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,...
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,...
- 5/15/2024
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
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.
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.
- 5/3/2024
- ScreenDaily
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.
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.
- 5/3/2024
- ScreenDaily
The results of the first Eurimages Project Evaluation Session of 2024 have been unveiled and among the batch of European-based filmmakers to receive some much-appreciated coin we find Tarik Saleh’s Eagles of the Republic, Carla Simon’s Romería, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Agnieszka Holland’s Franz, Amanda Kernell’s The Curse, a Love Story and Hafsia Herzi’s The Last One. For the most part, these projects are expected to move into production as early as this spring and get major film festival premieres starting in 2025. 26 fiction films received coin with five docu projects. Here are the films:
Brave – Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (Switzerland) – €300 000
Desire Lines – Dane Komljen (Serbia) – €120 000
Don’t Let Me Die – Andrei Epure (Romania) – €150 000
Eagles of the Republic – Tarik Saleh (Sweden) – €500 000
Fed Up – Júlia De Paz Solvas (Spain) – €250 000
Finale Allegro – Emanuela Piovano (Italy) – €150 000
Franz – Agnieszka Holland (Poland) – €500 000
God Will Not Help – Hana Jušić (Croatia) – €390 000
Haven of Hope – Seemab...
Brave – Marie-Elsa Sgualdo (Switzerland) – €300 000
Desire Lines – Dane Komljen (Serbia) – €120 000
Don’t Let Me Die – Andrei Epure (Romania) – €150 000
Eagles of the Republic – Tarik Saleh (Sweden) – €500 000
Fed Up – Júlia De Paz Solvas (Spain) – €250 000
Finale Allegro – Emanuela Piovano (Italy) – €150 000
Franz – Agnieszka Holland (Poland) – €500 000
God Will Not Help – Hana Jušić (Croatia) – €390 000
Haven of Hope – Seemab...
- 3/26/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
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,...
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,...
- 3/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
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.
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.
- 2/20/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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
Behind the scenes at the talent development lab-meets-industry market.
The TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) can be hard to classify. On the one hand, it is a talent development initiative with an emphasis on art and craft; on the other, serious business is frequently done at the annual two-day meeting.
Filmmakers describe it in hallowed tones, referring to a “sacred” space, as sharp-eyed sales agents, producers and financiers attend in search of fresh projects to add to their market slates.
What is not hard to assess is Tfl’s success. Filmmakers to have participated in the past few years have gone on to...
The TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) can be hard to classify. On the one hand, it is a talent development initiative with an emphasis on art and craft; on the other, serious business is frequently done at the annual two-day meeting.
Filmmakers describe it in hallowed tones, referring to a “sacred” space, as sharp-eyed sales agents, producers and financiers attend in search of fresh projects to add to their market slates.
What is not hard to assess is Tfl’s success. Filmmakers to have participated in the past few years have gone on to...
- 12/4/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
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...
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...
- 10/30/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
Cementing its reputation as a harbinger of emerging talent, Madrid-based Latido Films has acquired the international sales rights to “Tras el Verano,” the debut film from Yolanda Centeno picked out as one of Variety’s 10 Women Directors to Watch from Spain, compiled in 2021.
Alfa Pictures is handling distribution in Spain.
Following on hits such as Colombia’s “Killing Jesus” and “Carmen & Lola” and “Lullaby” from Spain, this acquisition not only underscores Latido’s interest in nurturing and promoting fresh, innovative voices in cinema but also highlights the strength of a new generation of talent emanating from the Spanish-speaking world.
Centeno’s debut feature has attracted strong talent in the form of Goya and Gaudi winners Ruth Gabriel (“Numbered Days”) and Alexandra Jiménez (“The Distances” “100 Metres”).
Joining them is actor Juan Diego Botto whose own directorial debut “On The Fringe” reaped recognition at the Goyas, Venice and other festivals.
Alfa Pictures is handling distribution in Spain.
Following on hits such as Colombia’s “Killing Jesus” and “Carmen & Lola” and “Lullaby” from Spain, this acquisition not only underscores Latido’s interest in nurturing and promoting fresh, innovative voices in cinema but also highlights the strength of a new generation of talent emanating from the Spanish-speaking world.
Centeno’s debut feature has attracted strong talent in the form of Goya and Gaudi winners Ruth Gabriel (“Numbered Days”) and Alexandra Jiménez (“The Distances” “100 Metres”).
Joining them is actor Juan Diego Botto whose own directorial debut “On The Fringe” reaped recognition at the Goyas, Venice and other festivals.
