonia. This year, new films from Goya Award winners Pilar Palomero (“Glimmers”) and Belén Funes (“The Turtles”) are strong contenders for festival recognition.

With the backing of Catalonia’s Minority Co-Production Fund, four international co-prods are poised to make a significant impact on this year’s festival circuit. Keep an eye out for Javier Rebollo’s “Close to the Sultan”, Calia Atan...

Be For Films has acquired international sales rights to “Mothers Don’t” (“Las madres no”) directed by celebrated Spanish filmmaker Mar Coll.

The film marks her third directorial outing following “Three Days with the Family“ and “We All Want What’s Best for Her.” The movie tells the story of María, a young writer who has just become a mother, and becomes obsessed by the highly publicized case of a woman who drowned her 10-month old twins in the bathtub. Through writing, María starts understanding the radical experience of her own motherhood.

“Mothers Don’t” stars Laura Weissmahr (“Cardo”), Oriol Pla (“Creatura”), Giannina Fruttero (“Smiley”) and Belén Cruz (“Cell 211”). The film is produced by Escándalo Films and Elastica Films. The latter will distribute “Mothers Don’t” in Spain.

“María, the protagonist of our story is a repentant mother, an association of words that generates automatic unease,” said Coll, who...

Spain’s Latido Films has boarded international sales on Carlos Marques-Marcet’s drama They Will Be Dust (Polvo serán). Elástica Films will handle distribution in Spain.

It tells the story of a woman, Claudia (Angela Molina) diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour who takes a last trip to Switzerland to decide how and when to end her life with the help of an assisted dying association. Her partner (Alfredo Castro), and daughter (Mònica Almirall) must work out where they fit in.

The screenplay is by long-time co-writer Clara Roquet, director of 2021 Cannes Critics Week title Libertad, who wrote Marques-Marcet’s previous film Long Distance.

Spain’s Latido Films has boarded international sales on Carlos Marques-Marcet’s musical They Will Be Dust (Polvo serán). Elástica Films will handle distribution in Spain.

It tells the story of a woman, Claudia (Angela Molina) diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour who takes a last trip to Switzerland to decide how and when to end her life with the help of an assisted dying association. Her partner (Alfredo Castro), and daughter (Mònica Almirall) must work out where they fit in.

The screenplay is by long-time co-writer Clara Roquet, director of 2021 Cannes Critics Week title Libertad, who wrote Marques-Marcet’s previous film Long Distance.

New projects from directors including Agnieszka Holland, Carla Simon, Joachim Trier, Amanda Kernell and Tarik Saleh are among 26 features to receive backing from Eurimages’ in its latest round of co-production funding.

The 26 features – including five documentaries and one animation – have shared a total of €7m funding. Fourteen are to be directed by women.

Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s Franz Kafka biopic Franz received €500,000 ahead of an expected shoot in Czech Republic and Germany next month with newcomer Idan Weiss to play Kafka. Holland’s most recent film Green Border won the special jury prize in competition at Venice in 2023.

Spain’s Carla Simon,...

Una lista de 10 películas del 27 Festival de Málaga que no te puedes perder.

Con la 27ª edición del Festival de Málaga finalizada, desde mundoCine te traemos las diez recomendaciones que no te puedes perder a lo largo de los próximos meses. Películas que han cautivado a los asistentes de esta edición, y que se estrenarán en cines en breve. Echémosles un vistazo:

10. Radical (Christopher Zalla)

¿Por qué deberías verla? La película galardonada con la Biznaga de Oro a Mejor Película Iberoamericana nos narra la historia real de un grupo de chavales de instituto que son inspirados por su nuevo maestro (interpretado de forma magistral por el gran Eugenio Derbez) y que tratan de sacar todo su potencial para huir de un pueblo en la frontera con Estados Unidos lleno de abandono, corrupción y violencia.

Una cinta plagada de sentidas y emotivas actuaciones por parte de su elenco más joven, que...

Malaga, Spain — Traditionally, until a few years back, a Spanish film industry debate led to a “Wall of Laments” which ended up as a call for increased governmental support.

That was then. €70 million ($76.8 million) in 2023, €100 million ($109 million) last year, Spain’s Icaa film institute budget could add another €30 million ($32.7 million) with a little luck this year, said Rocío Juanas de Toledo, its secretary general at a panel, Spanish Cinema Models Examined, one of the key industry debates at this week’s Malaga Festival.

