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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...

Malaga — Isaki Lacuesta’s “Saturn Return” (“Segundo Premio”), always a frontrunner, topped this week’s Malaga Festival winning its best picture, director (with co-director Pol Rodríguez) and editing (Javi Frutos) awards.

The triple plaudit delivers further recognition for a feature which pulls off the double achievement of being formally inventive and great fun at one and the same time.

Turning on Spanish indie rock group Los Planetas storied attempts to making their third and finally iconic album, but really about people’s need to recast the past as comprehensible narrative and a biopic parody, A broad audience play, “Saturn Return” has been hailed by Spanish newspaper El Mundo as a “masterpiece.”

“Saturn Returns” will do nothing to dent Lacuesta’s status as seemingly suddenly, after years in the wilderness as a supposedly radical filmmaker too out there to take on more ambitious budgets. Lacuesta’s feel-good concluding episode to “Offworld,...

Malaga — Opening last Friday with “Dragonkeeper,” also in competition, Spain’s Malaga Festival, its biggest dedicated event for movies from Spain and Latin America, is studded by latest films by Isaki Lacuesta – “Saturn Return,” reportedly fun, broad audience and radical – David Trueba – “The Good Man,” small scale but almost certainly ingratiating – and Antonio Chavarrías’ “Holy Mother,” about an extraordinary real life female figure in Spain’s 9th century Reconquista.

Also in the running is “Rest in Peace,” from notable Argentine writer-director Sebastián Borensztein (“Chinese Takeaway”).

All are front-runners for some kind of award next Saturday. Prominent also is a bevy of first or second features, featuring from Spain three titles from women directors – gender abuse drama “The Snows,” “Nina,” reportedly a Western set in a northern Spanish town, and tragi-comedy “We Treat Women Too Well” – plus a clutch of debuts from Latin America.

This year’s Competition may, in the final analysis,...

The 27th edition of the Malaga Film Festival (Mff) opens today (March 1) with animated feature Dragonkeeper and a strong line-up of Spanish and Latin American world premieres. The festival is a popular annual meeting point for the Spanish film industry, attended by most buyers and sellers, and showcases the best in new Spanish-language filmmaking.

The world premiere of Salvador Simó and Jian-Ping Li’s Dragonkeeper opens the festival, marking the first time Malaga has raised its curtain with an animated movie. A Spain-China co-production, Dragonkeeper is based on books by Carol Wilkinson, with an English-language voice cast that includes Bill Nighy and Mayalinee Griffiths.

Descubre las películas que estarán en el 27 Festival de Málaga: una lista de las películas en competición y fuera de concurso.

Todos los años se celebra en Málaga, el Festival de Cine de Málaga. Un festival que se centra principalmente en producciones españolas y tiene como objetivo promover y celebrar la industria cinematográfica en España, así como proporcionar una plataforma para el reconocimiento y la difusión del cine español. Un festival en el que han tenido su estreno mundial muchas películas que después han sido nominadas a los premios Goya, como es el caso de “20.000 Especies de Abejas” en esta pasada edición de los premios más grandes del cine español.

Este año, el 27 Festival de Málaga se celebra del 1 al 10 de marzo y cuenta con un total de 19 películas (11 españolas y 8 latinoamericanas), que concursarán en la Sección Oficial y 18 películas (15 españolas y 3 latinas) en sección Oficial no competitiva. Una...

Exclusive: Filmax has acquired international rights to the European road movie Birds Flying East, starring Teresa Saponangelo (The Hand of God), Luis Zahera (The Beasts) and Javier Gutierrez (The Motive).

The Spanish-based Filmax will present first-look images from the pic this week at the Cannes Market.

Directed by actor and filmmaker Pau Durà (Formentera Lady), the pic is produced by David Ciurana of Fosca Films (Formentera Lady), José Nolla of Icónica Producciones (The Motive), and Cristina Zumárraga of Tandem Films (Rosa’s Wedding) for Birds Film and Aie, in co-production with Romanian producers MPM Motion Pictures Management. The project has also received support from Icaa Rtve, Prime Video and TV3.

Related: Cannes Film Festival Full Coverage

Billed as a comedy-drama, the pic tells the story of the trans-European road trip embarked on by two men who travel from Valencia, Spain, to the delta of the Danube in Romania in search of times passed.