Noticias

With a co-production forum and sold-out Spotlight on Incentives seminar complementing its pavilion and robust industry delegation, Spain is giving Toronto industry attendees a taste of what will unfold on a much larger scale in September 2026 when the festival launches its official content market.

On Sept. 6, the third iteration of the Do It the Spanish Way! International Co-production Forum saw five Spanish producers with features at various stages of development — and with partners and partial funding in place — network with a mix of Canadian and international producers and distributors.

The full morning event, which welcomed more than 75 attendees, opened with an introduction and presentation of the seven features then broke out into lively one-on-one sessions. Each participating Spanish producer met with at least eight companies, Variety was told.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for Spain to join forces with other countries, and more specifically with Canada because we both have...

“Yo no moriré de amor,” the feature debut of theatre actress Marta Matute, among the five titles selected by the Madrid Film School’s Ecam incubator program, has been boarded by Elastica Films,

whose credits include Berlinale Golden Bear prize winner “Alcarràs” and “Creatura,” Elena Martin’s best European film winner at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The family drama is lead produced by José Esteban Alenda and César Esteban Alenda’s Solita Films, which saw their first international co-production, “El despertar de las hormigas,” by Costa Rican Antonella Sudasassi, world premiere at Berlinale’s Forum and become the first Central American film to be nominated for a Spanish Goya.

Executive producer Cecilia Rivas of Solita Films told Variety she is hoping to close a European co-production deal for “Yo no moriré de amor” in San Sebastian.

“Elastica Films makes an ideal partner as we share the same vision,” she noted, adding...

Spain has found a place on the global film industry’s radar as an attractive market for co-producing projects, boosted by its bigger-than-ever-public-sector funding.

The trend comes in a moment of maturity for its audiovisual industry, with competitive tax incentives and the emergence of fresh talent, often female, whether directors or producers. Unlike U.S. indie producers, hard hit by streamers pulling back, European counterparts still have public sector financing.

But to make movies of any artistic ambition, which might justify that funding and break out to foreign sales and a theatrical release, producers are looking overseas more and to other parts of Spain for production partners.

Co-production is booming. Only last year, Spain co-produced 70 films, beating its average production for the period 2018-2022 of 256 titles, according to Spanish film agency Icaa.

Icaa’s selective aid for movie production reached €20 million (21.48 million). Of that, a minimum 5 went to support minority co-productions.

Fast building as one of Spain’s leading hotbeds for emerging producer and creative talent, the Madrid Film School’s Ecam Incubator, now on its sixth edition, has picked five promising titles for its 2023 program.

Aimed at Spanish directors, screenwriters and producers, the Incubator program is open to directors’ debuts as well as second or third feature projects. Each title will receive an endowment of 10,000 Euros towards its development. Creative teams hailing from outside of Madrid have their trips covered.

The 25 projects that have passed through the Incubator over the past five editions have received a total of 21 Spanish Academy Goya nominations.

Many of the past Ecam projects have participated in prominent film festivals, including Venice, Rotterdam, the Berlinale and San Sebastian.

A Drill Down on the Five 2023 Projects:

“Catorce de Marzo” (“March 14”)

The feature debut of Canarian Alberto Gross Molo, who made his mark with short films “Grietas” and “Solos,...

Spain’s Solita Films and Auna Producciones, and Puerto Rico’s Canica Films, the production team behind Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition entry “La Pecera” (“The Fishbowl”), by Glorimar Marrero Sánchez, is joining again for the Puerto Rican filmmaker’s new feature, “El Grito de la Trinitaria.”

Written and directed by Marrero Sánchez, “El Grito de la Trinitaria” (a working title) follows a Dominican woman searching for her own space in the world and the elderly woman in whose house she lives, when they are about to lose the apartment they have shared for years.

The project replicates “La Pecera’s” Spain-Puerto Rico production partnership, with Solita co-founder José Esteban Alenda, Auna’s Amaya Izquierdo and Canica’s Marrero Sánchez serving as producers.