Panelists represented Spain’s three biggest content investors – Movistar Plus+, Atresmedia and Rtve – and two top producers: Morena Films and Elástica Films.

It took speakers less than two minutes to zero in on Spain’s biggest immediate challenge: Its still underperforming box office, down 24% on pre-pandemic levels.

“Our major concern is how to recuperate the cinema theater audiences we had before the pandemic,” said Jaime Ortiz, Atresmedia Cine director general.

M-Appeal has closed distribution deals in key territories for “Sex,” which had its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama section.

The film, the first part of the “Sex Dreams Love” trilogy by Norway’s Dag Johan Haugerud, has garnered attention for its thought-provoking exploration of sexuality and gender roles.

All rights for the film have been sold to Pyramide Distribution for France, JinJin Pictures for South Korea and Cinobo for Greece.

“Sex” follows two men in heterosexual marriages, who have an unexpected experience that challenges them to reconsider their understanding of sexuality, gender and identity. One has a sexual encounter with another man, without considering it either as an expression of homosexuality or infidelity and discusses it with his wife afterwards. The other finds himself in nocturnal dreams where he is seen as a woman, stirring confusion and leading him to question how much his personality is shaped by the gaze of others.

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.

Italy’s Fandango Sales has taken global distribution rights outside Italy to Carlo Sironi’s coming-of-age drama “My Summer With Irène,” which will premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation section.

Sironi, whose first feature “Sole” made a splash on the international fest circuit, is back with this relationship drama starring rising French indie star Noée Abita (“Slalom”) and Maria Camilla Barandenburg (“Slam Italia”) playing two 17-year-olds named Clara and Irène who both have health issues. Shortly after meeting, they run away together to an island where they experience an unforgettable summer.

“Sole,” a love story intertwined with a baby trafficking plot and commentary on Italy’s surrogacy law, went to Venice and Toronto in 2019, catching the eye of master Vittorio Taviani, who chose Sironi as his on-stage partner for Berlin’s 2020 On Transmission director-on-director talks.

Sironi was among Variety’s 10 European Directors to Watch in 2020.

“Summer With Irène...

Over the last seven years, Catalonia has built a thriving film industry which has been the envy of other regions across Europe, boasting a thriving co-production scene, a burgeoning animation industry, a 2022 Berlin Golden Bear with Clara Simon’s “Alcarrás,” and a bevy of prizes at 2023’s Berlinale, thanks to “20,000 Species of Bees.”

Catalonia even brought down the flag with Simon’s “Summer 1993,” a 2017 Berlin Best First Feature Film winner, on what could be hailed as a first film movement in Spain in decades: Fiction films grounded in a large sense upon a specific place, but talking about big social or gender issues.

Now Catalonia is attempting to achieve the same impact with its TV industry. Its early results led by “This Is Not Sweden,” will play out at Content Americas and most especially Sweden Göteborg Festival’s TV strand, TV Drama Vision.

Bowing November in Spain on...

Screen shines a light on 30 European titles that look set to grab the attention of festival directors in 2023, including new features by Tom Tykwer, Paz Vega, Paolo Sorrentino, Cecilia Verheyden and Baltasar Kormakur.

For our separate list of French festival hopefuls for 2024, click here.

Ariel (Sp-Por)

Dir. Lois Patiño

Patiño won the Encounters special jury prize at Berlin last year for Samsara and picked up the emerging director prize at Locarno in 2013 with Coast Of Death. His latest is a free adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, shot in Galicia and The Azores islands. Ariel stars Goya winner Irene Escolar...

The Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 15-25, has revealed the lineup of its Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Producers of 34 film projects from 27 countries will be pitching to potential financing and co-production partners at the 21st Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 17-21. Seventeen projects are directed by women. There were 318 submissions, a slight increase from last year.

Eighteen of the projects are already partly financed with budgets ranging between Euros 600,000 and Euros 5 million ($5.47 million). Among the directors whose new works are likely to spark interest are Ukrainian filmmakers Kateryna Gornostai, who won a Crystal Bear for “Stop-Zemlia” in 2021, and Antonio Lukich, the director of “Luxembourg, Luxembourg,” which played in Venice in 2022, Italy’s Andrea Pallaoro, Serbian director and actor Mirjana Karanović, and the Chinese-Japanese directing duo Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka.

