News

Ruiz de Azúa repite en la Zinemaldia tras presentar ‘Querer’ el año pasado.

© Ssiff

Después de la aclamada serie Querer presentada el año pasado, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa vuelve al Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián con su nueva película Los domingos, que luchará por la Concha de Oro en la sección oficial. La directora repite así en la Zinemaldia, acompañando a los títulos españoles Los tigres de Alberto Rodríguez, Maspalomas de Jose Mari Goenaga y Aitor Arregi, e Historias del buen valle de José Luis Guerin.

Los domingos narra la historia de Ainara (Blanca Soroa), una joven brillante e idealista de 17 años que ha de decidir qué carrera universitaria estudiará. O, al menos, eso espera su familia que haga. Pero Ainara lleva otro plan en mente: la joven manifiesta que se siente cada vez más cerca de Dios y que se plantea abrazar la vida de monja de clausura.

Spain’s San Sebastián Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world, has added a fourth Spanish title to its main competition: Movistar Plus+ original “Sundays” (“Los domingos”), the latest film from Alauda Ruiz de Azuá.

Ruiz de Azúa turned heads with her first feature, Berlin Panorama player “Lullaby” (“Cinco Lobitos”), an eminently grounded mother-daughter maternity drama which was endorsed by Pedro Almodóvar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years.”

Ruiz de Azúa’s first TV series, the family drama/courtroom thriller “Querer,” world premiered to acclaim at San Sebastián last year and went on to take best series in main competition at Lille’s Series Mania, Europe’s premier TV festival.

Co-produced and sold internationally by France’s Le Pacte, “Sundays” presents a family quandary: Ainara, 17, brilliant, and an idealist, just has to choose what she studies at university before going on, foreseeably, to an illustrious career,...

Una joven quiere ser monja de clausura para sorpresa de su familia. © Movistar Plus+

El rodaje de Los domingos, la nueva película de Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, ya está en marcha en Bizkaia.

Los domingos nos presenta a Ainara, una joven idealista y brillante de 17 años, que tiene que decidir qué carrera universitaria va a estudiar. O, al menos, eso es lo que su familia espera que haga. Sin embargo, la joven manifiesta que se siente cada vez más cerca de Dios y que está dispuesta a abrazar la vida de monja de clausura. La noticia coge a toda la familia por sorpresa, provocando un abismo y una prueba de fuego para todos.

La película está protagonizada por la joven Blanca Soroa en el papel de Ainara, en su debut como actriz, Patricia López Arnaiz (Los destellos), Miguel Garcés (Querer), el argentino Juan Minujín (Cordero de Dios), Mabel Rivera (Mar...

France’s Le Pacte has added Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Sundays to its packed EFM slate and unveiled an exclusive first-look (above) of 1980s Paris architecture drama The Great Arch starring Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Xavier Dolan.

Sundays is the Spanish filmmaker’s follow-up to Panorama 2022 selection Lullaby and is about a 17-year-old girl about to deliver news that will change her family forever. Patricia López Arnaiz stars and shooting is ready to start throughout the Basque region. Backed byMovistar Plus+ , Sundays isproduced by Spains’ BuenapintaMedia, Encanta Films, Sayaka Producciones, Think Studio, Colosé Producciones and Los Desencuentros Película.

France’s Le Pacte has added Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Sundays to its packed EFM slate and unveiled an exclusive first-look (left) of 1980s Paris architecture drama The Great Arch starring Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Xavier Dolan.

Sundays is the Spanish filmmaker’s follow-up to Panorama 2022 selection Lullaby and is about a 17-year-old girl about to deliver news that will change her family forever. Patricia López Arnaiz stars and shooting is ready to start throughout the Basque region. Backed byMovistar Plus+ , Sundays isproduced by Spains’ BuenapintaMedia, Encanta Films, Sayaka Producciones, Think Studio, Colosé Producciones and Los Desencuentros Película.

‘Segundo Premio’ también triunfó en la gran noche del cine español.

© Getty Images

Anoche se celebró la gala de los Premios Goya 2025, la que es la gran noche del cine español y una de las ediciones más abiertas de los últimos años donde todo podía pasar. Y es que, por un momento, parecía que íbamos a tener nuestro momento Moonlight–La La Land español, pero no, por primera vez en la historia de los Goya el premio a la Mejor Película se repartió ex aequo a El 47 y La infiltrada. Otra de las grandes triunfadoras de la noche fue Segundo premio, que logró tres galardones, incluido el de Mejor Dirección. Aquí os dejamos con la lista completa de nominados y ganadores de los Goya 2025:

Mejor PELÍCULA (Ex Aequo) Casa en flames

El 47

La estrella azul

La infiltrada

Segundo premio © A Contracorriente Films © Beta Films Mejor DIRECCIÓN Pedro Almodóvar...

