The Euro 75: Inicia Films (Spain)

Need to know: Founded in 2006 by Valérie Delpierre, Inicia Films made a big leap forward with Carla Simon’s Summer 1993, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2017 where it won the best first film award. That same year, Laura Farrés’ short The Disinherited was selected for Cannes Critics’ Week, winning the Leica Cine Discovery Award for best short film. This was followed in 2020 by Pilar Palomero’s Schoolgirls, co-produced with Spain’s BTeam Pictures, which premiered in Berlin’s Generation KPlus and went on to win four Goyas at Spain’s national film awards, including best film. Spotting new talent is one of Inicia’s strong points — it will support shorts by debut directors and then follow up with more ambitious projects from the start of the writing process.

Key personnel: Valérie Delpierre, founder and CEO.

Incoming: Inicia has two features in post: Palomero’s La Maternal, co-produced with BTeam Pictures and France’s Les Films du Worso; and Alex Lora’s Unicorns, co-produced with Spain’s Jaibo Films. Esti Urresola’s 20.000 Species Of Bees was selected for the co-production market at Berlin 2022; Urresola is competing at Critics’ Week in Cannes with short Cuerdas. Upcoming shoots include Paula Ortiz’s Teresa, an adaptation of a play by Juan Mayorga about the nun and writer Saint Teresa of Avila, in co-production with Bluebird (Spain) and Umedia (Belgium); El Tesoro De Barracuda by Adrian Garcia; and David Ilundain’s TV series La Paca.

Valérie Delpierre says: “We have produced shorts, documentaries and features and we have recently started animation projects as well as two series. It’s not a matter of changing gears, nor our style, but of incorporating new formats.”

Contact: info@iniciafilms.com