Spanish Screenings Goes to Cannes, a selection of five pix in post which underscores the ever broadening compass – in genre, setting, protagonists, production bases and models – of film production in Spain. “Sima’s Song,” for example, is set in 1979 Kabul, “Jumping the Fence” on the Morocco-Spain border in Africa.
Many titles, though still in post production, come laden with prizes as projects, prestige deals or rich talent. “Sima’s Song,” from Afghan director Roya Sadat, whose “A Letter to the President” was shortlisted for an Oscar, won the Taicca Award at Busan’s Asian Project Market and the IFI-Pas Award at Mumbai’s Film Bazaar.
Its producer, Alba Sotorra, was nominated for an International Emmy as a director for “The Return: Life After ISIS.” The second feature from Orr, whose “Niñato” marked him out as a talent to track, “To Our Friends” scooped the top plaudit at Ventana Sur’s Proyecta project forum in December 2021.
It’s also backed by enterprising Canary Island production outfit El Viaje Films, (“Slaughterhouse,” “White and White,” “They Carry Death”). “Werewolf” marks the latest title from producer and now writer-director Pau Calpe (“Tornarem,” “Tros”) whose career has mixed genre (“Hipnos”), social drama (“Canço per a tu”) and their mixture, as in “Tros” and now “Werewolf.” Starring two of Spain’s best actors of their generation, Carmen Machi (“Piggy”) and Antonio de la Torre (“The Endless Trench”), “We’ve Always Treated Women Too Well” is an Amazon Prime Video pickup. “Jumping the Fence” is backed by Castelao, part of Spanish indie studio Filmax.
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