Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora has clinched the Golden Shell in the main competition of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival with her latest feature The Kings of the World (Los reyes del mundo).
12.09.2022 - 14:05 / variety.com
Holly Jones The scene opens on Barceloneta, by the shore, and four girls sit together near the boardwalk, looking out at the beach. The Movistar+ original series “Simple” begins as its title suggests, with a concise portrait of each of the four characters, prominent personality traits on display. Scripting ebullient women is something Spanish director Anna R. Costa never shies from, molding distinctive characters that permeate their scenes long after their exit. On the heels of her prior work on the Movistar+ sensation “Arde Madrid,” the streamer’s most-binged series after its premiere, “Simple” further proves that diverse female leads are in-demand, though, Costa admits, perhaps on account of their numbers. “In a matter of five years the audiovisual industry has made a strong commitment to the feminine.
But let’s not forget that we’re fashionable because we’re currency, our topics are interesting because they generate money,” she says. “What’s certain is that the masculine universe is rooted, while the feminine rests in quicksand. There’s still a lack of female characters that show that women have a much broader human arc than men.” Co-directed by Laura Jou (“Cucut”) and inspired by the acclaimed abstract novel “Lectura Fácil” written by Cristina Morales, the series revolves around the four female rommmates, all of whom have disabilities, and their quest to adjust to the often-ridiculous societal norms imposed upon them. Costa admits the show was an arduous labor of love, as “anyone who read the novel told me that it was impossible to adapt. Movistar gave me the opportunity. They made a development contract, but almost with the convition that I wasn’t going to get it out.” She continues: “It’s complex to put yourself
Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora has clinched the Golden Shell in the main competition of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival with her latest feature The Kings of the World (Los reyes del mundo).
Guy Lodge Film Critic Colombian director Laura Mora’s coming-of-age drama “Kings of the World” has taken the Golden Shell for Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival, marking the third consecutive year that a female filmmaker has taken the top prize at the Spanish fest. Longer report to follow; full list of winners below. OFFICIAL SELECTION PRIZES Golden Shell for Best Film: “Kings of the World,” Laura Mora Special Jury Prize: “Runner,” Marian Mathias Silver Shell for Best Director: “A Hundred Flowers,” Genki Kawamura
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent The dream child of 10 Basque businessmen who hoped to prolong San Sebastián’s summer season into late September, the San Sebastian Film Festival was born on Sept. 21, 1953. Presented by bullfighter Mario Cabré, who romanced Ava Gardner, and comprising just 19 films, won by “La guerra de Dios,” directed by Rafael Gil., rescued from a potential Republican firing squad by Luis Buñuel not so many years before. Fireworks, bullfights and quayside parties regaled the film week. From that first edition remain the beauty and gastronomy of San Sebastian, a Belle Epoque resort boasting the spectacular white-sand Concha Bay, steep-backed hills, an old quarter of higgeldy-piggeldy streets and a trio of three-star Michelin restaurants. 70 years later, San Sebastián still stuns.
Liza Foreman Spanish production and distribution company Bteam Pictures has picked up all rights for Spain to San Sebastián competition title “Los Reyes del Mundo” (“Kings of the World”). Film Factory Entertainment brokered the deal with Bteam partners Ania Jones, Alex Lafuente and Lara Pérez Camiña. Film Factory’s Vicente Canales confirmed to Variety that the company is handling worldwide sales for the film, excluding France, Benelux, Colombia and Mexico. “Bteam is well known for distributing quality films in Spain and has already released several of our Spanish pictures,” said Canales. “We believe they are the best match for ‘Kings of the World,’ which is one of the most important Colombian films of the year.”
Emiliano De Pablos “The Silence of the Ants,” by documentary filmmaker Francisco Montoro, snagged top prizes at the 18th Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum, part of the San Sebastián Festival. The documentary took the Ibaia–Elkargi Award for best project at the pitching session, plus the Distribution and Festival Consultancy Treeline Award and the Fipadoc Biarritz Award. Produced by Apnea Films, “The Silence of the Ants” follows a Spanish couple who traveled to the Ukraine in 2015 to find the seven-year-old girl they hosted for temporary foster care. Federation Spain’s “Carapirú: El Superviviente,” by Aner Etxebarria and Pablo Vidal, took The Ibaia – Bilibin Circular Prize for its environmental values with a title suggesting a combination of “Cast Away” and “Apocalypto” translated to real life in Brazil’s Amazon jungle.
The presence of Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest pay-TV/SVOD operator, is hard to ignore at this year’s San Sebastian film festival, with two original TV series and one feature film helmed by the streamer scattered throughout the program. The Telefonica-owned platform also had a hand in every Spanish feature in the festival’s Official Selection. Domingo Corral, director of original fiction at Movistar Plus+, caught up with Deadline at San Sebastian to discuss the company’s drive into original production, the current boom in local Spanish productions, and how he competes with global streamers like Netflix and HBO.
