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Over June 10-14, Madrid is welcoming 300-plus industry delegates for the inaugural Ecam Forum, which is shaping up as the next go-to market for Spanish projects and co-productions, considering the stellar list of projects and attendees lined up.

Hosting the event is not a private company nor the industry arm of an A-list festival, but a film and audiovisual school-Madrid’s prestigious Ecam.

Founded in 1994, the school, which offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses to more than 300 students a year, is Spain’s leading breeding ground for some of the country’s biggest names in film, television and advertising such as filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen and regular writing partner Isabel Peña or cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe.

The reasons for Ecam being so industry-facing comes down to the school’s status and founding principles, as explained by Rafa Alberola, head of Ecam Industria (formerly known as ‘The Screen’), the umbrella regrouping the school’s...

Indie Spanish film studio Filmax has picked up international sales rights to “Alumbramiento” (‘Birth’), the sophomore feature by Pau Teixidor (“Purgatorio”), set up at Aquí y Allí Films, the production house run by Pedro Hernández Santos and behind “Something is About to Happen,” and “Life and Nothing More.”

Co-written by Teixidor and Lorena Iglesias (“Towards Bruce Lee’s Tomb”), and inspired by real events, the feature narrates the moving story of Lucia, a teenager sent to a centre for young, pregnant girls in Spain, in 1982.

In her feature length debut, Spanish actress Sofía Milán (“Love in Difficult Times”) plays Lucía, who’s been taken to Madrid by her mother Marisa to find a solution for an unwanted pregnancy.

Lucía ends up in Peñagrande, a reformatory for teen mothers-to-be where she will forge strong friendships with the other girls and discover the awful truth that her not yet born child is...

Netflix Original “The Society of the Snow” won best picture and director for J.A. Bayona at Saturday night’s 38th Spanish Academy Goya Awards.

Those plaudits were two of a total 12 prizes, the third-highest kudos count for any title in the Goyas’ near 40-year history.

The lineup of best picture nominees was, however, a reminder in itself of the high quality and diversity of Spain’s current film production output. These took in Estibaliz’s Urresola Berlin triple winner “20,000 Species of Bees,” David Trueba’s real-life tender love story “Jokes & Cigarettes,” Isabel Coixet’s probing “Un Amor” and Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” an “aching ode to film, time and memory,” Variety wrote in its review.

Even after Bayona took best director there was still genuine suspense whether he would also win best picture, after best adapted screenplay went to “Robot Dreams” and “Jokes & Cigarettes” took best actor for David Verdaguer.

In what marks a departure in her filmmaking, Carla Simon, director of Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” is preparing a flamenco musical for her fourth feature.

Like “Alcarràs,” the project is set to be produced by María Zamora at her Valencia-based production-distribution house Elastica Films.

“Romería,” the third part of Simón’s trilogy begun by 2017’s “Summer 1993,” is still set to shoot in Summer 2024, Zamora told Variety.

“But we can’t wait to start shaping this fascinating proposal that excites me as a producer,”she added.

Simón describes the new film as a “neorealist flamenco musical in the neighbourhood of La Mina, Barcelona.”

“Since I discovered that my biological mother was passionate about flamenco, a great curiosity began to grow in me for this genre, because of its history and its exceptional capacity to connect directly with emotion,” she explained to Variety.

“This time music and dance will become the...

More than 500 international projects were submitted to the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (Mia).

Rome’s Mia film and TV market has selected 62 projects for its co-production market, which runs from October 9-13.

More than 500 projects were submitted this year from 80 countries worldwide.

Of these, 62 were selected - 15 films, 15 animation, 18 documentaries and 14 drama - from 36 countries.

The film projects include I Will Find You by György Kristóf, whose previous film Out played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2017.

UK writer and director Aaron Brookner of Pinball London also heads to Mia with mystery thriller A Gift To My Mother along with producers Paula Vaccaro and Pauliina Ståhlberg.

Third edition of talent showcase to be unveiled at the start of the San Sebastian Film Festival on September 22.