Movistar Plus+, the Spanish pay-tv and SVoD service, is expanding its film production slate and has boarded Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s The Black Ball (La Bola Negra), set to shoot in the second half of 2025.

The Black Ball, inspired by an unfinished play by Federico García Lorca, will be a “queer vindication about three meen in three different moments of Spanish history: 1932, 1937 and 2017,” said Calvo and Ambrossi, best known as filmmaking duo Los Javis.

Los Javis’ outfit Suma Content is producing with Movistar Plus+.

Lorca was murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War by rightwing military...

‘La Habitación de al Lado’ no logra la nominación a Mejor Película y sorprende la ausencia de Najwa Nimri como Mejor Actriz. © Goya |A Contracorriente Films | Beta Films| BTeamPictures | El Deseo

Hoy ha tenido lugar la lectura de nominados a los Premios Goya 2025, en la que las películas El 47, La Infiltrada y Segundo Premio han conseguido el mayor número de nominaciones. Los ganadores se conocerán el 8 de febrero en Granada. Aquí os dejamos con la lista completa de nominados:

Mejor PELÍCULA

Casa en flames

El 47

La estrella azul

La infiltrada

Segundo premio

Mejor DIRECCIÓN

Pedro almodóvar (La habitación de al lado)

Arantxa Echavarría (La infiltrada)

Paula Ortiz (La virgen roja)

Aitor Arregi y Jon Garaño (Marco)

Isaki Lacuesta y Pol Rodríguez (Segundo premio)

Mejor DIRECCIÓN Novel

Miguel Faus (Calladita)

Pedro Martín-Calero (El llanto)

Javier Macipe (La estrella azul)

Sandra Romero (Por donde pasa el silencio)

Paz Vega (Rita...

Spain’s Academia de Cine has unveiled its list of nominations for the 39th Goya Awards, the country’s equivalent to the Oscar. Leading the field is Marcel Barrena’s biographical drama El 47, with 14 mentions. It’s followed by thriller La Infiltrada (Undercover) at 13.

Also in the mix is Segundo Premio (Saturn Return) with 11 nods. The movie about real-life rock band Los Planetas was Spain’s submission for the International Feature Oscar, though it did not make AMPAS’ shortlist cut which was revealed yesterday.

Meanwhile, Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, scored 10 nominations including Best Director and a pair of Best Actress nods for Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. It did not surface in the Goyas’ Best Picture race, despite taking the top prize Golden Lion in Venice earlier this year, his first ever top A-list festival prize.

The Goyas will be handed out on February 8 in Granada.

The Spanish film academy gave a surprise snub to its best-known director when Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door was not nominated for best film for the Goya Film Awards, Spain’s equivalent to the Oscars.

The Room Next Door picked up 13 Goya nominations, including best director for Almodóvar and best acting nominations for both of the film’s leads, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, but the film was left out of the best picture category. Perhaps the language barrier — it’s Almodóvar’s first English-language feature — counted against it among Spanish academy voters.

Instead, the Goya’s best picture race will include five Spanish-language features: Casa en flames from director Dani de la Orden, Marcel Barrena’s El 47, La estrella azul from Javier Macipe, Arantxa Echevarría’s La infiltrada, and Segundo premio from director Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, which was Spain’s official Oscar submission this year.

Local hits The 47 and Undercover lead the nominations for Spain’s 2025 Goya Awards, with 14 and 13 nods respectively.

Rock drama Saturn Return and Pedro Almodóvar’s Golden Lion winnerThe Room Next Door are also high up on the list of nominees.

The Goya winners will be announced at a ceremony in Granada on February 8.

Marcel Barrena’s The 47, produced by The Mediapro Studio, tells the story of a working-class community in the hills of Barcelona and its struggle to get public transport and better living conditions. It has grossed €3m at the Spanish box office to date.

The 47’s 14 nominations include best film,...

The 2025 Spanish Academy Goya Award nominations were unveiled today, where the big surprise was Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” being left out of the competition’s best picture category.

Although the film won’t compete for the ceremony’s top honor, its director and both his lead actors, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, all received individual nods, Almodóvar for best director and the two performers for best actress.