- 10/30/2023
- by Callum McLennan
- Variety Film + TV
An eight-year-old struggles with her gender identity one long, hot summer in Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s beguiling debut feature
There’s something transformative about the summer holidays. Those long, relaxed weeks released from the constraints and expectations of school offer the promise of reinvention, of hitherto undreamed of freedoms. The blank slate of vacation friendships, forged in the moment, with no historical baggage to drag along, gives a chance to start again. It’s no coincidence that so many coming-of-age films unfold against the languid backdrop of an endless childhood summer. But for some kids, that sense of release brings with it its own particular stresses and anxieties. 20,000 Species of Bees, the assured feature debut from Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren joins pictures such as Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy and Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 in using summer as the foundation for a story of a child struggling...
There’s something transformative about the summer holidays. Those long, relaxed weeks released from the constraints and expectations of school offer the promise of reinvention, of hitherto undreamed of freedoms. The blank slate of vacation friendships, forged in the moment, with no historical baggage to drag along, gives a chance to start again. It’s no coincidence that so many coming-of-age films unfold against the languid backdrop of an endless childhood summer. But for some kids, that sense of release brings with it its own particular stresses and anxieties. 20,000 Species of Bees, the assured feature debut from Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren joins pictures such as Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy and Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 in using summer as the foundation for a story of a child struggling...
- 10/29/2023
- by Wendy Ide
- The Guardian - Film News
Spanish distributors will present their international titles to exhibitors, broadcasters and platforms st the Merci market.
Seminci, the Valladolid International Film Week, will host an expanded third edition of Spain’s Independent Film Market for the first time from October 25-27.
Known as Merci Valladolid, the market is jointly organised by Seminci and the Association of Independent Film Distributors (Adicine).
The market used to be held at the Seville European Film Festival, which was previously run by Seminici’s new director José Luis Cienfuegos.
Sixteen Spanish independent distributors will present their international titles to exhibitors, television networks and platforms at Merci Valladolid.
Seminci, the Valladolid International Film Week, will host an expanded third edition of Spain’s Independent Film Market for the first time from October 25-27.
Known as Merci Valladolid, the market is jointly organised by Seminci and the Association of Independent Film Distributors (Adicine).
The market used to be held at the Seville European Film Festival, which was previously run by Seminici’s new director José Luis Cienfuegos.
Sixteen Spanish independent distributors will present their international titles to exhibitors, television networks and platforms at Merci Valladolid.
- 10/24/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Thankfully recovering after a brutal bout with Covid-19, Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev will return with Jupiter. Variety reports the “politically-minded movie” tells the story of “a Russian oligarch’s reckoning with the harsh reality of his family’s future,” with a shoot set in Spain and France this spring. “The nature of absolute power is a universal theme, and through this prism we can look at any cultural landscape or historical era,” the director said.
Following Summer 1993 and Alcarràs, Carla Simon is prepping a summer shoot for the final entry in her trilogy with the flamenco musical Romería. Speaking to Variety, the director said, “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 added “This time music and dance will become the challenge...
Following Summer 1993 and Alcarràs, Carla Simon is prepping a summer shoot for the final entry in her trilogy with the flamenco musical Romería. Speaking to Variety, the director said, “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 added “This time music and dance will become the challenge...
- 10/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: The London Film School (Lfs) has been hit with a new round of senior managerial exits.
Dan Lawson, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, and Véronique Fricke, the longstanding Head of Marketing and Student Recruitment, have resigned from their positions. The pair announced their departures at a recent managerial meeting. The rest of the school and staff have yet to be informed of Lawson’s resignation.
Lawson will leave the school on October 31. An interim COO will be appointed. Veronique will leave on November 1 for a new position at a higher education institution. Senior Communications Manager Holly Blake will be appointed Acting Head of Marketing.
The exit of Lawson and Fricke comes shortly after Neil Peplow resigned from his position as CEO just ten months after taking the post. Peplow has been replaced by Chris Auty, who joins from the National Film and Television School, where he has been...
Dan Lawson, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, and Véronique Fricke, the longstanding Head of Marketing and Student Recruitment, have resigned from their positions. The pair announced their departures at a recent managerial meeting. The rest of the school and staff have yet to be informed of Lawson’s resignation.
Lawson will leave the school on October 31. An interim COO will be appointed. Veronique will leave on November 1 for a new position at a higher education institution. Senior Communications Manager Holly Blake will be appointed Acting Head of Marketing.
The exit of Lawson and Fricke comes shortly after Neil Peplow resigned from his position as CEO just ten months after taking the post. Peplow has been replaced by Chris Auty, who joins from the National Film and Television School, where he has been...
- 10/11/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
San Sebastian — Blessed by blowsy sun, two Conferences and a Co-Pro Forum, which brought the highest caliber and number of U.S., European execs and Latin American producers ever seen in festival history, San Sebastian rounded its final bend Friday after a packed, busy and upbeat event, also suggesting a stability in contrast to other major European events, such as Berlin.
