With Carlota Pereda’s ‘The Chapel,’ Paul Urkijo’s ‘Irati,’ Genre Cinema Gets a Boost in the Basque Country
variety.comHolly Jones Spain’s Basque Country, an ever-evolving film hub, continues to see a consolidation of talent driven by an animation boom alongside an increase in the production of ambitious genre cinema, marked by the colossal success of recent projects on streaming platforms and pick-ups by labs and festivals.
As San Sebastian unspools, the sequel to “The Platform,” the second most watched non-English Netflix movie in the streamer’s history, is in production in the Basque Country, produced by Carlos Juárez at Basque Films.
Director Paul Urkijo, who opened the Fantastic Pavilion, heads to the fest to screen“Irati,” which has broken box office records for a Basque film and continues its prize trawl at festivals.
Spanish helmer Carlota Pereda’s follow-up to “Piggy,” “The Chapel” was produced in the region by Filmax and the Basque Country’s Bixagu, co-founded by producer Iñaki Gómez and amusing and intimate short effort “Priorities,” (“Prioridades”) from writer-director Tamara Lucarini Cortés, has gone through the region’s Noka lab, alongside other burgeoning talents Estibaliz Urresola (“Cuerdas”) and Nitya Lópe (“Deadly Draw).” “There’s a new generation of creators who are attracted to genre.
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