The Berlinale Directors section features three brand-new projects by directors who have had films at the Berlinale in the past: “Alma” from Sally Potter,...

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the 34 projects, hailing from 27 countries and selected from 318 submissions, that will be showcased at its Berlinale Co-Production Market, running from February 17 to 21. (scroll down for full list)

The 18 projects in the official selection include upcoming works from Ukrainian directors Kateryna Gornostai (Stop-Zemila) and Antonio Lukich as well as Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro (Monica), Turkey’s Burak Çevik (Hesitation Wound), Serb director and actor Mirjana Karanović (A Good Wife) and Chinese-Japanese directing duo Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka (Stonewalling).

The Official Selection projects are already partly financed and have budgets between 600,000 and five million euros.

The Berlinale Directors section showcasing new projects from festival habitués in the early funding stages includes Sally Potter’s upcoming production Alma about a family on an expedition to scatter the ashes of an archaeologist.

Two projects by Andreas Fontana and Fradique have also been selected as part of the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express initiative,...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

There was much to be thankful for in 2023. Besides new works by several legendary directors, there were personal opportunities that allowed me to spread a larger net and take stock of the cinema landscape from a more privileged vantage point. I got to attend the Cannes and Toronto film festivals for the first time and also became a voter for some key year-end awards. The experience of thus watching films, before most of my cinephile brethren, allowed me to contemplate how much campaigns and narratives can alter a film’s reception and trajectory.

What has come into sharper relief, and what is evident from the list below too, is that Cannes has the lock on much of the best product of the year––at least anything not...

Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market saw Spanish distributors showcase acquired films to local streamers, TV networks and exhibitors.

Merci, Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market, enjoyed a 20% rise in the number of professionals attending this year.

Merci, which ran from October 25-27, provides an opportunity for Spanish independent distributors to meet with platforms, TV networks and distributors, and to show them selection of their recent acquisitions.

Among the 24 titles being screened by distributors at Merci Valladolid this year were Tran Anh Hung’s The Pot Au Feu, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Aki Kaurismäki...

Barcelona-born director Carla Simón, whose sophomore film “Alcarràs” clinched the 72nd Berlinale Golden Bear last year, received the 2023 National Cinematography Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by Spain’s Ministry of Culture.

On hand to present the award in a ceremony held at the San Sebastian Film Festival was Miguel Iceta, Spain’s Minister of Culture and Sports, who first addressed Simón in Catalan before switching to Spanish: “With only two feature films, you have left your mark on the recent history of cinema in our country: a short but undisputed trajectory in terms of its strength and personality, recognized both nationally and internationally. A career that is nothing but the promise of a much longer and fruitful one.”

“This award, if you’ll allow me the audacity, is also for all the women who accompany you, for all your professional colleagues and peers, for all those women who,...

“Yo no moriré de amor,” the feature debut of theatre actress Marta Matute, among the five titles selected by the Madrid Film School’s Ecam incubator program, has been boarded by Elastica Films,

whose credits include Berlinale Golden Bear prize winner “Alcarràs” and “Creatura,” Elena Martin’s best European film winner at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The family drama is lead produced by José Esteban Alenda and César Esteban Alenda’s Solita Films, which saw their first international co-production, “El despertar de las hormigas,” by Costa Rican Antonella Sudasassi, world premiere at Berlinale’s Forum and become the first Central American film to be nominated for a Spanish Goya.

Executive producer Cecilia Rivas of Solita Films told Variety she is hoping to close a European co-production deal for “Yo no moriré de amor” in San Sebastian.

“Elastica Films makes an ideal partner as we share the same vision,” she noted, adding...

Golden Bear winner Carla Simon has reteamed with her Alcarràs (read review) producer Elástica Films’ Maria Zamora for what is coined as neo-realist flamenco musical to be set in Barcelona. Variety reports that Romería (the third part of Simón’s trilogy that follows her last pair of features ) is still set to shoot in Summer 2024 for what will be an A-list film festival showcase in 2025.

Plucked from the interview with Variety, Simon describes the new film as a “neorealist flamenco musical in the neighbourhood of La Mina, Barcelona” and the roots of the project are tied to family “since I discovered that my biological mother was passionate about flamenco, a great curiosity began to grow in me for this genre, because of its history and its exceptional capacity to connect directly with emotion,” she explained to Variety.…...