Below, eight takeaways, some 24 hours before Saturday night’s closing gala and prize ceremony.
Women Rule Still
Coming into the festival, many of the biggest main competition buzz pictures were directed by women. Many now figure, according to a El Diario Vasco Spanish critics’ poll, as Golden Shell frontrunners: Isabel Helguera’s animated pic “Sultana’s Dream,” Raven Jackson’s Sundance hit “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Jaione Camborda’s Toronto platform screener “The Rye Horn” and Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang’s “A Journey in Spring.”
New...
Below, eight takeaways, some 24 hours before Saturday night’s closing gala and prize ceremony.
Women Rule Still
Coming into the festival, many of the biggest main competition buzz pictures were directed by women. Many now figure, according to a El Diario Vasco Spanish critics’ poll, as Golden Shell frontrunners: Isabel Helguera’s animated pic “Sultana’s Dream,” Raven Jackson’s Sundance hit “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Jaione Camborda’s Toronto platform screener “The Rye Horn” and Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang’s “A Journey in Spring.”
New...
- 9/29/2023
- by John Hopewell and Callum McLennan
- Variety Film + TV
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,...
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,...
- 9/25/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
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.…...
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.…...
- 9/22/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
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...
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...
- 9/22/2023
- by Pablo Sandoval and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Spain has selected J.A. Bayona’s latest film, Society of the Snow, which debuted last month at the Venice Film Festival, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.
The announcement marks the first time a Netflix-backed film has been selected by Spain and the second time J.A. Bayona has made the cut following his 2007 film The Orphanage.
Society of the Snow closed this year’s Venice Film Festival. Based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, first published in 2008, the film charts the story of the 45 people who, on October 13, 1972, boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 from Montevideo to Chile. There were five crew members on board and 40 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team. Tragedy struck when the pilot began his descent too early, crashing into the Andes and killing 12 immediately. The survivors clung to the belief that help was coming,...
The announcement marks the first time a Netflix-backed film has been selected by Spain and the second time J.A. Bayona has made the cut following his 2007 film The Orphanage.
Society of the Snow closed this year’s Venice Film Festival. Based on the book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, first published in 2008, the film charts the story of the 45 people who, on October 13, 1972, boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 from Montevideo to Chile. There were five crew members on board and 40 passengers, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team. Tragedy struck when the pilot began his descent too early, crashing into the Andes and killing 12 immediately. The survivors clung to the belief that help was coming,...
- 9/20/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish cinema has undoubtedly been making a strong imprint on the international film festival circuit throughout the last few years and, crucially, there’s a new wave of female filmmakers that are driving this charge.
Carla Simon’s Alcarràs took the Golden Bear in Berlin last year, while Elena Lopez Riera and Clara Roquet debuted their respective films The Water and Libertad in Cannes as well as Elena Martin’s feature debut Creatura, which played in the festival’s Directors Fortnight section this year.
So at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, it’s unsurprising that the trend is continuing as three Spanish films in official competition this year are directed and produced by women: Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor, based on a bestselling novel by Sara Mesa, which is produced by Marisa Fernández Armenteros and Sandra Hermida; Sultana’s Dream, the debut feature from Isabel Herguera which...
Carla Simon’s Alcarràs took the Golden Bear in Berlin last year, while Elena Lopez Riera and Clara Roquet debuted their respective films The Water and Libertad in Cannes as well as Elena Martin’s feature debut Creatura, which played in the festival’s Directors Fortnight section this year.
So at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, it’s unsurprising that the trend is continuing as three Spanish films in official competition this year are directed and produced by women: Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor, based on a bestselling novel by Sara Mesa, which is produced by Marisa Fernández Armenteros and Sandra Hermida; Sultana’s Dream, the debut feature from Isabel Herguera which...
- 9/19/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated: Ron Leshem, creator of the original Israeli “Euphoria” and an exec producer on its U.S. version, has been added to Iberseries & Platino Industria’s conference strand – signalling a larger paradigm pivot at one of the biggest film-tv events in the Spanish-speaking world as it expands to encompass an ever more globalized international TV scene.
Fresh off a huge hit on Israel’s Reshet 13 for Series Mania buzz title “Red Skies,” at Iberseries, Leshem, who co-created “Valley of Tears” and “No Man’s Land,” joins some of the most influential voices on the Spanish-speaking film-tv and beyond such as former Netflix exec Erik Barmack at Wild Sheep Content, Ran Tellem at The Mediapro Studio and Axel Kuschevatzky at Infinity Hill. Wild Sheep has a production alliance with Tms.
