First Look 2024

Source: Locarno Pro

Left to right, top to bottom:Bodegón Con Fantasmas, Dream of Another Summer, L’Aguait, Mares, Prefiro Condenarme, and Río Abajo, Un Tigre

Six Spanish titles have been selected for Locarno Pro’s work-in-progress section First Look which runs from August 9-11.

Spain is the country in focus for the upcoming 13th edition of First Look. The selected projects, none of which currently have sales representation, were chosen out of over 40 submissions.

Scroll down for full line-up

The pre-selection committee comprised Xavier Garcia Puerto (Tallinn Back Nights Festival/REC – International Festival of Cinema in Tarragona), Susana Santos Rodriguez (IndieLisboa/IFFR), and Cecilia Barrionuevo (ECAM – Escuela de Cinematografía y Audiovisual de Madrid).

An international jury, comprised of artistic director of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week Beatrice Fiorentino, Istanbul Film Festival director Kerem Ayan, and programmer for the International Film Festival Rotterdam Mercedes Martínez-Abarca, will award this year’s First Look prizes.

First Look is organised in partnership with the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICCA) and ICEX Spain Trade & Investment.

First Look 2024 projects:

L’Aguait - fiction
Dir. Marc Ortiz
Prod. Paloma Mora (TV ON Producciones, Admirable Films), Marc Muñoz (lamalanga Produccions Audiovisuals)
Teresa Pla, an intersex child assigned female at birth, struggles to be recognized as a man within the archaic Spanish society of the beginning and middle of the 20th century while he is persecuted by guerrillas, bandits and the Guardia Civil.

Bodegón Con Fantasmas - fiction
Dir. Enrique Buleo
Prod. Alejandra Mora (Quatre Films Audiovisuales SL), Alicia Yubero (Cuidado con el perro), Snezana van Houwelingen (This and that), Roberto Butragueño (Sideral)
Distressed by the troubles and difficulties of life and death, ghosts and humans of the small town of La Mancha will do the impossible to put an end to their problems and will not hesitate to carry out extreme and desperate plans to achieve it.

Dream of Another Summer - experimental
Dir. Irene Bartolomé
Prod. Pere Marzo (Colibrí Studio), Irene Bartolomé (I.B. Films) and Elie Kamal (The Attic Productions)
The story of the encounter between a woman collapsing and a city in ruins that explores how the spaces we inhabit relate to us, and reflects on the mortality and survival of a city.

Mares (Mums) - documentary
Dir. Ariadna Seuba
Prod. Carles Brugeras, Marieke van der Bersselaar (Polar Star Films), María Nova López (Intactes Films)
An intimate and emotionally charged journey with director Ari (32), and her partner Anna (41), who want to have a child together. Anna is the first to begin assisted reproduction, whilst Ariadna captures every step with her camera.

Prefiro Dondenarme - documentary
Dir. Margarita Ledo-Andión
Prod. Olaia Ledo, Carmen Ciller (Nós Produtora Cinematográfica Galega.)
1972: The Ecclesiastical Court of Santiago de Compostela convicted Sagrario Fra, a shellfish harvester in Ferrol, for committing adultery. At the time, many women were being imprisoned or locked up in a mental hospital for what is considered a female-specific criminal act.

Río Abajo, Un Tigre - fiction
Dir. Víctor Diago
Prod. Montse Pujol Solà (Boogaloo Films)
Júlia fled to Glasgow to start anew, but years later, she’s stuck. By day, she pursues photography; by night, she washes dishes. One afternoon, while photographing pedestrians, her eyes begin to fail. As illness spreads, Júlia delves into her past and that of the city, recalling a mysterious group that retrieved objects from the river, and Shubham, an Indian boy who, like her, came here for a new beginning.