Titles selected for this year’s best feature category include Marcel Barrena’s “El 47” – the most nominated with 14 nods – “La Estrella Azul” by Javier Macipe, “Saturn Return” from Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, “Unddercover” from Arantxa Echevarría and “A House on Fire” by Dani de la Orden.

In the best director category, Almodóvar will face off against Goya regulars, including “Saturn Return” co-directors Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, “Undercover’s” Arantxa Echevarría (2019 best new director winner for “Carmen y Lola...

Some of the highest-profile Spanish films of 2024 – from Málaga Festival winner and now Spain’s Oscar entry “Saturn Return” to San Sebastián laureates “I Am Nevenka” and “Glimmers” – feature in Mass, a Spanish film showcase which will unspool in Buenos Aires over Nov. 28-30 and Montevideo during Dec. 2-4, running parallel with the Uruguayan capital’s Ventana Sur market.

The film season represents the latest collaboration between Spain’s San Sebastián and Málaga Festival, here in partnership of Spain’s Icaa film agency and Argentina’s Orca Films, as Spain’s seeks to capitalize on its predominant presence on global streamers among E.U. film powers to consolidate production and co-financing relations in Uruguay, a building film-tv hub, and with regions of Argentina.

During their stay in Argentina, the San Sebastian and Malaga Festivals will meet representatives of the Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos and Santiago del Estero provinces to work...

La película, basada en hechos reales, retrata la historia del primer asesino en serie registrado en España. © Buena Vista Internacional

Comienza el rodaje de Sacamantecas, una película dirigida por David Pérez Sañudo (Los últimos románticos), coescrita junto a Sergio Granda, que se adentra en la leyenda del escalofriante personaje real de Juan Díaz de Garayo, conocido como el Sacamantecas.

Basada en una historia original de Asier Guerricaechebarría y Joanes Urkixo, Sacamantecas se sitúa en Álava a finales del siglo Xix. En plena Tercera Guerra Carlista, varias mujeres aparecen estranguladas en las afueras de Vitoria. Ángela Berrosteguieta (López Arnaiz), hermana de una de las víctimas, llega en busca de justicia, decidida a demostrar que Juan Díaz de Garayo (de la Torre), un campesino analfabeto, es el responsable de los crímenes. Sin embargo, Pío Pinedo (Bengoetxea), jefe de los alguaciles, se enfrenta a la falta de recursos en tiempos de guerra y...

La controvertida película sobre el mundo de la tauromaquia se llevó el máximo galardón en una gala que se cerró con el estreno europeo de ‘We Live in Time’. © Ssiff

La 72 edición del Festival de San Sebastián, celebrada entre el 20 y el 28 de septiembre, ha concluido este sábado con la ceremonia de entrega de premios, celebrada en el Auditorio Kursaal, en la que la película Tardes de soledad, el documental de Albert Serra que sigue la vida del torero Andrés Roca Rey durante un día de corrida, desde que se viste de luces hasta que se desviste, ha obtenido la Concha de Oro, el máximo galardón del festival.

Un galardón no exento de polémicas – ya Pacma, incluso antes de que se proyectara la película, pidió su retirada del festival – que fue entregado por la presidenta del jurado, Jaione Camborda, quien destacó su «poder artístico» y señalando, en nombre del jurado,...

Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl took home the Special Jury Prize at the 2024 San Sebastián Film Festival, held in Spain’s Basque Country from Sept. 20 through 28.

“For the high quality of its acting, packed with truth and nuances, which with great subtlety and restraint, brings us closer to the feelings of a group of people who must confront a disappearing profession, a world that is coming to an end,” the jury’s verdict read, per the fete’s press release.

About a veteran Las Vegas showgirl who must switch up her life’s routine following the unexpected closure of her three-decade-long show, the drama features a star-studded cast in Pamela Anderson, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista and Jamie Lee Curtis. As Deadline exclusively reported yesterday, The Last Showgirl was just acquired by Roadside Attractions for its North American release.

The Golden Shell for Best Film was...

Spanish director Albert Serra’s bullfighting documentary Afternoons Of Solitude has won the Golden Shell for best film at the closing ceremony of the 72nd edition of the Spanish festival tonight (Saturday September 28).

The special jury prize was awarded to Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl which stars Pamela Anderson as a Vegas showgirl facing the end of her career.