At Netflix, Barmack oversaw Netflix’s first-ever push into fully foreign-language content beginning with Mexico’s “Club of Crows” and Brazil’s...
Fresh off a huge hit on Israel’s Reshet 13 for Series Mania buzz title “Red Skies,” at Iberseries, Leshem, who co-created “Valley of Tears” and “No Man’s Land,” joins some of the most influential voices on the Spanish-speaking film-tv and beyond such as former Netflix exec Erik Barmack at Wild Sheep Content, Ran Tellem at The Mediapro Studio and Axel Kuschevatzky at Infinity Hill. Wild Sheep has a production alliance with Tms.
At Netflix, Barmack oversaw Netflix’s first-ever push into fully foreign-language content beginning with Mexico’s “Club of Crows” and Brazil’s...
- 7/25/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Jerusalem Film Fest Unveils 2023 Industry Program
Nir Bergman and Yona Rozenkier will be among the Israeli filmmakers presenting new projects at the Jerusalem Film Fest’s Pitch Point event this year. The annual meeting connecting Israeli directors with international partners is one pole of the festival’s Jerusalem Industry Days, running July 13 to 15. Jurors will be Olivier Père (Arte Cinema France), Thorsten Ritter (Beta Cinema), Kevin Chan (Mubi) and Claudia Solano (The Match Factory), alongside Helge Albers and producer Yael Fogiel (Les Films du Poisson). The Industry Days will also host the final pitching session for the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. Other highlights include a focus on Austria, accompanied by Austrian Films’ Anne Laurent-Delage and Emilie Dauptain and producers Antonin Svoboda (coop99), Oliver Neumann (FreibeuterFilm), Sabine Gruber (Golden Girls) and Barbara Pichler (Kgp Filmproduktion). Filmmakers Sebastian Meise,...
Nir Bergman and Yona Rozenkier will be among the Israeli filmmakers presenting new projects at the Jerusalem Film Fest’s Pitch Point event this year. The annual meeting connecting Israeli directors with international partners is one pole of the festival’s Jerusalem Industry Days, running July 13 to 15. Jurors will be Olivier Père (Arte Cinema France), Thorsten Ritter (Beta Cinema), Kevin Chan (Mubi) and Claudia Solano (The Match Factory), alongside Helge Albers and producer Yael Fogiel (Les Films du Poisson). The Industry Days will also host the final pitching session for the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. Other highlights include a focus on Austria, accompanied by Austrian Films’ Anne Laurent-Delage and Emilie Dauptain and producers Antonin Svoboda (coop99), Oliver Neumann (FreibeuterFilm), Sabine Gruber (Golden Girls) and Barbara Pichler (Kgp Filmproduktion). Filmmakers Sebastian Meise,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Award voted for by public and members of European Parliament.
Lukas Dhont’s Close has won the 2023 Lux European Audience Film Award, presented in Brussels on Tuesday, June 27.
Close was chosen from five nominated films, by a combination of 50% European public vote and 50% vote by members of the European Parliament. The awards platform received 45,000 public votes and 360 Mep votes.
The other nominated films were Carla Simon’s 2022 Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Emin Alper’s Burning Days, Joao Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’the-Wisp and Ruben Ostlund’s 2022 Palme d’Or-winner Triangle Of Sadness.
Dhont and co-writer Angelo Tijssens accepted the award...
Lukas Dhont’s Close has won the 2023 Lux European Audience Film Award, presented in Brussels on Tuesday, June 27.
Close was chosen from five nominated films, by a combination of 50% European public vote and 50% vote by members of the European Parliament. The awards platform received 45,000 public votes and 360 Mep votes.
The other nominated films were Carla Simon’s 2022 Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Emin Alper’s Burning Days, Joao Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’the-Wisp and Ruben Ostlund’s 2022 Palme d’Or-winner Triangle Of Sadness.
Dhont and co-writer Angelo Tijssens accepted the award...
- 6/28/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Lukas Dhont’s Close, an intimate melodrama about an intense friendship between two 13-year-old boys, has won this year’s Lux European Audience Film Award, a prize handed out by the European Parliament.
Close premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2022, where it won the Grand Jury prize. It was Belgium’s Oscar contender and was nominated for an Academy Award in the best international feature category this year.
Close is Dhont’s second feature, after his 2018 directorial debut Girl, a drama inspired by the true story of a transgender ballet dancer, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and won multiple awards including the Camera d’Or for best first feature and the Queer Palm for best LGBTQ+ movie. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dhont said Close was a “continuation of the themes in Girl [but while] Girl really talked about gender identity and the relationship with the body,...
Close premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2022, where it won the Grand Jury prize. It was Belgium’s Oscar contender and was nominated for an Academy Award in the best international feature category this year.
