Notizie

In more news emerging from Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, Clara Larraín’s Clara Films has boarded Lucía Lalor’s docu-fiction hybrid “Mam” from Argentina’s Gale Cine.

Described as a “thought-provoking autobiographical hybrid documentary that explores how it is to grow up with a ghost mother,” it follows a millennial in her thirties and her fantasies about her dead mother.

Said Larraín, whose company is taking a minority stake in the project: “Lucía Lalor’s storytelling is both powerful and profound, and we are proud to support her vision of portraying not only her own journey, but the imagery of a generation,” adding: “This partnership underscores our commitment to fostering diversity and originality in cinema.”

“We are honored to collaborate with Clara Films on ‘Mam,’” said Luis Bustamante, CEO at Gale Cine. “Lucia Lalor is a remarkable talent and her project resonates deeply with our mission to bring impactful...

San Sebastian-based production-distribution outfit Atera Films has taken Spanish distribution rights to Inés María Barrionuevo’s “Camila Comes out Tonight” –sold by Latido Films – and Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola,” whose international sales are handled by Luxbox.

With the two new titles, Atera underscores its aim of discovering and making available to Spanish audiences young Ibero-American directors including those who explore Lgtbi+ issues. The buys build on two prior key acquisitions – Jayro Bustamante’s “Tremors” and “La Llorona.” A further Atera acquisition is Andrés Wood’s “Spider.”

“These new acquisitions confirm our main editorial backbone, which is talent, especially if young and feminine, and exploring women’s issues, as is the case here,” Atera’s Miren Aperribay told Variety.

“We’re always eager to bring to Spain films with a strong auteurist voice which premiered at the world’s foremost festivals,” she added.

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “Clara Sola...

Held online over Oct. 20-22, 2021’s Spanish Screenings-Málaga de Cine mark Spain’s biggest national cinema showcase anywhere in the world, its equivalent of UniFrance’s Paris Rendez-vous. 113 recent Spanish titles were made available to 218 carefully-targeted international buyers, distributors and fest heads with a record of screening movies from Spain. Such a spectacular smorgasbord also says much about Spanish production trends and the state of the international market at large. Six takes on this year’s screenings:

A Sign of the Times

Last year, Malaga unveiled 20 market premieres. This year, the number were way down, with screenings dominated by titles brought onto the market as finished films at Cannes, Toronto and San Sebastian. That’s a sign of the times. With a huge international distributor release bottleneck, sales agents used the Spanish Screenings to wring more sales out of the titles they did have, rather than bringing new titles onto a clogged market.

Only 140 out of 1,686 industry attendees took part online.

After last year’s festival relied on an online industry offering, with many international attendees unable to attend in person, the screen sector was champing at the bit to return to San Sebastian, a festival cherished by many for its beach location and exquisite culinary offerings, which wraps tomorrow (Sept 25).

Industry professionals who did manage to attend in 2020 remember the city being something of a ghost town, with restaurants often closed and evenings spent holed up in hotel rooms. But for the 69th edition, which continued to offer a mix of in-person and online industry events,...

“Camila Comes Out at Night,” which plays in main competition this weekend at San Sebastián, begins with teen Camila in a museum, gazing at a ancient photo. It’s of an indigenous Paraguayan girl, Niña Ache, who was captured by colonialists, made to work as a servant and finally interned in a psychiatric ward for her strong sexual tendencies, the text next to the photo reads.

The third solo feature of Inés Barrionuevo, “Camila Comes Out Tonight” goes on to ask if the fate of young women in modern Argentina has really changed out of all recognition. At first, as the pugnacious, mature for her age Camila transfers from her liberal high school in Mar del Plata to a traditionalist institution in Buenos Aires, “Camila” seems a straight-arrow coming of age tale as she discovers the city’s cool hip-hop clubs, does drugs and falls for Clara, a classmate. But...