In what marks a departure in her filmmaking, Carla Simon, director of Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” is preparing a flamenco musical for her fourth feature.

Like “Alcarràs,” the project is set to be produced by María Zamora at her Valencia-based production-distribution house Elastica Films.

“Romería,” the third part of Simón’s trilogy begun by 2017’s “Summer 1993,” is still set to shoot in Summer 2024, Zamora told Variety.

“But we can’t wait to start shaping this fascinating proposal that excites me as a producer,”she added.

Simón describes the new film as a “neorealist flamenco musical in the neighbourhood of La Mina, Barcelona.”

“Since I discovered that my biological mother was passionate about flamenco, a great curiosity began to grow in me for this genre, because of its history and its exceptional capacity to connect directly with emotion,” she explained to Variety.

“This time music and dance will become the...

Driving into Spanish-language movies and series, Amazon Studios is hoping to repeat the success of “Argentina, 1985” with big Spanish period production “Hildegart,” starring Najwa Nimri and Alba Planas (“Skam España”), which wrapped production Aug. 19 in Madrid.

“Hildegart” has shot in the Spanish capital filming seven weeks and some days at historical heritage sites such as Spain’s Congress, Madrid’s Puerta del Sol central square, and its Atheneum.

Directed by Paula Ortiz, “Hildegart” is a fact-based tale of the extraordinary and tragic life of Spain’s Hildegart Rodríguez, born in 1914, a child prodigy raised by her mother to be a model for future women, who gave conferences on feminism and sexuality from the age of 11, writing on prostitution, contraception and eugenics – her monograph “Profilaxis anticoncepcional” sold 8,000 copies in one week just in Madrid – and accompanied H.G. Wells when he made a visit to Spain.

Sensing that she was losing control of her daughter – who,...

Oscar winner Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”), “The Secret Life of Words” director Isabel Coixet and “Veneno” writer-director-producers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo feature among talent behind Spanish titles at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the highest profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world.

Coixet will compete for the first time in San Sebastian’s main competition with “Un Amor,” a probing village-set tale of emotional dependence starring Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) and “Money Heist’s” Hovik Keuchkerian.

Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal will present as a special screening animated feature “They Shot the Piano Player,” a joyful and finally devastating portrait of the life and fate of pianist Francisco Tenorio Jr. narrated by Jeff Goldblum.

Ambrossi and Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – will world premiere “La Mesías,” the most awaited Spanish series of the year, a big-scale, period-hopping Movistar Plus+ original, chronicling the devastating effect of a childhood education,...

Fired By Finas

The Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas), the government-backed agency that oversees the country’s film industry, has dismissed its CEO Nasir Ibrahim after less than two years in the job. It follows the return of Kamil Othman who was appointed chairman in February.

Finas notification

The latest move was announced on the organization’s Facebook page, along with the appointment of Rozita Waty Ridzuan as Finas interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.

The notice was vague on the reasons for Ibrahim’s early termination, explaining that it was part of a wider recalibration of creative industry policies. “This initiative will hopefully further help Malaysian filmmakers and industry players to produce quality films that have high value in both local and international markets,” the statement said.

Swimming Further

Zdf Studios has sold “The Swarm” (8 x 45 mins), by multiple Primetime Emmy award-winner Frank Doelger (“Game of Thrones...

“Creatura,” the feature debut of Elena Martín, exploring female sexual desire and repression, has won this year’s 20th Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European Film at the 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Announced Thursday by Europa Cinemas, ahead of the closing ceremony this afternoon, the prize is one of two at Directors’ Fortnight, and awarded by one of the sidebar’s partners, given the section is non-competitive.

A second partner plaudit, the Sacd Prize, handed out by France’s Writers’ Guild, will be announced simultaneously to the Europa Cinemas Label.

“Creature” hit Cannes will multiple tailwinds. Like last year’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” it’s made by an emerging woman director associated by the so-called Catalan New Wave of helmers and producers making films twinning a strong sense of place and universal issues.

The second feature from 2021 Málaga best director Martín (“Júlia ist”) and a “Veneno” writer and “Perfect Life” director,...

Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission, will preside over the jury of the Malta Film Commission’s inaugural Mediterrane Film Festival celebrating movies from the Mediterranean Basin.