’Afternoons Of Solitude’ review

The official competition jury, presided over by Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda – who was last year’s Golden Shell winner for The Rye Horn, also awarded top prizes to new filmmakers. The Silver Shell for best director...

The 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival’s Golden Shell for best film has gone to Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude, a documentary on bullfighting, edging out strong competition from narrative features by Joshua Oppenheimer, Edward Berger and Mike Leigh.

The Spanish director’s film focuses on Peruvian-Spanish bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey. While noting that the doc’s graphic cruelty makes it a harrowing watch, The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney in his review called it “transfixing … a unique study of discipline, bravado, laser-focus and showmanship.” It beat out Leigh’s Hard Truths and Berger’s Conclave, as well as Oppenheimer’s dystopian musical The End.

Elsewhere, Pamela Anderson and the cast of Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl took home the Special Jury Prize for best ensemble cast. THR‘s review of the film said: “Even if The Last Showgirl feels slender overall, more consistently attentive...

Sometimes, in a closely contested festival competition, it pays to be the one thing that isn’t like the others. A starkly powerful, observational study of contemporary bullfighting, Spanish auteur Albert Serra’s “Afternoons of Solitude” was the only documentary in the main competition at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival — and this evening won the Golden Shell for best film of the festival, beating some big-name narrative competition.

The award was presented by last year’s Golden Shell winner, Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda, heading a jury that also included directors Ulrich Seidl, Christos Nikou and Fran Kranz, producer Carole Scotta and Argentine journalist Leila Guerriero.

Centred on star Peruvian matador Andrés Rey Roca, “Afternoons of Solitude” is candid in its depiction of the violence of the sport, and has already proven controversial on home turf, with Spain’s animal-rights party Pacma calling for the film to be withdrawn from the festival.

San Sebastian — At this year’s San Sebastian Festival, Basque cinema brings arguably its strong slate ever, fruits from its fast growing scene.

Among the throng of titles is Andrea Jaurrieta’s “Nina” offering a contemporary, feminist twist on the classic Western, featuring Patricia López Arnaiz as a woman seeking revenge in her coastal hometown. David Pérez Sañudo’s “The Last Romantics” presents a tale of second chances, starring Miren Gaztañaga as a woman confronting her mortality.

The documentary lineup is equally compelling, with Raúl de la Fuente’s “Los Williams” exploring race and identity through Basque soccer stars Iñaki and Nico Williams, and Carmen Chaplin’s “Charlie Chaplin, A Man of the World” providing an unprecedented look at the legendary filmmaker’s Romani heritage.

Here’s the rundown:

Main Competition

“I’m Nevenka,”

Co-written with Isa Campo, Icíar Bollaín dramatizes the harrowing true story of Nevenka Fernández, the first...

San Sebastian — Is this the San Sebastián Catalan Film Festival? Always boasting a sterling presence at San Sebastián, Catalonia has a massive 27 titles this year, counting five projects in doc forum Lau Haizetara and including four of the five Spanish movies in main Competition and 10 in Made in Spain. Following a break-down of major section titles:

Main Competition

“Afternoons of Solitude,” (Andergraun Films, Ideale Audience, Lacima Producciones)

Albert Serra’s not at all obvious follow-up to Cannes competition player “Pacifiction,” a portrait of star bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey at work. The results remain to be seen. Serra has shot the disc feature “with respect and innocence, without prejudice nor provocation,” he tells Spain’s ABC Cultural.

“Glimmers,” (Inicia Films, Mod Producciones, Misent Producciones)

The latest from Pilar Palomero. A top-notch Spanish cast led by Patricia López Arnaíz and Antonio de la Torre drive the tale of a woman asked by...

This year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival will feature the most eye-catching list of international superstars it has ever hosted, including A-list actors such as Cate Blanchett and Javier Bardem – who will both receive Donostia career achievement awards, Andrew Garfield, Pamela Anderson, Tilda Swinton and Lupita Nyong’o and filmmakers like local legend Pedro Almodovar – another Donostia award recipient, Adam Elliot, Gia Coppola, Mike Leigh and Walter Salles.

Other international actors who have confirmed they will attend this year’s festival include Monica Bellucci, Jamie Campbell Bower, Johnny Depp, Isabelle Huppert, Noémie Merlant, Ángela Molina, Franco Nero, Charlotte Rampling and Will Sharpe, among others.

Normally, many directors attend San Sebastian with their latest films, but the number of titles from consecrated directors at this year’s festival has increased noticeably. Filmmakers bringing their latest to this year’s festival include Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Leos Carax, Costa-Gavras, Audrey Diwan,...