Close is Dhont’s second feature, after his 2018 directorial debut Girl, a drama inspired by the true story of a transgender ballet dancer, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and won multiple awards including the Camera d’Or for best first feature and the Queer Palm for best LGBTQ+ movie. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dhont said Close was a “continuation of the themes in Girl [but while] Girl really talked about gender identity and the relationship with the body,...
- 6/28/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I honestly never expected Steven Spielberg in a Criterion Channel series––certainly not one that pairs him with Kogonada, anime, and Johnny Mnemonic––but so’s the power of artificial intelligence. Perhaps his greatest film (at this point I don’t need to tell you the title) plays with After Yang, Ghost in the Shell, and pre-Matrix Keanu in July’s aptly titled “AI” boasting also Spike Jonze’s Her, Carpenter’s Dark Star, and Computer Chess. Much more analog is a British Noir collection obviously carrying the likes of Odd Man Out, Night and the City, and The Small Back Room, further filled by Joseph Losey’s Time Without Pity and Basil Dearden’s It Always Rains on Sunday. (No two ways about it: these movies have great titles.) An Elvis retrospective brings six features, and the consensus best (Don Siegel’s Flaming Star) comes September 1.
While Isabella Rossellini...
While Isabella Rossellini...
- 6/22/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Cate Blanchett’s unravelling conductor, Spielberg’s semi-memoir and the stop-motion tale of a shell wearing shoes all feature in the pick of the year released in the UK to date
Carla Simón’s award-winning story of a peach farmer struggling to make ends meet asks many important questions about our relationship with the land and the human cost of progress.
What we said: “This is a really shrewd, empathic and subtle movie which engulfs you in its dust and sweat and heat.” Read the full review.
Carla Simón’s award-winning story of a peach farmer struggling to make ends meet asks many important questions about our relationship with the land and the human cost of progress.
What we said: “This is a really shrewd, empathic and subtle movie which engulfs you in its dust and sweat and heat.” Read the full review.
- 6/8/2023
- by Guardian film
- The Guardian - Film News
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...
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...
- 6/1/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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 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...
- 5/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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...
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...
- 5/21/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
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...
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...
- 5/10/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
There is a particular focus on comedies.
TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has selected 20 projects for its ScriptLab 2023, plus five story editors, in what it describes as the first ‘fully international’ iteration of the annual development scheme.
The 20 projects come from 20 writer-directors and eight co-writers, and have been selected from 550 submissions.
Scroll down for the full list of participants
Those selected will take part in three week-long residential modules in April, June and November; with two online modules in September and October. The participants will be divided into five groups, and tutored by script consultants Philippe Barriere, Severine Cornamusaz, Aleksandra Swierk, Marietta von Hausswolff and Gino Ventriglia.
TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has selected 20 projects for its ScriptLab 2023, plus five story editors, in what it describes as the first ‘fully international’ iteration of the annual development scheme.
The 20 projects come from 20 writer-directors and eight co-writers, and have been selected from 550 submissions.
Scroll down for the full list of participants
Those selected will take part in three week-long residential modules in April, June and November; with two online modules in September and October. The participants will be divided into five groups, and tutored by script consultants Philippe Barriere, Severine Cornamusaz, Aleksandra Swierk, Marietta von Hausswolff and Gino Ventriglia.
- 3/27/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
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...
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...
- 3/25/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
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...
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...
- 3/22/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
On the Adamant.Competition(Jury: Kristen Stewart, Golshifteh Farahani, Valeska Grisebach, Radu Jude, Francine Maisler, Carla Simón, Johnnie To)Golden BearOn the Adamant (Nicolas Philibert)Silver Bear — Grand Jury PrizeAfire (Christian Petzold) (read interview)Silver Bear — Jury PrizeBad Living (João Canijo)Silver Bear for Best DirectorPhilippe Garrel (The Plough) (read more)Silver Bear for Best Leading PerformanceSofía OteroSilver Bear for Best Supporting PerformanceThea Ehre (Till the End of the Night) (read more)Silver Bear for Best ScreenplayAngela Schanelec (Music) (read more)Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic ContributionHélène Louvart (Disco Boy)HereENCOUNTERS(Jury: Dea Kulumbegashvili, Angeliki Papoulia, Paolo Moretti)Award for Best FilmHere (Bas Devos)Special Jury AwardOrlando, My Political Biography (Paul B. Preciado)Samsara (Lois Patiño)Award for Best DirectorTatiana Huezo (The Echo)Generation — Kplus(Jury: Venice Atienza, Alise Ģelze, Gudrun Sommer)Crystal BearSweet As (Jub Clerc)Special MentionSea Sparkle (Domien Huyghe)Best Short FilmQueenie (Lloyd Lee Choi)Special...
