From Ester Expósito Starrer ‘The Wailing’ to the Next From Albert Serra and Pilar Palomero, the Breadth of Catalan Films is Underscored at San Sebastián  

SAN SEBASTIAN — Is this the San Sebastián Catalan Film Festival?  Always boasting a sterling presence at San Sebastián, Catalonia has a massive 27 titles this year, counting five projects in doc forum Lau Haizetara and including four of the five Spanish movies in main Competition and 10 in Made in Spain. Following a break-down of major section titles:

Main Competition

“Afternoons of Solitude,” (Andergraun Films, Ideale Audience, LaCima Producciones)

Albert Serra’s not at all obvious follow-up to Cannes competition player “Pacifiction,” a portrait of star bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey at work. The results remain to be seen. Serra has shot the disc feature “with respect and innocence, without prejudice nor provocation,” he tells Spain’s ABC Cultural. 

“Glimmers,” (Inicia Films, Mod Producciones, Misent Producciones)

The latest from Pilar Palomero (“Schoolgirls,” “La Maternal”). A top-notch Spanish cast led by Patricia López Arnaíz and Antonio de la Torre drive the tale of a woman asked by her daughter to care for her father, the hospitalized ex-husband she has not seen for 15 years. After two multi-prized studies of female adolescence, Palomero’s biggest movie to date and a “reflection on the marks left on us and which we leave, which make us who we are,” Palomero has said.  

“Hard Truths,” (The Mediapro Studio, Thin Man Films)

“The revered English director builds a prickly portrait around his ‘Secrets & Lies’ star, giving Jean-Baptiste the role of her career, if not an especially compelling story to inhabit,” Variety wrote of Mike Leigh’s latest film, hitting San Sebastian after an upbeat reception at Toronto. SA: Cornerstone Films

“The Wailing,” (Caballo Films, Setembro Cine, Tandem Films (ESP), Tarea Fina (ARG), Noodles (FRA)

“No one can see it with the naked eye, but its presence has always been there. 20 years ago he stalked Camila and Marie. Now, 10,000 kilometers away, Andrea has begun to hear the wailing,” the synopsis runs. A straight genre film which reportedly gains depth in its final going. Starring “Elite’s” Ester Expósito, lead produced by on-the-rise Madrid production house Caballo Films (“The Beasts,” “La ruta”) and the feature debut of Pedro Martín Calero, whose work to date includes Weeknd pop video “Secrets,” commercials – the vertigo-inducing Honda Civic –Up spot, for instance – or fiction vignettes, such as “Julius Cesar.” SA: Film Factory Ent.

Horizontes Latinos

“Maybe it’s True What They Say About Us,” (Storyboard Media, La Jauría, Murrillo Cine and Morocha Film, B-Mount)

A thriller exploring generational trauma, accountability and the fragile side of relationships, says Variety, Psychiatrist Ximena’s daughter Tamara returns transformed from a retreat; her baby vanishes within a sect, sparking an investigation revealing mysteries. Starring Aline Kuppenheim (“Chile ’76”). 

New Directors

“Surfacing,” (Tarea Fina, Tandem Films,Setembro Cine)

The second feature of Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato (“The Desert Bride”) described by Variety as “a simmering account of Sofía (Maricel Álvarez ), a woman torn between the love and loyalty she’s meant to dole out to her misguided son (Angelo Mutti Spinetta) and the happiness she’s found while being apart from him during his incarceration. Argentina’s Tarea Fina (“Sleepwalkers”) produces with Spain’s Tandem Films (“Close Your Eyes”) and Setembro Cine (“A Fantastic Woman”). SA: Visit Films

Velodrome

“Celeste,” (Movistar Plus+, 100 Balas, (The Mediapro Studio))

Sara, a dowdy lonely tax inspector determined on retirement, has the chance to go out in glory, proving a Latina pop star is guilty of tax evasion. Starring the inimitable and versatile Carmen Machi (“Aida,” “La Mesías”) a thriller starring, scribe Diego San José claims, the most boring person in the world. A large audience play by top Spanish pay TV/SVOD operator Movistar Plus+. 

Zinemira

“Ciento Volando,” (Bixagu Entertainment, A Contracorriente Films)

Set in its near entirety in Chillida Leku, the Basque farmstead home and sculpture park of Eduardo Chillida, a young girl wanders its gardens chatting to those closest to Chillida, as the doc feature captures the sites extraordinary mix of art imitating nature, whether stone slabs or sinuous metal constructions, with man somewhere in between.  Made by Arantxa Aguirre (“Dancing Beethoven”), te doyenne of Spanish documentarians, and a delight. 