Caitlin Quinlan Pilar Palomero’s second feature film “La Maternal” had its world premiere in main competition at Spain’s San Sebastián Film Festival on Tuesday. The Spanish filmmaker, who won Goyas for best picture, best new director and best original screenplay with her debut film “Las Niñas,” produced like “La Maternal” by Valérie Delpierre at Inicia Films, returns to the Basque Country festival with another invigorating work that explores the challenges and joys of girlhood. “I never made a decision to explicitly focus on girlhood,” Palomero says. “I think it’s a coincidence that both are about young women, but I guess there’s something inside me that I’m not aware of that’s leading me to this subject.”
Europe’s Big Hope: Platforms Really Embracing Cinema In the U.S., the platforms already buy big when it comes to movies. Think Sundance. Europe is another land: Platforms have largely held back much more, thwarted in France, for instance, by regulated windows.
Anna Marie de la Fuente In a rare move, Barcelona-based Film Factory Entertainment has snapped up world sales rights to documentary “Mibu, The Moon in a Dish” (“Mibu, La Luna en un Plato”), which opened the Culinary Zinema sidebar of the San Sebastian Festival Sept. 19. The feature debut of Spanish filmmaker Roger Zanuy, the documentary transports audiences to members-only Tokyo restaurant Mibu, which has greatly influenced some of the most prominent chefs in the world, including Spain’s Ferran Adrià (El Bulli), Jose Andrés, also renowned for his humanitarian work, as well as Italy’s Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana, among several others.
Carlos Saura has suffered a minor fall and will no longer attend San Sebastian for the premiere of his latest film, The Walls Can Talk (Las paredes hablan), the festival has said.
“Blue Files” (“Karpeta Urdinak”, Ander Iriarte, Spain-France) Iriarte directs a doc investigating his father’s potential torture while in police custody. The investigations take the doc deeper into findings from Basque’s “Research project on torture and ill-treatment in the Basque Country between 1960-2014.” Produced by Gastibeltza, Filmak, and Iriarte’s own Mirokutana.
Miguel Herran had a big premiere this past weekend at the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival!
Caitlin Quinlan “Vive le cinéma!” goes the call from Tabakalera, International Centre of Contemporary Culture, at this year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF). The Centre’s exhibition hall plays host to four cinematographic installations made by leading global filmmakers, a project which sees them transform their usual cinema-based practice into a more expansive and experimental gallery space. The exhibition at Tabakalera marks a continuation of the series which began at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam last year in collaboration with the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Two works from the 2021 exhibition by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese and Jia Zhang-ke will be on display again in San Sebastián, alongside two new productions from Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili (“Beginning”) and Spanish director Isaki Lacuesta (“One Year, One Night”).
Pablo Sandoval Selected for main competition, “Pornomelancolía” premiered at San Sebastián over the festival’s first weekend. A Latin American buzz title at the festival last year when it played in pix-in-post section WIP Latam, “Pornomelancolía” opens a window onto the behind-the-scenes life of a porn influencer, Lalo. But, Argentine director Manuel Abramovich – who won the 2019 Silver Bear at Berlin with his short film “Blue Boy” – told Variety, “Pornomelancolía is not a film about pornography, it is a film about how we face the gaze of others.” “Pornomelancolía” was formed as part of 2018’s Ikusmira Berriak, a residency program in San Sebastian which is one of Spain’s foremost development labs. The film is lead produced by Gema Films in Argentina, with Brazil’s Desvia Filmes, Bordeaux-based Dublin Films and Mexico’s Marthfilms. Luxbox handles international sales; Filmin will handle distribution in Spain.
Olivia Wilde is looking stunning on the red carpet!
Penelope Cruz received a special honor at the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival this weekend!
Liza Foreman After wowing a home crowd at the opening night of the San Sebastián Film Festival on Friday, looking dazzling at 48, Spain’s best-known actress, Penélope Cruz, spoke to a packed auditorium at the city’s Tabakalera culture center on Saturday when she was honored with Spain’s National Cinematography Prize. “It is truly an honor for me to receive this National Cinematography Prize,” said Cruz speaking in Spanish. “Cinema is and has been my passion since I was a child. Since I dreamed in the living room of my parents’ house of worlds to explore beyond our neighbourhood. The streets of my neighborhood sometimes became sets for incredible stories,” she went on. “My childhood was fantasizing about acting, living life so intensely to be able to encompass many lives through dozens of characters.”
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Austrian director Ulrich Seidl has cancelled his visit to San Sebastian for the Sept. 18 world premiere of “Sparta,” amid allegations of impropriety and child exploitation made against the director. The world premiere will still go ahead at San Sebastian with the film playing in main competition contending for San Sebastian’s Gold Shell. Seidl’s decision comes after the Toronto Film Festival pulled “Sparta” and on Sept. 14, FilmFest Hamburg announced that it would no longer be giving Seidl its Douglas Sirk Award, though it would be screening “Sparta.”
Penelope Cruz is taken by surprise as she sees so many fans at the premiere of her new movie, On The Fringe, during the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival held at Victoria Eugenia Theatre on Friday (September 16) in San Sebastian, Spain.