- 3/14/2023
- MUBI
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...
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...
- 3/10/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
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 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...
- 3/7/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Spain has been named as the country of honor for the upcoming edition of the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film running May 16 to 24.
The showcase comes amid a $1.7B government-backed drive by Spain to become a major European film and TV player, under its “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” plan.
The Ministry Of Industry, Trade & Tourism’s business-faced body Icex Spain Trade & Investment and the country’s Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts (Icaa) are leading the focus.
It will showcase Spanish talent and content across all formats, ranging from cinema to documentary, animation and extended reality.
The focus is supported and funded by two major Spanish government economic growth initiatives – the “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” plan and its post-pandemic “Recovery, Transformation & Resilience” plan.
The “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” plan has a planned public investment of $1.7B (1.6B euros) for the period from 2021 to 2025 and aims to...
The showcase comes amid a $1.7B government-backed drive by Spain to become a major European film and TV player, under its “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” plan.
The Ministry Of Industry, Trade & Tourism’s business-faced body Icex Spain Trade & Investment and the country’s Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts (Icaa) are leading the focus.
It will showcase Spanish talent and content across all formats, ranging from cinema to documentary, animation and extended reality.
The focus is supported and funded by two major Spanish government economic growth initiatives – the “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” plan and its post-pandemic “Recovery, Transformation & Resilience” plan.
The “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” plan has a planned public investment of $1.7B (1.6B euros) for the period from 2021 to 2025 and aims to...
- 3/7/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
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...
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...
- 3/7/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSOn the Adamant.The Berlinale wrapped up over the weekend. The Golden Bear was awarded to Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant, while other major prizes went to Christian Petzold, Philippe Garrel, Angela Schanelec, and Dp Hélène Louvart. You can browse the full list of winners on Notebook, and keep your eyes peeled for our reports.In other festival news: Ruben Östlund will preside over this year’s Cannes jury, and the full lineup has been unveiled for Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA’s New Directors/New Films.The pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye—the first African woman to make a commercially distributed feature film—died last week at the age of 80. Writer and programmer Yasmina Price recently surfaced a thread of archival material,...
- 2/28/2023
- MUBI
Alcarràs Photo: Courtesy of London Film Festival
Alcarràs, Mubi now
If you have a Mubi subscription then don't miss this top-notch ensemble drama from Carla Simón, which tracks a family over a sultry summer. After lifetime of peach farming, they are facing losing their livelihood and their home as the trees are replaced by solar panels. Simón handles the multi-layered experiences of both the children and adults with balanced ease, whether its grandad Rogelio (Josep Abad) contemplating what is to be lost, youngsters getting up to mischief amid the orchards or teenagers taking shape into the adults they will become. Simón shows the frictions of family life but also emphasises the way that clans also come together as a unit when it counts.
The Motorcycle Diaries, 1.10am, Film4, Wednesday, March 1
Gael Garcia Bernal was fast cementing his name among international audiences when he starred as the young Che Guevara in...
Alcarràs, Mubi now
If you have a Mubi subscription then don't miss this top-notch ensemble drama from Carla Simón, which tracks a family over a sultry summer. After lifetime of peach farming, they are facing losing their livelihood and their home as the trees are replaced by solar panels. Simón handles the multi-layered experiences of both the children and adults with balanced ease, whether its grandad Rogelio (Josep Abad) contemplating what is to be lost, youngsters getting up to mischief amid the orchards or teenagers taking shape into the adults they will become. Simón shows the frictions of family life but also emphasises the way that clans also come together as a unit when it counts.
The Motorcycle Diaries, 1.10am, Film4, Wednesday, March 1
Gael Garcia Bernal was fast cementing his name among international audiences when he starred as the young Che Guevara in...
- 2/27/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The gender-neutral acting prize was won by Spain’s Sofía Otero for ’20,000 Species of Bees’.
Nicolas Philibert’s documentary On The Adamant, about a floating care centre in Paris, was awarded Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 25).
The film, which is being handled internationally by Les Films du Losange, is the fourth documentary to take top honours at the Berlinale.
German films found particular favour with the jury, presided over by Kristen Stewart, with no less than three of the Bear statuettes going to local productions: the Silver Bear Grand Jury award for Christian Petzold’s Afire,...
Nicolas Philibert’s documentary On The Adamant, about a floating care centre in Paris, was awarded Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 25).
The film, which is being handled internationally by Les Films du Losange, is the fourth documentary to take top honours at the Berlinale.
German films found particular favour with the jury, presided over by Kristen Stewart, with no less than three of the Bear statuettes going to local productions: the Silver Bear Grand Jury award for Christian Petzold’s Afire,...