La cineasta de ‘Las Niñas’ y ‘La Maternal’ presenta su nuevo largometraje protagonizado por Patricia López Arnaiz y Antonio De la Torre. © Caramel Films

Tras el anuncio de que competirá por la Concha de Oro en la 72 edición del Festival de San Sebastián, se han hecho públicos el primer tráiler y póster de “Los Destellos”, el tercer largometraje de la cineasta aragonesa Pilar Palomero basado en el relato “Un Corazón Demasiado Grande”, de Eider Rodríguez.

En “Los Destellos”, la vida de Isabel da un inesperado giro el día que su hija Madalen le pide que visite regularmente a Ramón, que está enfermo. Tras quince años alejada de su exmarido, un hombre al que ve como un extraño pese a que fueron familia durante años, Isabel comienza a reavivar resentimientos que creía haber superado. Sin embargo, al acompañar a Ramón en su momento más vulnerable, Isabel podrá ver con otros ojos...

Cuatro películas españolas en la competición.

Hoy se han dado a conocer las películas españolas que formarán parte de la programación de la 72ª edición del Festival de Cine de San Sebastián, que se celebrará del 20 al 28 de septiembre.

Cuatro películas españolas formarán parte de la competición por la Concha de Oro del Festival: “Soy Nevenka”, “El Llanto”, “Los Destellos” y “Tardes de Soledad”.

© 72Ssiff

Icíar Bollaín, conocida por su película “Maixabel”, presentará “Soy Nevenka”, que será su quinta participación en la Sección Oficial. Protagonizada por Mireia Oriol y Urko Olazabal, se basa en la historia real de Nevenka Fernández, una concejala que pagó un alto precio por atreverse a denunciar el acoso del alcalde de Ponferrada. Una historia que convirtió a su protagonista en una pionera del movimiento #metoo al llevar por primera vez a un político influyente ante los tribunales por acoso sexual y laboral.

© 72Ssiff

En su ópera prima,...

Played by Sofía Otero, the child at the center of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species of Bees knows something that many children do, and that adults work hard to suppress: that it takes very little to slide from one gender to another. Merely having long hair, for instance, and not correcting someone (mis-)taking a supposed boy for a girl can suffice.

Armed with this intuitive knowledge, the film’s protagonist is plunged into the pleasures and terrors of being seen as a girl during her summer vacation in the Basque Country with her family. This is a child who takes on many names, depending on who strangers take the child for and how safe she feels in her surroundings. Is a child not an ocean of multiplicities looking to play? As the title of Urresola Solaguren’s film suggests, and one of the local girls tells Coco: There are 20,000 species of bees,...

20,000 Species of Bees Image: Film Movement It’s heartening that we have now reached a point where transgender issues have risen to the level of awareness that a film like 20,000 Species of Bees can find an audience. In focus here is the process of self-discovery that many trans kids undergo,...

20,000 Species of BeesImage: Film Movement

It’s heartening that we have now reached a point where transgender issues have risen to the level of awareness that a film like 20,000 Species of Bees can find an audience. In focus here is the process of self-discovery that many trans kids undergo,...

Barcelona-based sales company Film Factory has picked up global rights to Alberto Gastesi’s sci-fi thriller “Singular,” a former Sitges Pitchbox winner that will begin shooting this month.

“Singular” is the story of Diana, a university professor who works with artificial intelligence linguistic models. When Martín, Diana’s ex and the father of her late son Martín, invites her to spend a day at the lake, she’s shocked to meet a young man named Andrea, who undeniably resembles her deceased child. Given Martín’s expertise in robotics, Diana begins to suspect that the man has created an android version of their child. While every part of her wants to deny Andrea, she feels compelled to help free the boy from the prison-like grasp that Martín holds over him.

Spanish Academy Goya Award winners Patricia López Arnaiz (“20 000 Species of Bees”) and Javier Rey (“Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City...

Acompaña a Nina en su búsqueda de justicia en este impactante thriller contemporáneo. © BTeamPictures

Ya se ha publicado el tráiler de “Nina”, un thriller y western femenino contemporáneo donde pasado y presente se funden en una historia de venganza.

