Spanish Art Films Win Big Fest Prizes, But How Can That Be Translated into Sales and Box Office?
variety.comEmiliano De Pablos In times of dramatic change for the film-TV industry, Spanish auteur cinema is booming, goosed by multiple significant and high-quality titles, reaping prizes, critical praise and profile at international festivals.
Beyond the preeminent interest in established auteurs such as Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, J.A. Bayona, Isabel Coixet and Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spanish sales agents and distributors celebrate the increasingly strong presence of young local film auteurs on the international scene.
The big question is, however, how this profile can translate into box office impact and substantial sales. “We are living a very sweet moment in terms of the recognition of our cinema at international festivals, with ever more filmmakers who are creating dazzling works,” says Luis Renart, founder of Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based sales company Bendita Films. “There’s a generation of creators and producers who look to international auteur cinema when they build their projects, made with a European sensibility and a very marked identity, and backed by more international financing and co-production structures from the earliest development stages,” thinks Álex Lafuente, co-founder of indie producer-distributor Bteam. “New film regulation during the last government has allowed the production of markedly more audacious films with – a priori – less potential for box official return but a larger one for festival impact.
They are films favored by a bet on Spain’s non-majority languages, and especially those directed by a fantastic new batch of female directors,” argues Antonio Saura, Latido Films CEO.
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