In its intensive safety of Spain at Berlin, its European Film Market Nation in Focus, Choice seems to be like once more on the nation’s presence at this yr’s EFM Co-Manufacturing Market.
The handful of Spanish titles at Berlinale’s 22nd Co-Manufacturing market was as quite a few as they arrive. Aquí y Allí Films’ “Konbini” is a unusual co-production with Japan whereas “Girl, Don’t Play” by Ainhoa Rodríguez calls itself an anti-film noir about female monsters. “Males and Days,” set in Barcelona and London, is a gay romantic drama whereas “March 14th,” a VFF Experience Highlight Award winner on the Experience Enterprise Market, and “Lack of life in Torrevieja” are family dramas, the latter with a murder thriller twist in a resort metropolis.
What united the 5 initiatives, nonetheless – and that’s typical of Spanish cinema made by its new expertise of cineastes – is their sturdy social problem focus.
All 5 pics had their market debut on the European Film Market (EFM) the place they’ve been amongst some 35 operate film initiatives from 27 worldwide places participating throughout the Co-Manufacturing Market, working Feb. 15-19.
“March 14th” (“Catorce de Marzo”), Alberto Gross Molo and co-screenwriter Tomàs Bayo Encontra
One amongst six initiatives which scooped awards at this yr’s Co-Manufacturing Market, a €10,000 ($10,500) cash prize for top-of-the-line new endeavor on the Experience Enterprise Market. Produced by Contraria Media, govt producer of Gross Molo’s shorts alongside Ayhe Productions, which backed Gross Molo’s acclaimed temporary “Solos,” and Solita Films, behind Sundance hit “The Fishbowl.” Héctor (11) and his sister Gema (6) are coping with the final word 24 hours sooner than their mom and father’ divorce trial—a day that may determine their future. Tomorrow, they should choose which guardian they should dwell with. Nevertheless Héctor fears that if their options don’t match, the select might separate them. Has gone by the use of La Incubadora ECAM, Berlinale Abilities Script Station in its enchancment trajectory. “Previous the divorce theme, ‘March 14th’ speaks about love between siblings, family and the ache introduced on by conflicts with members of the family,” says Contraria Media’s Laura Egidos.
“Konbini,” Pedro Collantes, Tomoe Kanno, Sayaka Akitsu
“Konbini” amenities on Kisayo, a struggling sound artist working late shifts at a Tokyo consolation retailer. One night, he intervenes when an aged man purposefully tries to get caught stealing. This chance encounter sparks an stunning bond, connecting two vastly fully completely different lives. Nonetheless in early enchancment, it’s backed by Spanish Film Institute ICAA and Japan’s Tsutaya Programme, “‘Konbini’ is an excellent story that shows a harsh actuality nevertheless narrated in such a younger strategy that it makes you fall in love with it. It’s a dream to information and participate in such a world co-production with Custom Leisure, one in all Japan’s most energetic manufacturing corporations with over 30 years of experience,” says Collantes.
“Girl, Don’t Play” (“Niña, no juegues”) Ainhoa Rodríguez
Six-year-old María lives alongside along with her mother in a roadside hostel-restaurant in Extremadura. Her mother, constantly cooking and battling stomach ache, sometimes vanishes sooner than dawn. One night, a sinister roadside encounter forces them to flee. As secrets and techniques and methods unravel, María begins to question her mother’s true nature—and her private. Co-produced by Les Films du Worso and Tentación Cabiria, Rodriguez says her horror film “delves into the parable of the ‘female monster’ whereas exploring maternal bonds and the battle between identification and social imposition. Instructed from a child’s perspective, it pays homage to cinematic customized solely to subvert it from a model new viewpoint.”
“Males and Days” (“Els properties i els dies”), Arnau Vilaró
Produced by Nanouk Films, Native Films and Lluís Miñarro, “Males and Days” by Arnau Vilaró (“Alcarràs”) is impressed by the lifetime of late Hispanic Analysis scholar David Vilaseca. Set in 1992 Barcelona, it follows Vilaseca’s return from London after ending his PhD and a toxic breakup. Amid Olympic fever and the AIDS catastrophe, he begins a diary on love between males, later incomes acclaim after it’s revealed. Supported by ICEC, Creative Europe Media, and 3CAT, the endeavor awaits help from Televisión Española and CNC. Its producers highlight its current sort out identification, pre-Olympic Barcelona and LGTBQ+ struggles rarely seen in Spanish cinema.
Males and Days
“Lack of life in Torrevieja” (“Muerte en Torrevieja”) Adriana Arratia Screenwriters: Arratia, Marina Figueras and Pilar Romina
Collaborating throughout the Experience Enterprise Market on the Berlinale Co-Manufacturing Market, the Maqueta Films and Nakamura Films co-production is about all through a torrid summer time season throughout the vacationer resort Torrevieja the place Chetia, a single mother struggling to elevate her undesirable son, survives daily by the use of shady dealings and illegal balcony betting. Nevertheless her world is upended when a vacationer mysteriously dies at one in all her occasions. Stable is led by Caterina Hurtado Fernández and Ana Jiménez La Santa. “Adriana Arratia is 25 years outdated, makes use of a novel language and has a very clear purpose of giving visibility to the tales of girls who dwell on society’s margins. Her film breathes contemporaneity, vitality and rawness,” say its producers.