La película, que ganó el Premio de la Crítica en el festival de Málaga, sigue a Nina (Patricia López Arnaiz), que decide volver al pueblo costero donde creció, con una escopeta en el bolso y un objetivo: vengarse de Pedro, un famoso escritor al que ahora el pueblo rinde homenaje. El reencuentro con su lugar de origen, con sus recuerdos del pasado y con Blas, un amigo de la infancia, le harán replantearse si la venganza es su única opción.

El reparto lo encabeza Patricia López Arnaiz, que estuvo nominada en la pasada edición de los Goya a Mejor actriz por su interpretación en “20.000 Especies de Abejas”.

La película está...

Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez’s,Saturn Return was the big winner at the Malaga Film Festival on March 9, taking home the awards for Golden Biznaga for best Spanish film, best director and best editing.

Other top prizes went to Celia Rico’s Little Loves, Álex Monoya’s La Casa, Pau Durá’s Birds Flying East (Pájaros) and Mexican drama Radical, by Christopher Zalla.

Saturn Return, a drama inspired by iconic indie rock band Los Planetas, is set in the late 1990s in Granada. It is produced by La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films, Bteam Prods, Sideral Cinema and Los Ilusos Films.

Malaga, Spain — “The Chapel,” from “Piggy” director Carlota Pereda, Celia Rico’s competition title “Little Loves,” loved by a lot of critics, and “Free Falling,” produced by “Society of the Snow’s” J.A. Bayona and that film’s producer Belén Atienza, looked like three of the hottest tickets at this week’s Malaga market and Spanish Screenings which rated as the most upbeat in years.

Most all sales agents on the films – focusing on titles from Spain and Latin America – whose ranks are now swelled by Antonia Nava’s Neo Art International, forecast or saw deal traction on more than one title or a broad slate of films.

“Malaga was great for our movies,” said Latido Films’ Antonio Saura.

“For us, it’s been the best Spanish Screenings of the last years,” reported Luis Recart at Bendita Film Sales.

Why of course is another matter. 10 takeaways on a Spanish bull market,...

Filmax has acquired international rights to Spanish thriller “Nina,” the new feature written and directed by Andrea Jaurrieta (“Ana by Day”) that bows at this week’s Málaga Film Festival as one of its higher profile titles in main competition.

Loosely based on the play of the same name by José Ramón Fernández, which borrows elements of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” “Nina” tells the story of a woman, an actress, who returns to her home town on Spain’s rugged northern coast seeking to take revenge on a celebrated writer. As she encounters past acquaintances, including a once close childhood friend, and faces dark memories, she begins to question whether vengeance is the only way forward.

“Nina” stars Goya-winning actress Patricia López Arnaiz (“Ane is Missing”) as the titular character and San Sebastián Silver Shell winner Darío Grandinetti, famed for his performance in Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her,...

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.

Ja Bayona’s Society Of The Snow was the big winner at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 10), scooping 12 prizes including best film and director to become the third-most garlanded film in Goya history.

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won the prizes for best adapted screenplay and feature animation.

20,000 Species Of Bees, the feature debut of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, received three Goyas for best new director and original screenplay for Solaguren, and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain. The 15 nominations for Bees were the...

“20.000 especies de abejas”, “La sociedad de la nieve”, “Saben Aquell” y “Cerrar los Ojos” encabezan las nominaciones a los premios Goya 2024.

El pasado jueves se anunciaron los nominados de la próxima edición de los prestigiosos Premios Goya, el destacado evento anual que celebra lo mejor del cine español. La gala de los Goya 2024 se celebrará el 10 de febrero en Valladolid, con la actriz y cantante Ana Belén y por Los Javis como presentadores. Aquí os dejamos con la lista de los nominados de esta edición:

Mejor PELÍCULA

20.000 especies de abejas

Cerrar los ojos

La sociedad de la nieve

Saben aquell

Un amor

Mejor DIRECCIÓN

Víctor Erice, Cerrar los ojos

Elena Martín, Creatura

J.A. Bayona, La sociedad de la nieve

David Trueba, Saben aquell

Isabel Coixet, Un amor

Mejor PELÍCULA Europea

Aftersun (Reino Unido)

Anatomía de una caída (Francia)

Las ocho montañas (Italia)

Safe Place (Croacia)

Sala de profesores...

The Society Of The Snow has garnered 13 nominations, followed by Close Your Eyes and Jokes & Cigarettes with 11.

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.

20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.

The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.

Ja Bayona’s...

20,000 Species Of Bees, the debut film by Basque filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, and Society Of The Snow, J. A. Bayona’s survival drama for Netflix, have dominated the nominations at this year’s Goya Film Awards.

