News

Barcelona studio Filmax has boarded “Another Man,” a comedy-laced romantic drama marking the second feature from Spanish writer-director David Moragas who turned heads on the festival circuit with ‘A Stormy Night,’ a black and white New York-set brief encounter story. Filmax will handle the theatrical release in Spain and international sales on “Another Man.”

In it, Marc and Eunald appear to be a stable couple. But Marc pushes back against Eunald’s attempts to consolidate their relationship. New neighbor Carlos, who moves into the apartment opposite, mesmerizes Marc, making him question his life until now.

Moragas’ first feature length film in Catalan, starring Lluís Marquès (“Girlfriends”), Quim Àvila (“Burning Body”) and Bruna Cusí (“Summer 1993”), the film explores the complexities of romantic relationships and the life changing decisions people make in their thirties.

“Another Man” is produced by Oberon Media, founded in 2018 by Antonio Chavarrías, an iconic figure on Barcelona...

Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” fresh from its triumphant world premiere at the Cannes fest, opens the 38th Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) which touts new sections this year, including a branded series showcase and midnight screenings of Italian fright maestro Dario Argento’s horror films.

Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” which had its West Coast premiere at the LA Latino Film Festival (Laliff) May 31, marks its Mexican debut at the fest.

The Series Showcase includes Patricia Martinez’s fact-based “La Narcosatánica,” which will stream on the rebranded Max, and Maite Alberdi’s “Libre de reir,” a Gato Grande production that centers on inmates in a Mexican prison who enroll in a stand-up comedy workshop. Alberdi’s Sundance-winning docu “The Eternal Memory” also vies for a prize in the festival’s documentary sidebar.

According to festival director Estrella Araiza, the festival has recovered its funding and will screen...

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.

Running March 10-19, and now hosting the Spanish Screenings, the Malaga Film Festival is now firmly established as Spain’s biggest movie event in the early part of the year. Strategically positioned fairly sharp on the heels of the Berlinale, the Spanish event offers top Spanish titles at the German festival the chance to consolidate their reputations while often producing new discoveries, especially from first-time directors.

Many titles, from a Spanish film industry whose younger directors are highly social conscience and favor art-house, are issue driven.

“There’s a search for identity, whether a young trans girl’s exploration of gender identity or young leads to understand the world they live in, or the search for love and a sense pf strangeness, of being a stranger to oneself,” Juan Antonio Vigar, Málaga Film Festival director said of this year’s main Competition. Following, a brief breakdown of its titles.

“20,000 Species of Bees,...

The festival opens on March 10 and will include super-sized industry progrramme Mafiz.

The 26th edition of the Malaga Film Festival kicks off today, giving the Spanish and international industry the chance to discover the latest films and talent emerging from the local and Latin America landscapes.

Twenty films will screen in the main competition. They include new films from returning Malaga filmmaker Elena Trapé, who won the best film and best director award in 2018 for The Distances. She’s in competition with a drama called The Enchanced, starring Laia Costa, about a young mother who has recently separated and is missing her young daughter.

The film is about the fight for womens’ rights in Spain in the 1970s

Filmax has acquired international rights to the 1970s-set womens rights drama In The Company Of Women, directed by Spanish actress-turned-director Silvia Munt, and is presenting a promo to buyers in Berlin.

Inspired by real events, In The Company Of Women is about a group of women from Rentería, in the Basque Country, who fought for women rights in Spain throughout the 1970s, helping many to cross the border into France, where they were able to secure safe and dignified abortions.

Alicia Falcó, Itziar Ituño and Elena Tarrats...

The Accident

(Mediaset-Globomedia)

Starring Inma Cuesta (“Julieta”), a thriller about a wife discovering the truth about her husband.

Sales Agent: Eccho Rights

Arde Madrid

(Movistar Plus, Andy Joke)

Warmly received at San Sebastian, a B&W comedy-thriller half-hour set in 1961 Madrid’s Dolce Vita, featuring Ava Gardner.

A Different View

(Boomerang, Rtve)

A suspense dramedy portrait of the Spanish society in the ’20s, via a traditionalist Lycee in the provinces.

El Continental

(Gossip Events & Productions, Rtve)

One of Rtve’s big plays, a 10-hour, 1920’s set gang war thriller, with Alex Garcia and Michelle Jenner (“Isabel”).

Hierro

(Movistar Plus, Arte, Portocabo, Atlantique)

Movistar Plus’ first international co-production and Portocabo’s calling card, a murder investigation set against spectacular landscapes of the mid-Atlantic Hierro.

Sales Agent: Banijay Rights

Gigantes

(Movistar Plus, Lazona Producciones)

Building buzz before its San Sebastian Fest world premiere, Enrique Urbizu’s brutal Madrid crime family parable on the legacy of violence,...

Lleida, Spain — The feature directorial debut of producer Sebastián Perillo “Amateur” scooped both best feature and director at the 24th Lleida Catalonia Latin America Festival, hosted by the city known by gourmets as the Mecca of grilled snails.

Internationally sold by Switzerland-based Kafilms, “Amateur” is an erotic thriller produced by Argentina’s Rispo Films, Amada Films and Tecno Films, and world-premiered at Mar del Plata festival where it took the best original music award.

