Thirteen feature films will be showcased in Made in Spain, the non-competitive section for a selection of the year’s Spanish films at the 70th edition of San Sebastian Festival.
The section opens with world premiere of Color of Heaven (El color del cielo), starring Marta Etura and Francesc Garrido. The movie representing the directorial debut of Joan-Marc Zapata tells the tale of a reunion in Switzerland between a well-known film actress and an eminent philosopher.
The section will close with the world premiere of The House Among the Cactuses (La casa entre los cactus), directed by Carlota González-Adrio, who brings a suspense-packed emotional thriller about a perfect family whose life is thrown into disarray with the arrival of an outsider.
Another of the world premieres will be Alone in the Mountains (Entre montañas), the first feature film as a director from Unai Canela, who spent lockdown during the pandemic in a small Pyrenean town and filmed himself to show his connection with nature.
Álvaro Longoria will participate with Tequila. Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll (Tequila. Sexo, drogas y rock and roll), a documentary narrated by Cecilia Roth looking back at the history of Tequila, the famous rock band fronted by Ariel Rot and Alejo Stivel.
The last of the Made in Spain world premieres will be The Critic (El crítico), a documentary directed by Juan Zavala and Javier Morales Pérez, focused on the figure of Carlos Boyero, one of Spain’s most popular and controversial film critics.
EL COLOR DEL CIELO / COLOR OF HEAVEN
JOAN-MARC ZAPATA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Switzerland
Cast: Marta Etura, Francesc Garrido, Carlos Leal, Agustina Leoni, Daniel Rohr, Pino Montesdeoca
OPENING NIGHT FILM
Filmstar Olivia Brontë travels to Switzerland for a photo shoot with an important fashion magazine. There she will run into Tristán del Val, a Spanish philosopher she had known years back. This reunion will prompt them to revisit the past and ask themselves where their chosen path is taking them.
LA CASA ENTRE LOS CACTUS / THE HOUSE AMONG THE CACTUSES
CARLOTA GONZÁLEZ-ADRIO (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Daniel Grao, Ricardo Gómez
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Emilio and Rosa have created a perfect family. In the 70s, in a deserted area of the Canary Islands, they have built a home full of love for their five children, all named after flowers: Lis (Lily), Iris, Melisa, Lila (Lilac) and Dalia (Dahlia). There they enjoy their personal paradise, cut off from the world. A world that represents a threat for their family, of which only Emilio and Rosa are aware. That’s why they have spent their whole lives keeping a terrible secret from their daughters.
ALCARRÀS
CARLA SIMÓN (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Italy
Cast: Jordi Pujol Dolcet
After eighty years working the same land, the Solé family gathers to reap their last harvest.
EL AMOR EN SU LUGAR / LOVE GETS A ROOM
RODRIGO CORTÉS (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Clara Rugaard, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Magnus Krepper
January 1942. 400,000 Jews from all over Poland have been confined by the Nazis to a narrow ghetto in the middle of the city. Outside the walls, life continues. Inside, its inhabitants fight for survival. But the high brick wall can’t stop the creative endeavors of a group of Jewish actors who put on a musical comedy at the Fémina theatre one frozen winter night. The spectators laugh and cry at a love story, forgetting their difficult situation for a moment. Behind the scenes, the possibility of making their escape after the performance throws the actors into a dilemma of life or death.
EL CRÍTICO / THE CRITIC
JUAN ZAVALA (SPAIN), JAVIER MORALES PÉREZ (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Carlos Boyero is one of Spanish cinema’s most followed and feared figures. Controversy has hounded him since he published his first article more than forty years ago, and he has remained in the eye of the hurricane ever since. Is he the last representative of a disappearing time? Has social media put an end to the traditional influence of the critics. Taking the background and personality of this very controversial figure as its basis, El crítico / The Critic will also endeavor to reflect on the enormous changes taking place in Spain in the field of film criticism.