The fest, which will take place in Valletta, Malta’s capital, and other locations on the island between June 25-30, will showcase films from each of the MED9 nations, an alliance of nine Mediterranean and Southern European Union member states. It comprises: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.

Besides Wotton the other jury members are “Triangle Of Sadness” actor Zlatko Burić; Cypriot filmmaker Tonia Mishiali; French actor and director Vahina Giocante; Greek producer Amanda Livanou; Italian journalist Boris Sollazzo; Maltese critic Mario Azzopardi; Portuguese journalist and programmer José Vieira Mendes; Slovenian journalist Tina Poglajen; and Spanish programmer Carlos Reviriego.

Alice Diop’s prize-winning Venice 2022 title “Saint Omer” (pictured); Carla Simon’s Berlin Golden Bear...

The inaugural Mediterrane Film Festival will take place June 25-30 in Malta

Adrian Wotton, CEO of Film London and British Film Commission, will head the international jury of Malta Film Commission’s inaugural Mediterrane Film Festival, taking place on the island from June 25 to 30.

Further jury members are Triangle Of Sadness actor Zlatko Burić, Cypriot filmmaker Tonia Mishiali, French actor and director Vahina Giocante, Greek producer Amanda Livanou, Italian journalist Boris Sollazzo, Maltese critic Mario Azzopardi, Portuguese journalist and programmer José Vieira Mendes, Slovenian journalist Tina Poglajen and Spanish programmer Carlos Reviriego.

The nine films in the competition include Alice Diop...

Spain’s status as Cannes’ Marché du Film’s Country of Honor is a “milestone,” says María Peña, CEO of Icex Spain Trade & Investment.

But it’s also a mark of recognition, she says, after Spain’s big wins just this year at the Berlinale and France’s Cesars.

Peña also points to April’s MipTV, where Rafael Cobos’ “The Left Handed Son,” from Movistar Plus+, won Canneseries’ Short Format Competition, and “The Caravan,” produced by Barcelona’s Caravan Films, the first MipDoc International Buyers Screenings honors.

Last year, Spain scooped up a Berlin Golden Bear (“Alcarràs”) and an Oscar (Alberto Mielgo’s “The Windshield Wiper”).

Spain is on a roll. That cuts multiple ways, however, explaining both the Country of Honor designation, and the country’s presence at large at Cannes this year. Seven takeaways about Spain:

Talent, Large Talent

Victor Erice, Pedro Almodóvar, Alberto Mielgo, Rodrigo Blaas — Cannes...

Bolstered by robust public-sector funds, a savvy new generation of filmmakers — many of them women — and world-class film schools, Catalonia has become one of Europe’s most vibrant regional audiovisual forces.

The proof can be found at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. More than 50 Catalan companies — some 100 executives and creatives — are expected to attend. Five films, four by new directors, have made the official cut at Cannes; six projects play in Marché du Film showcases.

The three biggest Catalan movies at the festival, Elena Martin’s “Creature,” Pham Thiên An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” both in Directors’ Fortnight, and Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams,” playing out of competition, also underscore strong trends coursing through current Catalan cinema, including international co-production and an exploding animation scene.

“Co-producing is at the core of the European cinema industry and has always had more pros than cons,” says Vilaüt Films’ Ariadna Dot,...

Five Catalan movies made Cannes Festival’s cut, six were selected for Marché du Film sections. Details and other top Catalan movies on the Croisette:

“20,000 Species of Bees,” (Estibaliz Urresola)

One of the big winners at Berlin, taking Leading Performance, and two other key prizes, and now healthy racking up healthy sales, including a Film Movement U.S. pickup, “Bees” builds from a naturalistic base – a family off for a village summer holiday – to become a moving an ode to women’s freedom. Produced out of Barcelona by Valérie Delpierre’s Inicia Films. Sales: Luxbox

“Blondi,” (Dolores Fonzi)

From La Unión de los Ríos, behind “Argentina, 1985”), the awaited directorial debut of Fonzi, star of Santiago Mitre’s Cannes winner “Paulina,” a double mother-son coming of age dramedy. Sales: Film Factory

“A Bright Sun,” (Monica Cambra, Ariadna Fortuny)

Facing the end of the world, Mila, 11, tries to keep her family together by celebrating a party.