“The search for my own space rolls off my interest, as a Puerto Rican, to address the human need for self-determination,” Marrero told Variety.

“This time,...

The drama is the feature debut of Puerto Rican filmmaker Glorimar Marrero Sanchez.

New York-based sales company Visit Films has signed on to represent worldwide rights for Puerto Rican drama The Fishbowl (La Pecera), which is set to get its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this month’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film, the feature debut of Puerto Rican filmmaker, screenwriter and interdisciplinary artist Glorimar Marrero Sánchez, tells the story of an artist who, when her cancer metastasizes, returns to the small Puerto Rican island where she grew up and throws herself into denouncing the pollution...

The drama is the feature debut of Puerto Rican filmmaker Glorimar Marrero Sanchez.

New York-based sales company Visit Films has signed on to represent worldwide rights for Puerto Rican drama The Fishbowl (La Pecera), which is set to get its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this month’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film, the feature debut of Puerto Rican filmmaker, screenwriter and interdisciplinary artist Glorimar Marrero Sánchez, tells the story of an artist who, when her cancer metastasizes, returns to the small Puerto Rican island where she grew up and throws herself into denouncing the pollution...

Enrique Buleo’s “Still Life With Ghost,” Ana Asensio’s “The Goat Girl,” Gala Gracia’s “The Remnants of You” and Esteban Alenda Bros.’ “There Is Evil” are some of the film projects pitched at the spotlight event on Spanish cinema at Cannes’ Producers Network on Friday May 20.

Five Spanish production companies– Un Capricho de Producciones, Quatre Films Audiovisuales, Potenza Producciones, Aquí y Allí Films and Solita Films – were selected by Spain’s trade promotion board Icex and the Icaa film institute to pitch their production slates at the Marché du Film event.

As part of the Production Day, which kicked off with the Producers Network, the five Spanish producers made a video pitch with their projects – the main part of them at development stage – to encourage international partnerships with co-producers and sales agents.

Comedy is the predominant genre among the feature projects selected.

In the evening, 25 Spanish producers will...

Last year, Argentina’s Ventana Sur film and TV market and co-production forum launched its inaugural Proyecta feature project showcase.

Co-organized by Ventana Sur and the San Sebastian Film Festival, Proyecta was established to aid in facilitation of international co-productions between Europe and Latin America.

16 feature film projects will participate this year, four of which come from the Basque co-founder, one from Taller Eave Puentes-Europe Latin America Co-Production Workshop and the final title from Brasil CineMundi. The others were selected by Paulo Roberto de Carvalho, Esperanza Luffiego and Clara Massot for Ventana Sur.

From the 16 projects, nine are first or second features interspersed with established, multi-award-winning filmmakers such as Lucía Puenzo, director of 2007’s Cannes Critics’ Week, Golden Rail, Acid and Regards Jeunes Prize-winner “Xxy,” and who is fresh off Fabula’s Daniela Vega-starred series “The Pack.” Puenzo will be pitching “Los Impactados,” written by her friend Lorena Ventimiglia,...

Antonella Sudasassi will present her feature debut “Hormigas” in the Berlinale Forum.

Produced by Amaya Izquierdo at Costa Rica’s Betta Films, and José Esteban Alenda at Spain’s Solita Films, “Hormigas” portrays a humble Costa Rican family. The story is told from the point of view of the mother, who sees her dreams put on hold due to her husband’s desire for a third child. The situation will explore the feelings the mother (Daniella Valenciano) develops and her new perspectives on her femininity and sexuality, and the unsuspected micro-machismo surrounding her.

Sudasassi participated in the Berlinale Talents program at the Guadalajara Intl. Film Festival (Ficg) with the film when it was a project. She was trained in Media Management and Audiovisual Production at the University of Costa Rica.

Sandro Fiorin’s FiGa Films, the prestigious Miami and Brazil-based company with a keen eye for emerging talent, manages international sale rights.