ENTRE MONTAÑAS / ALONE IN THE MOUNTAINS
UNAI CANELA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Unai is a teenager during lockdown for the pandemic in a small village in the Pyrenees. For more than a year, he intensely enjoys the passing of the seasons and the emotion of feeling connected to the nature closest to him and, often, the most ignored.
LA AMIGA DE MI AMIGA / GIRLFRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS
ZAIDA CARMONA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Zaida Carmona, Rocío Saiz, Alba Cros, Thaïs Quadreny, Aroa Elbira
They’re 30, but they live as though they were 20, even if they are too old to become young promises. They are enamored with love, but destroy one another while looking for it, roving from ex-girlfriend to ex-girlfriend, from relationship to relationship. With pop and autofiction as its backdrop and the appearance of a famous woman singer who we’re never sure is completely real, we will watch a game that kicks off when Zaida returns to the city after a breakup. La amiga de mi amiga is a screwball comedy involving 5 gay women. A moral tale set in the streets, beds and toilets of Barcelona.
LA MANIOBRA DE LA TORTUGA
JUAN MIGUEL DEL CASTILLO (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Argentina
Cast: Natalia de Molina, Fred Tatien, Gerardo de Pablos
Inspector Manuel Bianquetti is forced to accept a transfer to a police precinct in Cádiz. His initially peaceful move will soon be shattered with the discovery of the body of a young girl who reminds him of a terrible past. Despite the opposition of his superiors, Bianquetti will embark on a solo crusade to find the culprit, following clues that might be no more than figments of his imagination. The only person who seems to be on his side is his neighbor, a fragile nurse harassed by her former partner.
LLENOS DE GRACIA / FULL OF GRACE
ROBERTO BUESO (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Carmen Machi, Paula Usero, Nuria Gónzalez, Anis Doroftei, Pablo Chiapella, Manolo Solo
Marina, a rather unusual nun, arrives in the summer of 1994 at El Parral, a school threatened with closure. Despite being welcomed with all sorts of pranks by the boarders, boys with no families, Marina has an idea that will change everything: to set up a football team. With the help of two nuns, Angelines, innocent and fragile, and Tatiana, rough and kind, they will create something like a real family. Years later, Valdo, one of the boys, will make his debut with Real Madrid’s first team.
MI VACÍO Y YO / MY EMPTINESS AND I
ADRIÁN SILVESTRE (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Raphaëlle Pérez
Raphi is young, androgynous and somewhat naïve. She writes poems and dreams of falling in love with a prince charming. She moves from her native France to Barcelona, where reality has little in common with her expectations. Diagnosed with gender dysphoria, she sets out on an arduous odyssey to assume her true identity. Doctors, work colleagues, trans friends, queer artists and even men she meets through Apps: all will give her advice, but only time and experience will help Raphi to find her place in the world.
TENÉIS QUE VENIR A VERLA / YOU HAVE TO COME AND SEE IT
JONÁS TRUEBA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Itsaso Arana, Vito Sanz, Francesco Carril, Irene Escolar
Two couples of friends meet again. They listen to music, talk, read, eat, walk, play at ping-pong… It might not seem like much for a film, that’s why YOU HAVE TO COME AND SEE IT.
TEQUILA. SEXO, DROGAS Y ROCK AND ROLL / TEQUILA. SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL
ALVARO LONGORIA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Tequila. Sexo, Drogas y Rock and Roll is a documentary narrated by Cecilia Roth and with the participation of the survivors of the mythical rock band Tequila: Ariel Rot, Alejo Stivel and Felipe Lipe. The film tells the tale of the legendary rock band who provided the soundtrack for the liberation of young Spanish people during the transition. Five young people who suddenly pull off their dream of making good and those destroyed by the fame and success. But their songs have succeeded in lasting over time as indestructible classics.
TOURMENT SUR LES ÎLES / PACIFICTION
ALBERT SERRA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Benoît Magimel, Sergi López
On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government official, de Roller, is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end establishment as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumor has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.
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