In April 2018, Netflix announced that Spanish heist thriller “Money Heist” (“La Casa de Papel”) had become the U.S. streaming service’s most-watched non-English series ever.

With a Spanish series crowned as the first foreign-language blockbuster at the company that has transformed entertainment worldwide, Spain’s expansion — long nurtured by hits such as “The Red Band Society,” “Grand Hotel” and “Locked Up” — well and truly lifted off.

Building on that success, in March 2021, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez unveiled the Avs Hub Plan, which would invest €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion) into Spain’s audiovisual sector.

For a country in which the word españolada was used to write off supposed second-rate homegrown fare, the re-positioning of Spain’s film and TV industries as core drivers in its digital post-pandemic “reindustrialization” is little short of a revolution. Spain, Cannes Marché du Film’s 2023 country of honor, now accounts for seven of the 20 entries in...

Amazon’s Prime Video has announced a 2023 Spanish production slate which takes in movies and series from directors, writers and above all producers who have set Spain’s box office and global streamer rankings on fire over the last decade.

Talent attached to the three new movies and three series unveiled Tuesday in Madrid at a Prime Video Presents Spain event include “Hildegart,” from the producers of 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” “Un hipster en la España vacía,” produced by Lazona Films, which made ”Spanish Affair,” the highest grossing Spanish film ever in Spain; and “Apocalipsis Z: El principio del fin,” backed by Nostromo Pictures, behind “Through My Window,” the sixth-most watched non-English movie ever on Netflix.

Another title, docuseries “El Circo de los Muchachos” is co-written by Pepe Coira, co-scribe of “Hierro” and “Rapa,” two of the most popular series to date on Telefonica’s Movistar+.

The news slate...

Award-winning Catalan peach farm drama Alcarràs joins an impressive crop of movies​ about living off the land​, from Minari and The Grapes of Wrath to Babe

We’re officially into spring now, a time when even lifelong city-dwellers like me start entertaining bucolic thoughts. Pleasing as it is to see daffodils blooming in a London park, the seasonal rewards of new life and renewed warmth are always best illustrated in a farming environment.

Which isn’t to over-romanticise the farming world: Spanish director Carla Simón’s lovely Alcarràs (2022; now streaming on Mubi and coming to DVD on Monday) certainly doesn’t. Earthy and angry, this portrait of a Catalan peach-farming family being forced off the land they’ve held for generations captures the occasional, elemental rewards of agricultural life, but also its punishing grind – and thus fits into a rich tradition of films where the dramatic stakes, tensions and catharses...

Middle-class incomers to a remote village in Spain’s ‘wild west’ expose fear, resentment and nationalism in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s disturbing true-crime drama

Here is a fierce, bitter tale with a flinty sharpness: partly a social-realist drama of class and xenophobia, and partly a rural noir horror, a Euro-arthouse twist on Straw Dogs or Deliverance. It’s inspired by the true story from 2010 of a middle-class hippy idealist Dutch couple who attempted to settle in the Spanish village of Santoalla in Galicia’s remote “wild west” and fell out badly with their neighbours over their gentrification plans: a row that escalated into a nightmare. It has in fact already been the subject of a documentary, Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s Santoalla, and has now been fictionalised by film-maker Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs play Antoine and Olga, an educated French couple who have moved into the area...

Recently, there has been a consistent tide of well crafted and highly regarded films coming out of Spain. “Alcarràs,” “The Beasts,” “Lullaby,” “La Maternal,” “Prison 77,” to name just the five that the Spanish Academy Goyas singled out in early February.

This level of quality, over a short period, is getting noticed internationally. Last week the Glasgow Film Festival, Scotland’s largest, shone a light on eight films in its Viva el Cine Español program. A cultural moment is a strange beast, hard to fathom, but there are strong signals that Spanish Film is having one.

In addition to the aforementioned five, Glasgow added Andrea Bagney’s debut “Ramona,” “Wild Flowers,” from Jaime Rosales, another debut with Elena López Riera’s “The Water,” and a Penelope Cruz starrer, in Juan Diego Botto’s “On The Fringe.”

Glasgow’s Festival co-director Allison Gardner told Variety: “We seem to be seeing films...