RTVE Gala

“Escape,” (Nostromo)

From Rodrigo Cortés (“Buried,” “Love Gets a Room”), starring Mario Casas (“The Innocent”) and Anna Castillo (“Nowhere,” “A Perfect Story”) and the latest from Barcelona powerhouse Nostromo. Most cons dream of jail break, Casas plays a broken man desperate to be sentenced to jail. “The film is an amazing and unique mix of genres, an exciting escape told in reverse. The impossible and fast-paced adventure of an escape in reverse,” Nostromo’s Adrián Guerra told Variety. SA: Film Factory

“May I Speak With the Enemy,” (Pecado Films, Arcadia Motion Pictures) 

Produced by Pecado Films, a producer on Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” and Arcadia Motion Pictures, behind Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams” and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” a biopic focusing on the Spanish Civil War years of Miguel Gila, who went on to pioneer stand-up in Spain, developing a hallmark absurdist style. SA: Filmax

Made in Spain

“Little Loves,” (Arcadia Motion Pictures,  Noodles Production)

A Malaga hit, and Special Jury Prize and support actress (Adriana Ozores) winner, returning director Celia Rico to the mother-daughter relationship which won her admirers with 

her debut, “Journey to a Mother’s Room.” Top Spanish shingle Arcadia Motion Pictures (“The Beasts,” “Robot Dreams,”“Burning Body”) produces. SA: Latido Films

“Holy Mother,” (Oberon Cinematográfica, Wanda Visión, Saga Film) 

In the 9th century, Emma, a newly appointed abbess, is tasked by her powerful family with repopulating frontier lands bordering Muslim territories. Battling political intrigue and the elements, it proves a formidable challenge. Ahistorical fable from writer-director-producer Antonio Chavarrías (“Susanna,” “Las vidas de Celia,” “The Chosen”). SA: Film Constellation.

“A House on Fire,” (Playtime Movies, Sábado Películas, 3CAT, Atresmedia Cine, Eliofilms)

Produced by Sábado, behind “Crazy About You,” a dark Catalan family farce which shows some depth thanks to a screenplay by Eduard Sola, a co-writer on “Burning Body.” Bullishly reviewed by Spanish critics and, as upscale fare, a notable box office breakout grossing €2.5 million () in Spain. 

“Mamífera,” (Distinto Films, Edna Cinema)

A Special Jury Award for Performance winner for lead Maria Rodríguez Soto at this year’s SXSW, and hailed by Variety as a “engaging, well-acted Spanish drama about an unexpected pregnancy.” Directed by Liliana Torres (“What Went Wrong”), produced by Distinto, behind Locarno winner “The Odd-Job Men” and Edna Cinema.    

“Nina,” (Bteam Prods, Irusoin, Icónica Producciones, Lasai Producciones) 

Inspired in part by Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” but also channelling classic Westerns and Douglas Sirk-style melodrama as young Spanish directors drive into genre, the breakout second feature from Andrea Jurrieta (“Ana by Day”) starring Spain’s Patricia López Arnaiz (“Ane is Missing”) and Argentina’s Darío Grandinetti (“Talk to Her”). SA: Filmax

“Norberta,” (Imposible Films)

A LGBTQ+ dramedy directed by newcomers Sonia Escolano, who also penned the script, and Belén López Albert, grounded in a working-class neighbourhood where the affable Norbert, 65, needs to pull off a big heist to pay for his sex change. SA: Filmax. “A provocative, warm, irreverent and emotional story; a fresh look at transsexuality in later life,” says producer Marta Esteban.   

“Saturn Return,” (Bteam Prods, Ikiru Film,Aralan Films, La Terraza Films, Los Ilusos Films, Sideral Cinema, Capricci Production)

Few Spanish films have been so radical, subverting bio-pic tropes, and yet such a crowd-pleaser, if reaction at March’s Malaga Festival were anything where “Saturn Return” swept the prize board. The latest from double San Sebastian Golden Shell winner Isaki Lacuesta, a left-of-field inspired by Spanish indie rock band Los Planetas, on the cusp of its big late ‘90s breakthrough. SA: Latido 

“To Laugh, To Sing, Perhaps to Cry,” (Películas Inmundas)

A trans woman falls for a Moroccan boy, shocking her humble barrio of Barcelona. A rough-remake of Fassbinder’s “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul,” says director Marc Ferrer, co-writer “Girlfriends and Girlfriends,” working as ever on a shoestring and no pro actors, melding comedy, melodrama and musical to create a “laugh-out-loud portrait of a Barcelona district, which builds to the subversive chronicle of a hidden city.”

“Rock Bottom,” (AlbaSotorra, Jaibo Films, GS-Animation, Empatic) 

A trippy portrayal of the romance between Bob, a famous rock musician, and Alif, a talented visual artist, delivered through lush and vibrant rotoscoped 2D animation, exploring the creative vortex and darker side of 1970s’ hippie culture in Mallorca and New York, Variety writes. An Annecy main competition player. SA: Loco Films  

“Tiempo de silencio y destrucción,” (Imposible Films, RTVE)

A personal take, led by his son and daughter, on Luis Martin-Santos, whose “Tiempo de silencio” positioned him, along with Juan Benet, as one of Spain’s greatest last-century novelists who broke with its dominant social realism. Directed by Joan López Lloret (“Hermanos Oligor”), produced by Marta Esteban’s Imposible Films, the career long producer of Cesq Gay. SA: Filmax  

Klasikoak

“Tattoo, the First Adventure of Pepe Carvalho,” (Luna Films)

In San Sebastian’s Classics showcase, just out from the Catalonia Filmothèque first feature of Bigas Luna, adapting in 1976 the first crime novel from Manuel Vázquez Montalbán featuring Carvalho, Spain’s most famous gumshoe, ex CIA, once a communist, and a grand gourmet and a warm up to the director’s biggest fireworks, which begin with 1978’s scabrous “Bilbao,” the launch of one of Spain’s most flamboyant auteurs.