- 2/26/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Los Angeles, Feb 26 (Ians) Veteran French documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
He took home the prize for his film ‘On the Adamant’ which is a poignant observational study of a Paris mental health care facility, reports Variety.
He received the award from jury president Kristen Stewart, after the star offered an extended and plainly heartfelt ode to the film’s humanity and simplicity: “People have gone in circles for thousands of years trying to pin down what can be deemed art, who’s allowed to do it and what determines its value,” she said, citing the boundary-pushing nature of the festival, and name checking such opposing philosophers on the matter as Aristotle, Barthes, Sontag and Beavis & Butthead, before concluding: “For all of us, you just know it when you see it.”
Candidly and sometimes humorously surveying...
He took home the prize for his film ‘On the Adamant’ which is a poignant observational study of a Paris mental health care facility, reports Variety.
He received the award from jury president Kristen Stewart, after the star offered an extended and plainly heartfelt ode to the film’s humanity and simplicity: “People have gone in circles for thousands of years trying to pin down what can be deemed art, who’s allowed to do it and what determines its value,” she said, citing the boundary-pushing nature of the festival, and name checking such opposing philosophers on the matter as Aristotle, Barthes, Sontag and Beavis & Butthead, before concluding: “For all of us, you just know it when you see it.”
Candidly and sometimes humorously surveying...
- 2/26/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
The documentary “On the Adamant” has been named the best film of the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin organizers announced on Saturday.
The film from director Nicolas Philibert follows life in a daycare center located on the Seine in Paris for adults with mental disorders. It is the first documentary to win the festival’s top prize since “Fire at Sea” in 2016.
German director Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, essentially the runner-up award, for his drama “Afire,” while Philippe Garrel won the directing award for “The Plough.” The gender-neutral acting prizes went to Sofia Otero for “20,000 Species of Bees” in the leading performance category and Thea Ehre for “Till the End of the Night” in the supporting category.
The jury president was actress Kristen Stewart. The other jurors were actress Goldshifteh Farahani, directors Valeska Grisebach, Radu Jude and Carla Simón and Johnnie To and casting director Francine Maisler.
The film from director Nicolas Philibert follows life in a daycare center located on the Seine in Paris for adults with mental disorders. It is the first documentary to win the festival’s top prize since “Fire at Sea” in 2016.
German director Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, essentially the runner-up award, for his drama “Afire,” while Philippe Garrel won the directing award for “The Plough.” The gender-neutral acting prizes went to Sofia Otero for “20,000 Species of Bees” in the leading performance category and Thea Ehre for “Till the End of the Night” in the supporting category.
The jury president was actress Kristen Stewart. The other jurors were actress Goldshifteh Farahani, directors Valeska Grisebach, Radu Jude and Carla Simón and Johnnie To and casting director Francine Maisler.
- 2/25/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Winners have been announced at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival, with On the Adamant by Nicolas Philibert scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Saturday evening at the Berlinale Palast.
The film chronicles a unique day-care center in the heart of Paris that welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits.
Introducing the film, jury head Kristen Stewart said the pic is “masterfully crafted” and acts as “cinematic proof of the vital necessity of human expression.”
Other winners in the International Competition included Philippe Garrel, who picked up the Silver Bear for Best Director for his latest pic Le grand chariot (The Plough). Garrel dedicated the award to the late filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.
The film chronicles a unique day-care center in the heart of Paris that welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits.
Introducing the film, jury head Kristen Stewart said the pic is “masterfully crafted” and acts as “cinematic proof of the vital necessity of human expression.”
Other winners in the International Competition included Philippe Garrel, who picked up the Silver Bear for Best Director for his latest pic Le grand chariot (The Plough). Garrel dedicated the award to the late filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.
- 2/25/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
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...
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...
- 2/25/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Veteran French docmaker Nicolas Philibert was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, taking the prize for his film “On the Adamant,” a poignant observational study of a Paris mental health care facility.
He received the award from jury president Kristen Stewart, after the star offered an extended and plainly heartfelt ode to the film’s humanity and simplicity: “People have gone in circles for thousands of years trying to pin down what can be deemed art, who’s allowed to do it and what determines its value,” she said, citing the boundary-pushing nature of the festival, and namechecking such opposing philosophers on the matter as Aristotle, Barthes, Sontag and Beavis & Butthead, before concluding, “For all of us, you just know it when you see it.”
It was an apt way to introduce a film that stood out in this year’s Competition...
