A host of Catalan productions are unspooling at Cannes, in official selection as well as the market and sidebars.
The Catalan government’s investment in the region’s Co‑Production Fund to promote minority co-productions is bearing fruit — not least with the selection of Alain Guiraudie’s rural drama Miséricorde in Cannes Premiere.
Co-produced by Albert Serra and Montse Triola’s Barcelona-based Andergraun Films, Miséricorde is a production of France’s CG Cinéma, Scala Films and Arte France Cinéma, alongside Rosa Filmes in Portugal.
The film benefitted from a government scheme launched by the Catalan Institute of Cultural Companies (ICEC) in 2020, which allocates $1.9m (€1.8m) to the Co-Production Fund. This offers Catalan companies up to $323,000 (€300,000) to partner on international projects as minority co-producers. Another recent example was Antonella Sudasassi Furniss’s Berlin Panorama audience award winner Memories Of A Burning Body, produced by Costa Rica’s Substance Films and Barcelona’s Playlab Films.
On the Croisette
Miséricorde heads a noteworthy presence of the Catalan industry in the Cannes market, with 41 production companies, 16 distribution firms (of which six are also producers), and three Barcelona-based international sales agencies attending. Furthermore, nine projects will be pitching in different sections, with a total of 19 films involving Catalan productions seeking to capture the interest of buyers.
Laura Casabe’s The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake, produced Mr Miyagi Films (co-producer of Netflix hit The Platform) in partnership with Mexico and Argentina, will be pitched at the Ventana Sur Goes To Cannes section. Sold by Filmax, The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake is set against the backdrop of Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis and follows a woman, abandoned by her parents, living with her grandmother who has supernatural powers.
Daniela Forever will feature as part of the market’s Fantastic 7 sidebar, a platform for upcoming genre projects selected by seven festivals. The dystopian romance by Nacho Vigalondo (whose credits include Colossal) is Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival’s pick, and stars Henry Golding, Beatrice Granno and Aura Garrido. The film is in post and is being sold by XYZ Films.
Barcelona-born director Xavier Rull is pitching My Stalker, another genre film, at the Frontieres Proof of Concept showcase. The story of a rising young singer stalked by a mysterious and dangerous man, My Stalker is produced by Noctambule Cinema and Monster Box.
David Victori’s thriller Cross The Line has been chosen for the new Cannes Remakes market, a selection of hand-picked European IPs (sourced from France, Spain and Italy) looking to be rebooted. Remake rights are handled by Filmax.
As for documentaries — which have a longstanding tradition in the Catalan film industry — three feature projects will be presented at the Cannes Doc/Spain Co-Pro Social Club Session. The Dutchbat, directed by Guillermo Roqués, Rafa Honrubia and Javier Marin, tells of a group of Dutch ‘blue helmets’ who bear the guilt of having not been able to prevent the Srebrenica genocide during the Bosnian War.
Elsewhere Irene Baqué’s Oasis is about the Rarámuri Indigenous community in Chihuahua, Mexico. Both The Dutchbat and Oasis are produced by 15-L Films.
A third documentary, Luis E Parés’s Dancing With Death, which is an analysis of Flamenco and cinema during Franco’s dictatorship in Spain, is produced by LaCima Producciones. The Barcelona-based company is also behind Afternoons Of Solitude, a visual rumination on bullfighting in Spain directed by Serra, with his Andergraun Films and Ideale Audience producing.
And in Cannes Docs’ The Five Nordics Showcase, Polar Star Films is the Catalan co-producer of Robin Petré’s Only On Earth, which depicts a journey deep into southern Galicia, one of Europe’s most active wildfire zones.
New Catalan productions offered to buyers include animated feature Buffalo Kids, a family adventure selected for the upcoming Annecy festival, which is being handled by Cinema Management group. The film is a 4 Cats Pictures production, the company behind animation Mummies. Another animated feature on offer is Dalia And The Red Book, directed by David Bisbano and sold by FilmSharks, which involves Catalan production outfit Doce Entertainment.
Film Factory is bringing Laura Jou’s Free Falling to the market, produced by Cannes jury member JA Bayona, along with Belén Atienza and Sandra Hermida, producers of Bayona’s Society Of The Snow.
They Will Be Dust by director Carlos Marqués-Marcet, whose credits include Long Distance (aka 10.000 Km), will also be introduced to the market by Latido Films, while Barcelona-based Filmax’s lineup includes Pau Teixidor’s second feature Birth, about a teen sent to a centre for pregnant girls in Spain, 1982.
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