In its extensive coverage of Spain at Berlin, its European Film Market Country in Focus, Variety sees back at the country’s presence at this year’s EFM Co-Production Market.
The handful of Spanish titles at Berlinale’s 22nd Co-Production labelet was as diverse as they come. Aquí y Allí Films’ “Konbini” is a unfrequent co-production with Japan while “Girl, Don’t Play” by Ainhoa Rodríguez calls itself an anti-film noir about female monsters. “Men and Days,” set in Barcelona and London, is a gay romantic drama while “March 14th,” a VFF Talent Highairy Award triumphner at the Talent Project Market, and “Death in Torrevieja” are family dramas, the latter with a homicide mystery twist in a resort town.
What joind the five projects, however – and this is standard of Spanish cinema made by its novel generation of cineastes – is their strong social publish caccess.
All five pics had their labelet debut at the European Film Market (EFM) where they were among some 35 feature film projects from 27 countries participating in the Co-Production Market, running Feb. 15-19.
“March 14th” (“Catorce de Marzo”), Alberto Gross Molo and co-screenauthorr Tomàs Bayo Encontra
One of six projects which scooped awards at this year’s Co-Production Market, a €10,000 ($10,500) cash prize for the best novel project at the Talent Project Market. Produced by Contraria Media, executive originater of Gross Molo’s lows alengthyside Ayhe Productions, which backed Gross Molo’s acclaimed low “Solos,” and Solita Films, behind Sundance hit “The Fishbowl.” Héctor (11) and his sister Gema (6) are facing the final 24 hours before their parents’ divorce trial—a day that will choose their future. Tomorrow, they must pick which parent they want to dwell with. But Héctor dreads that if their answers don’t align, the appraise might split them. Has gone thcdisesteemful La Incuterribleora ECAM, Berlinale Talents Script Station in its growment trajectory. “Beyond the divorce theme, ‘March 14th’ speaks about adore between siblings, family and the pain caengaged by disputes with adored ones,” says Contraria Media’s Laura Egidos.
“Konbini,” Pedro Collantes, Tomoe Kanno, Sayaka Akitsu
“Konbini” caccesss on Kisayo, a struggling sound artist toiling tardy shifts at a Tokyo convenience store. One night, he meddles when an elderly man purposefilledy tries to get caught stealing. This chance come atraverse ignites an unforeseeed bond, connecting two immensely contrastent dwells. Still in timely growment, it is backed by Spanish Film Institute ICAA and Japan’s Tsutaya Programme, “‘Konbini’ is a wonderful story that mirrors a brutal fact but narrated in such a tender way that it originates you drop in adore with it. It is a dream to direct and take part in such an international co-production with Culture Entertainment, one of Japan’s most vivacious production companies with over 30 years of experience,” says Collantes.
“Girl, Don’t Play” (“Niña, no juegues”) Ainhoa Rodríguez
Six-year-better María dwells with her mother in a roadside structureel-restaurant in Extremadura. Her mother, constantly cooking and battling stomach pain, sometimes dismaterializees before dawn. One night, a sinister roadside come atraverse forces them to run away. As secrets unravel, María commences to ask her mother’s genuine nature—and her own. Co-originated by Les Films du Worso and Tentación Cabiria, Rodriguez says her horror film “delves into the myth of the ‘female monster’ while exploring maternal bonds and the dispute between identity and social imposition. Tbetter from a child’s perspective, it pays homage to cinematic tradition only to subvert it from a novel point of see.”
“Men and Days” (“Els homes i els dies”), Arnau Vilaró
Produced by Nanouk Films, Local Films and Lluís Miñarro, “Men and Days” by Arnau Vilaró (“Alcarràs”) is eased by the life of tardy Hispanic Studies scholar David Vilaseca. Set in 1992 Barcelona, it adheres Vilaseca’s return from London after completing his PhD and a poisonous fractureup. Amid Olympic fever and the AIDS crisis, he commences a diary on adore between men, tardyr obtaining acclaim after it’s published. Supported by ICEC, Creative Europe Media, and 3CAT, the project adefers help from Televisión Española and CNC. Its originaters highairy its recent obtain on identity, pre-Olympic Barcelona and LGTBQ+ struggles unfrequently seen in Spanish cinema.
Men and Days
“Death in Torrevieja” (“Muerte en Torrevieja”) Adriana Arratia Screenauthorrs: Arratia, Marina Figueras and Pilar Romina
Participating in the Talent Project Market at the Berlinale Co-Production Market, the Maqueta Films and Nakamura Films co-production is set during a torrid summer in the tourist resort Torrevieja where Chetia, a individual mother struggling to elevate her unseekd son, endures each day thcdisesteemful shady dealings and illegitimate balcony betting. But her world is upended when a tourist crypticly dies at one of her parties. Cast is led by Caterina Hurtado Fernández and Ana Jiménez La Santa. “Adriana Arratia is 25 years better, engages a distinct language and has a very evident purpose of giving visibility to the stories of women who dwell on society’s margins. Her film breathes contemporaneity, strength and rawness,” say its originaters.