He received the award from jury president Kristen Stewart, after the star offered an extended and plainly heartfelt ode to the film’s humanity and simplicity: “People have gone in circles for thousands of years trying to pin down what can be deemed art, who’s allowed to do it and what determines its value,” she said, citing the boundary-pushing nature of the festival, and namechecking such opposing philosophers on the matter as Aristotle, Barthes, Sontag and Beavis & Butthead, before concluding, “For all of us, you just know it when you see it.”
It was an apt way to introduce a film that stood out in this year’s Competition...
- 2/25/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s Berlinale continued the tradition of combining earnestness with red-carpet glamour – featuring Kristen Stewart, Bono and Steven Spielberg, and this time some real crowd pleasers
Berlin may not be as glitzy as the other big European festivals, Cannes and Venice, but it knows how to make the most of what you might call “ethical starpower”. Hence Steven Spielberg, present this year to accept the Golden Bear for lifetime achievement, who made an eloquent and imposing speech about longevity, healing and – as befits the locale – the weight of history. And hence serious-minded Hollywood actor Kristen Stewart heading a jury including Iranian-French star Golshifteh Farahani and previous Berlinale-winning directors Carla Simón and Radu Jude – a lineup that seems highly likely to make some daring awards choices.
But there’s also that long-standing Berlinale tradition of combining red-carpet prestige with a certain earnestness that doesn’t always flourish on the screen.
Berlin may not be as glitzy as the other big European festivals, Cannes and Venice, but it knows how to make the most of what you might call “ethical starpower”. Hence Steven Spielberg, present this year to accept the Golden Bear for lifetime achievement, who made an eloquent and imposing speech about longevity, healing and – as befits the locale – the weight of history. And hence serious-minded Hollywood actor Kristen Stewart heading a jury including Iranian-French star Golshifteh Farahani and previous Berlinale-winning directors Carla Simón and Radu Jude – a lineup that seems highly likely to make some daring awards choices.
But there’s also that long-standing Berlinale tradition of combining red-carpet prestige with a certain earnestness that doesn’t always flourish on the screen.
- 2/25/2023
- by Jonathan Romney
- The Guardian - Film News
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,...
- 2/24/2023
- MUBI
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Alcarràs (Carla Simón)
Big agriculture and a renewable energy company (of all people) threaten the livelihood of a Catalonian peach farming family in Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s latest sunny pastoral and her first since the 2017 debut Summer 1993. Alcarràs is set in the present day, though you’d hardly notice, and like many of its characters it looks towards the past. That idea––that time has a way of sometimes flattening out––feels central to Simón’s film and distinguishes it from similar works of social realism: Alcarràs appears simple, even slight at first, but is deceptively far-reaching; enough at least to have impressed a Berlinale jury led by M. Night Shyamalan (and including no less than Ryusuke Hamaguchi), who collectively awarded Simón the Golden Bear.
Alcarràs (Carla Simón)
Big agriculture and a renewable energy company (of all people) threaten the livelihood of a Catalonian peach farming family in Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s latest sunny pastoral and her first since the 2017 debut Summer 1993. Alcarràs is set in the present day, though you’d hardly notice, and like many of its characters it looks towards the past. That idea––that time has a way of sometimes flattening out––feels central to Simón’s film and distinguishes it from similar works of social realism: Alcarràs appears simple, even slight at first, but is deceptively far-reaching; enough at least to have impressed a Berlinale jury led by M. Night Shyamalan (and including no less than Ryusuke Hamaguchi), who collectively awarded Simón the Golden Bear.
- 2/23/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
For her first feature, Spanish writer-director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren certainly hasn’t chosen an easy subject to deal with, even if it’s one that’s about as topical as you can get right now.
And yet this moving chronicle of an 8-year-old’s gradual transitioning, and the effect it has on a family over their summer vacation, manages to be both timely and timeless, making its hot-button issue feel like part of a larger, spiritual cycle of life and loss. Carried by impressively fluid, determinedly naturalistic filmmaking, with performances that never hit a false note, 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 especies de abejas) marks an assured debut, slowly but surely hitting an emotional crescendo during its final minutes.
The film’s specific style and setting are evident from the get-go, immersing us in a world that we discover over the course of an unhurried two hours. Using a handheld camera and a documentary-like approach,...
And yet this moving chronicle of an 8-year-old’s gradual transitioning, and the effect it has on a family over their summer vacation, manages to be both timely and timeless, making its hot-button issue feel like part of a larger, spiritual cycle of life and loss. Carried by impressively fluid, determinedly naturalistic filmmaking, with performances that never hit a false note, 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 especies de abejas) marks an assured debut, slowly but surely hitting an emotional crescendo during its final minutes.
The film’s specific style and setting are evident from the get-go, immersing us in a world that we discover over the course of an unhurried two hours. Using a handheld camera and a documentary-like approach,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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