The nominations for Spain’s premiere film awards event were released this morning. 20,000 species of bees clocked 15 noms, including best film, screenplay, and best new director. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow clocked 13 noms, also landing in best film. Veteran Spanish filmmaker Víctor Erice trails behind with 11 nominations for his comeback feature Close Your Eyes, starring Ana Torrent.

20,000 Species Of Bees debuted at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where lead actor Sofía Otero took the silver bear for best leading performance. The film is set during a summer in a village house linked to beekeeping and follows an eight-year-old and her mother experiencing revelations that will change their lives forever.

Bayona...

Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s debut feature, 20,000 Species of Bees, a touching and tender drama about an 8-year-old transgender child who begins to transition, is the front-runner for the 2024 Goya Awards, the Spanish film academy’s equivalent to the Oscars.

The film, which won its young star Sofía Otero the Silver Bear for best performance in Berlin in February, picked up 15 nominations for the 2024 Goyas, including for best film and best director. Otero was oddly snubbed in the acting categories, though co-stars Ane Gabarain and Itziar Lazkano were nominated in the best supporting actress category, Martxelo Rubio received a best supporting actor nom, and Patricia López Arnaiz a Goya nomination for best actress.

In its review of the film, The Hollywood Reporter called 20,000 Species of Bees a “moving chronicle of an 8-year-old’s gradual transitioning, and the effect it has on a family over their summer vacation...

The first episode of the three-part documentary was about the police finding a breakthrough in the form of a 7.62 Tokarev cartridge, a bullet found in every murder carried out by The Playing Card Killer. This will help the police investigation get a hold of the killer. What is their game plan from here on? The second episode begins with Teresa Sanchez describing what happened on that day when she lost her son The pain with which Teresa describes the ordeal of being faced with death is palpable, and as an audience member, one can empathize with her for having witnessed the death of her only son. The way she recollects the memory, it is easy to conclude that the bereaved mother is still not over her his death.

With the Tokarev bullet recovered from the first scene of the crime, the police are on the hunt to look for bullets...

26th edition wrapped on Sunday.

Estíbaliz Urresola’s 20,000 Species Of Bees and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Sister & Sister won top awards at 2023 Málaga Film Festival, taking best Spanish film and best Latin American film, respectively, as the Andalusian event closed on Sunday.

In other key awards at the festival’s 26th edition, Gerardo Herrero’s Under Therapy earned a special jury prize director and Matías Bize claimed the best director prize for The Punishment.

20,000 Species Of Bees won the Berlin Silver Bear for best leading performance for young Sofía Otero last month and added the Golden Biznaga for...

Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren’s celebrated Spanish feature “20,000 Species of Bees” and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Panamanian drama “Sister & Sister” took the top prizes at the Malaga Film Festival, garnering the Golden Biznagas for Spanish and Latin American pictures respectively.

“20,000 Species of Bees” also won best supporting actress for Patricia López Arnaiz and picked up the Spanish Cinematographic Informers Association’s Feroz Puerta Oscura award. The film’s success follows two awards in Berlin, including a Silver Bear for Sofía Otero for her portrayal of a young girl going through a gender crisis.

For Zúñiga, the Golden Biznaga is sure to help further propel “Sister & Sister,” an autobiographical story about two teenage sisters who travel from Costa Rica to Panama in search of their absent father. Pic drew upbeat reviews in Malaga following on its SXSW world premiere.

Also making waves at the Malaga Festival, which runs...

With the delicacy of a bee probing a flower for pollen, Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren picks her way through the tensions and dilemmas within a family where the youngest member, an 8-year-old boy called Aitor, is feeling his way toward a new identity as a girl. Sofia Otero, who deservedly won the Silver Bear for a lead performer at the Berlinale’s awards night Saturday, shows an instinctive, unforced and generous understanding of how difficult her character’s life must be. As Coco – the between-stools nickname the family has devised to avoid anything too specifically gendered – Otero is alternately obstinate, tearful, mischievous and withdrawn. She craves her mother’s comprehension but pushes her away when she tries to talk to her about why she doesn’t want to go to school.

Related Story Berlin Film Festival Winners: French Documentary ‘On The Adamant’ By Nicolas Philibert Wins Golden Bear Related...

Film directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren.

Paris-based sales company Luxbox has unveiled a new round of deals for Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s Berlinale competition title 20,000 Species Of Bees.

