Catalonia, and its capital Barcelona, boasts some of the international industry’s most active production companies and exciting filmmaking talents.
A delegation of more than 70 Catalan companies are attending the Cannes Marché, ensuring a significant Catalan presence at many industry events, as Pablo Berger’s animation Robot Dreams and Elena Martin’s Creatura fly the flag for the region in the festival.
A second Catalan animated project at Cannes is Alba Sotorra’s Rock Bottom, a musical inspired by the life and work of ex-Soft Machine vocalist and drummer Robert Wyatt and lyricist-artist Alfreda Benge. It is produced by Sotorra, with Jaibo Films and Poland’s GS Animation.
Three Catalan projects feature in the Spanish Screenings Goes to Cannes showcase of five films in post-production, where a 12-minute clip of each will also be screened. The titles include Benito Zambrano’s Jumping The Fence, sold by Filmax and produced by nascent company Cine365, Roya Sadat’s thriller Sima’s Song, produced by Sotorra with the Netherlands’ Baldr Films and France’s Urban Factory, and Pau Calpe’s Werewolf, a coming-of-age story produced by Calpe’s Galapagos Media and Dacsa Produccions.
Catalan directors Carlos Marqués-Marcet and Aleix Plademunt have brought A Tree Is A Tree to the showcase of Spanish documentaries in Cannes Docs. Marqués-Marcet caused a sensation with his debut 10.000 Km, which won the best new director award at the Goyas and multiple international festival awards.
There will also be a co-production meeting with the Nordic countries to encourage more collaboration between the regions, as well as to attract film shoots to each, and promote the creative and technical talent Catalan and the Nordics have to offer.
Catalonia is represented in the Spanish Spotlight of the Producers Network by Catalan producer Xavier Font of Zuzu Cinema, who co-produced Oliver Laxe’s 2019 Cannes title Fire Will Come, and Sica, which screened in the Berlinale’s Generation section this year.
Carlota Pereda’s second film The Chapel, her follow-up to Sundance 2022 hit Piggy, is among the slate of
Fantastic 7, the Marché and Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival’s showcase of international genre projects. Produced and sold by Barcelona-based Filmax with Bixagu and backed by Netflix, it follows a young girl who wishes to keep communicating with her dead mother through a fake medium.
Art and craft
“We are pleased Cannes’ recognition towards our industry reaches craftspeople too,” says Joan Ruiz, co-ordinator for Catalan Films, which showcases Catalan films around the world. “For example, the team behind Creatura includes DoP Alana Mejia, who also did the cinematography for The Real Truth About The Fight. Another example is the editor Ariadna Ribas who was also behind Albert Serra’s 2022 Cannes entry Pacifiction, and now has served on Creatura.”
Robot Dreams and Creatura are part of a five title line-up of Catalan projects in the festival. The former, in Special Screenings, is the first animated feature by Berger, the director of Snow White which was a jury prize winner at San Sebastian and took 10 Goyas in 2013. Sold by Elle Driver, Robot Dreams has been produced by Arcadia Motion Pictures, the company behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s rural thriller The Beasts, which screened in Cannes Competition in 2022. France’s Noodles Production and Les Films du Worso were co-producers of the story about the friendship between a dog and a robot.
Creatura, screening in Directors’ Fortnight, is Martin’s second feature following Júlia 1st, which won the best director prize at Malaga Film Festival in 2021. Her latest is a story of female desire and sexual repression, co-written by Clara Roquet, director of 2021 Critics’ Week title Libertad. The producers are Vilaüt Films, Lastor Media, Avalon and Elastica Films. (This group has good form — it produced the Berlinale 2022 Golden Bear winner Alcarràs.) Luxbox handles international sales.
Also in Directors’ Fortnight is Pham Thien An’s Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, which is co-produced by Catalan company Fasten Films with Vietnam’s JK Film, Singapore’s Potocol and France’s Deuxieme Ligne. Dubai-based Cercamon handles international rights.
Anna Llargués’s short Crack Of Dawn, produced by Escac Films, the production arm of Barcelona talent hothouse Escac school, features in La Cinéf school film official selection. Another short, The Real Truth About The Fight directed by Andrea Slavicek, is screening in Critics’ Week, produced by Catalan outfit Fractal with Croatia’s Antitalent.
No comments yet