Running March 13-17, the Málaga Festival’s Mafiz-Spanish Screenings Content weigh in this year as one of the biggest dedicated Spanish movie platforms in history, boasting also a strong line in Latin American arthouse projects and productions. 10 Takes as the event kicks off, blessed by early Spring sunshine, in the Andalusian city:

Xxxl

In 2022, super-sized by the Spanish Screenings Content, part of Spain’s €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) Avs Spain Hub, a vibrant Mafiz, the Malaga Film Festival industry area, fair exploded, delivering a sterling confirmation of Spain’s build as a fiction force in a platform age, aided by robust state sector backing. This year, Mafiz looks even larger. At 1,560 delegates and counting as of March 6, Mafiz is tracking to pass 2022’s final attendance figure of around 1,600, Juan Antonio Vigar, Málaga Festival director told Variety. Participants come from 62 countries, up from 53 last year. “The event’s consolidation is clear,” Vigar added.

The festival is an important stopping point for directors including Carla Simon and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa.

Malaga film festival director Juan Antonio Vigar is ready for the curtain to rise on his 10th edition in charge of the Andalucian event.

The world premiere of Someone To Look After Me (Alguien Que Cuide De Mí ), novelist Elvira Lindo’s debut as a film director, will open the festival tonight, screening out of competition. It will close on March 19 with the world premiere of Paz Jiménez’s Como Dios Manda, also playing out of competition.

Vigar has programmed a competition line-up...

Cannes’ Marché du Film has named Spain its Country of Honor for the upcoming 2023 edition which will take place May 16-24 during the 76th edition of the Festival de Cannes.

The Marché du Film will work with Icex Spain Trade & Investment and Icaa – Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts to showcase Spanish talent and content, ranging from cinema to documentary, animation and extended reality.

Spain follows India which became Cannes’ first official Country of Honor in 2022. The industry event launched the initiative last year to spotlight and celebrate different nations at each market edition.

Spain’s cinema sector has been having a banner 2023. Last month, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s debut feature “20,000 Species of Bees” won three awards at the Berlinale, while Albert Serra’s “Pacifiction” won two Cesar awards, and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” won the Cesar award for best foreign film. Recent successes last year also include Carla Simón...

The Cannes film market, the Marché du Film, will this year pay tribute to the Spanish movie industry, naming Spain its official country of honor for 2023.

Spain is the Marché’s second country of honor, following India last year. The tribute is meant to spotlight a nation’s film industry across the spectrum, from features and documentaries to animation and extended reality. Spain’s ministries of trade and investment and its Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts (Icaa) will work together with the Marché to highlight Spanish content and talent in Cannes this year. The umbrella promotional group Cinema from Spain will again be on-site to boost the presence of Spanish industry professionals.

“We are proud to have Spain as our country of honor for this special market edition,” said Marché executive director Guillaume Esmiol. “For my first year as the head of the Marché, I am particularly grateful and thrilled...

As the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival drew to a close, the first of the three major international film festivals began giving out its awards. This year’s Berlin jury was headed by Kristen Stewart, and the selections promised to reflect the actress’ famously good taste in movies. But a strong lineup featuring a variety of innovative films from the world’s top directors ensured that their job was never going to be easy. From a timely documentary about the war in Ukraine to a variety of dramas about men trapped in small spaces (see: “Inside” and “Manhole”), the eclectic collection of films had something for everyone.

At last year’s festival, Carla Simon’s Spanish Drama “Alcarras” won the coveted Golden Bear. Several of the biggest names in global cinema also walked away with big prizes, as Claire Denis won the Silver Bear for Best Director for “Both Sides of the Blade...

Carla Simón's Alcarràs is now showing exclusively on Mubi starting February 24, 2023, in many countries—including the United Kingdom, United States, India, Turkey, Ireland, and Brazil—in the series The New Auteurs.Alcarràs (2022).Although it unfolds in the languorous heat of high summer, life is not all peaches and cream for the farming family at the center of Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s lyrical second feature. The Solé family have been harvesting peaches in the titular village for decades, and, as the film so acutely portrays, working the land is no mean feat. Soft-fruit farming is a risky business: the fleshy crop spoils quickly and must be harvested fast. This sense of working on borrowed time is compounded by the situation the Solé clan suddenly find themselves in. With the old landowner dead, the new landlord plans to replace the ancient fruit trees with far more profitable solar panels. Served with an eviction notice,...