The film has been sold to France (Jour2Fête), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Denmark (Camera Film); Greece (Weird Wave) and former Yugoslavia (Demiurg).

20,000 Species Of Bees is a first feature by Spanish filmmaker Urresola Solaguren, whose short Cuerdas premiered at the Critics’ Week in Cannes last year.

Her feature tells the story of a young child who explores her identity during a summer holiday in her mother’s hometown in the Basque Country.

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,...

A child’s gender identity crisis is mirrored by her mother’s crisis of identity as an artist in this warm, generously performed film

There’s gentleness and delicacy in this heartfelt family drama, a fiction feature debut from Basque film-maker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren. It shows that the crises experienced by children, and by the adults coming to terms with those crises, are part of a larger ecosystem of emotional difficulty in the extended family.

Ane (Patricia López Arnaiz) is a sculptor living in south-west France. She has money worries and problems in her marriage to Gorka (Martxelo Rubio). They have three children, of whom the most troubled is Cocó (Sofía Otero). Eight-year-old Cocó’s worries and self-questioning emerge when Ane has to take the kids away for a summer break over the border in the Basque Country of Spain, staying with her widowed mother Lourdes (Ane Gaberain), who is...

In time, stories like “20,000 Species of Bees” will come to feel as commonplace within the coming-of-age genre as tales of first love or heartbreak: a young girl, unhappy in her skin and at odds with her family, finally recognizes her gender over the course of one pivotal summer, and persuades others to recognize it too. For now, Spanish writer-director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s mellow, softly piercing debut feature joins the likes of Céline Sciamma’s “Tomboy” and Emanuele Crialese’s “L’Immensità” in a select but growing canon of trans or nonbinary childhood studies. Unassuming and meanderingly character-oriented, the film doesn’t assert itself as an issue drama — in large part because, as Solaguren presents her eight-year-old protagonist’s gradual steps toward self-realization, her film doesn’t see much of an issue to begin with.

“How come you know who you are and I don’t?” Simply phrased but far more complex to answer,...

Berlinale Competition title heading to Benelux, Switzerland, Poland and and Taiwan.

International buyers are moving in on Spanish filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s Berlinale Competition title 20.000 Species Of Bees.

Paris-based sales Luxbox has sold the debut film to Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Cineworx), Poland (Gutek Film) and Taiwan (Swallow Wings Film).

20.000 Species Of Bees, is the story of a young child who explores her identity during a summer vacation in her mother’s hometown in the Basque Country. The women of her family, and her mother in particular (played by Patricia Lopez Arnaiz), also reflect on their own lives.

Film is feature debut of Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren

Screen can reveal the trailer for Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees which is premiering in competition at the Berlinale.

20,000 Species Of Bees is a Gariza Films and Inicia Films production with Sirimiri Films and is sold by Luxbox. It tells the story of an eight-year-old child who explores her identity during a summer vacation in her mother’s hometown in the Basque Country. The women of her family, and her mother in particular, played by Patricia Lopez Arnaiz, also reflect on their own lives.

The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition as well as its sidebar Encounters competitive section.

A total of 18 films have been selected for the international competition with highlights including Christian Petzold’s latest film Roter Himmel (Afire), Margarethe von Trotta directing Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps in Ingeborg Bachmann — Journey Into the Desert, and Philippe Garrel returns with a new feature titled The Plough.

Scroll down for the full lineup.

This morning the festival also revealed an extra special screening: Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn will debut a documentary titled Superpower, a film shot in Ukraine last year at the outbreak of Russia’s invasion and follows president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 16-26.

Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. The festival had initially done a good job of increasing...

At September’s San Sebastian Festival, Movistar+, Spain’s biggest content investor, hosted a press conference for the world premiere of its newest original, “Offworld” (“Apagón”), featuring five stories, all set in a Spain without electricity, the result of a massive solar storm.

On-stage, fielding questions, were not “Offworld’s” actors, however, though they included Goya actress winner Patricia López Arnaiz, but the series’ screenwriters and directors. These took in Oscar nominee Rodrigo Sorogoyen (“Madre”), Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo, whose “The Double Steps” and “Between Two Waters” both won San Sebastian Golden Shells, and Alberto Rodríguez, director of Goya best picture winner “Marshland.”

In a new global TV scene, the stars are its signature creators; the battle for success is a battle for this top talent. How did Movistar+ back the biggest array of creative talent in Spanish TV history?

“Modestly speaking, we’ve tried to create a culture at Movistar+ that attracts talent.