“Amateur” follows Martin (Esteban Lamothe), a solitary TV director who becomes obsessed with his neighbor and boss’ wife Isabel (Jazmín Stuart), when he finds a porno in which she appears. The jury described Perillo’s debut as “a surprising genre feature made with courage, and without prejudices.”

Best screenplay was granted to “Family Life,” co-helmed by Alicia Scherson (“Il futuro”) and Alejandro Zambra (co-writer of Cristián Jiménez’s “Bonsái”). International sales on “Family Life” are handled...

The 2011 Sitges Film Festival has concluded its competition portion and announced awards in more categories than we've seen at any other fest. The biggest winners are Kevin Smith's Red State and Joe Cornish's Attack the Block, but several other films we've been closely watching here on Dread scored victories as well, including Kill List, Livid, The Divide, The Woman, Bellflower, Hell, and Detention.

Here's the full breakdown from the fest, held 6-16 October on the Catalan coast of Spain. Congratulations to all the winners!

Oficial FANTÀSTIC In-competition – Sitges 44

J. A. Bayona, Quim Casas, Lisa Marie, Ryoo Seung-Wan, Richard Stanley (judges)

Best Short Film (tie)

Dirty Silverwear by Steve Daniels

The Unliving by Hugo Lilja

Best Production Design

Marc Thiébault for Livide (Alexandre Bustillo & Julian Maury)

Best Makeup FX

Steven Kostanski for The Divide (Xavier Gens)

Best Special Effects

Lluís Castells and Javier García for Eva (Kike Maíllo)

Best...

MADRID -- The 51st San Sebastian International Film Festival ended Saturday as it had begun more than a week before, in a cloud of controversy as Dito Tintzszade's German film "Schussangst" won the Gold Shell. Booing broke out as the awards were announced to the press when Iciar Bollain's "Take my Eyes" was passed over for the highest honor at the Spanish festival, despite its two stars -- Laia Marull and Luis Tosar -- winning best actress and best actor honors. Korea's Bong Joon-Ho won the €120,000 ($138,917) new director award for his "Memories of Murder", which also won the best director award, while Tom McCarthy's "The Station Agent" took home the Special Jury Award. The official jury -- which had no chairman because Chazz Palminteri pulled out two days before the festival kicked off -- was limited to two prizes per film, according to rules set for A-level festivals. Juror Silvia Munt told the local press that "the awards for Marull and Tosar were beyond question, and that prevented us from giving the film more prizes. In honor of the truth, you could say that 'Take my Eyes' is the moral winner of the Gold Shell because I have to say that all the jury members were in agreement about it." The controversy was one more bump in what was a rocky festival. A strike at the posh Maria Cristina hotel set the tone for the week as confused and polemic. Julio Medem's documentary about the Basque region's nationalism fanned the flames as the Minister of Culture condemned the film, saying it gave "unfair treatment to the victims of terrorism" without having seen the film.

The Miami Film Festival was particularly strong on Spanish-language cinema, and this Spanish psychological thriller was one of the highlights of the recently concluded edition. Featuring a suspenseful, literate script and superb performances, Mariano Barroso's "Extasis" (Ecstasy), which has already played numerous festivals, deserves a domestic theatrical release.

Javier Bardem (the star of "Mouth to Mouth", also shown in Miami) plays Rober, one of a trio of dissolute friends in their 20s. The others are Max (Daniel Guzman), serving time in jail, and Rober's girlfriend. In order to raise money for Max's bail, they come up with a plan to rob Max's estranged and wealthy father Daniel (Federico Luppi), a successful theater director.

Daniel, in the midst of directing a production of "Life Is a Dream", doesn't even know what his son looks like, so it is easy for Rober to insinuate himself into the older man's life. Daniel is delighted by the appearance of his "son," and takes the younger man under his wing. Soon Rober is enjoying the glamorous lifestyle to which he is quickly becoming accustomed; nor does he shy away from the attentions of his father's beautiful younger girlfriend, a neurotic actress (Silvia Munt). When Daniel decides to cast him as the lead in his production, Rober's devotion to his friends suddenly feels expendable.

The burgeoning relationship between the two men is at the heart of the film, and it forms a fascinating study of the way in which people fill each other's emotional needs.

What began as a conventional thriller becomes a rich character study, and actors Bardem and Luppi deliver fully textured, absorbing performances. Director Barroso keeps the tension tight as the film veers inexorably towards its conclusion, when Rober must decide where to pitch his allegiance.

At a taut 93 minutes, "Extasis" is free of narrative fat and pretension.

EXTASIS (ECSTASY)

Alta Films

Director Mariano Barroso

Producer Gerardo Herrero

Screenplay Joaquin Oristrell, Mariano Barroso Director of photography Flavio Martinez Music Bingen Mendizabal

Editor Fernando Pardo

Color/stereo

Cast:

Rober Javier Bardem

Daniel Federico Luppi

Lola Silvia Munt

Max Daniel Guzman

Running time -- 93 minutes

No MPAA rating...