The 2023 line-up of Spain Stars of Tomorrow, part of Screen International’s prestigious talent-spotting series, will be unveiled at the San Sebastian Film Festival on September 22.

A launch event will take place during the festival on September 26 to introduce the 10 rising actors and filmmakers with the potential for breakout international careers to the industry.

The third edition of Spain Stars welcomes the Spain Film Commission as headline partner, and the San Sebastian Film Festival as supporting partner.

A dedicated Spain Stars...

Also sells ‘A Mystery On The Cattle Hill Express’.

New Europe Film Sales has secured key European deals on Berlinale Panorama title Matria.

The Spanish film has sold to France (Les Alchimistes), Italy (Europictures) and Portugal (Nitrato Filmes).

The feature debut of Spanish director Alvaro Gago Diaz, Matria depicts a woman in a Galician fishing village, who begins to question her life to this point when her daughter turns 18. It is based on Diaz’s 2017 short of the same name.

New Europe has also sold Will Ashurst’s Norwegian animation A Mystery On The Cattle Hill Express to Benelux (Just4Kids...

Also sells ‘A Mystery On The Cattle Hill Express’.

New Europe Film Sales has secured key European deals on Berlinale Panorama title Matria.

The Spanish film has sold to France (Les Alchimistes), Italy (Europictures) and Portugal (Nitrato Filmes).

The feature debut of Spanish director Alvaro Gago Diaz, Matria depicts a woman in a Galician fishing village, who begins to question her life to this point when her daughter turns 18. It is based on Diaz’s 2017 short of the same name.

New Europe has also sold Will Ashurst’s Norwegian animation A Mystery On The Cattle Hill Express to Benelux (Just4Kids...

Galician language film is sold by Europe Film Sales.

Berlinale Panorama title Matria, the feature-debut of Spanish director Álvaro Gago, a Screen Star of Tomorrow, has sold to France.

French distributor Les Alquimistes has picked up the film from sales agent Europe Film Sales. Talks are ongoing for other territories.

Galician-language Matria focuses on the trials and tribulations of a 40-something single mother in a coastal town in northwestern Spain, and was well received by reviewers at Berlin.

Gago previously made a short film of the same name, featuring the same character, which won the short film grand jury prize at the 2018 Sundance film festival.

26th edition wrapped on Sunday.

Estíbaliz Urresola’s 20,000 Species Of Bees and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Sister & Sister won top awards at 2023 Málaga Film Festival, taking best Spanish film and best Latin American film, respectively, as the Andalusian event closed on Sunday.

In other key awards at the festival’s 26th edition, Gerardo Herrero’s Under Therapy earned a special jury prize director and Matías Bize claimed the best director prize for The Punishment.

20,000 Species Of Bees won the Berlin Silver Bear for best leading performance for young Sofía Otero last month and added the Golden Biznaga for...

Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren’s celebrated Spanish feature “20,000 Species of Bees” and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Panamanian drama “Sister & Sister” took the top prizes at the Malaga Film Festival, garnering the Golden Biznagas for Spanish and Latin American pictures respectively.

“20,000 Species of Bees” also won best supporting actress for Patricia López Arnaiz and picked up the Spanish Cinematographic Informers Association’s Feroz Puerta Oscura award. The film’s success follows two awards in Berlin, including a Silver Bear for Sofía Otero for her portrayal of a young girl going through a gender crisis.

For Zúñiga, the Golden Biznaga is sure to help further propel “Sister & Sister,” an autobiographical story about two teenage sisters who travel from Costa Rica to Panama in search of their absent father. Pic drew upbeat reviews in Malaga following on its SXSW world premiere.

Also making waves at the Malaga Festival, which runs...

Running March 13-17, the Málaga Festival’s Mafiz-Spanish Screenings Content weigh in this year as one of the biggest dedicated Spanish movie platforms in history, boasting also a strong line in Latin American arthouse projects and productions. 10 Takes as the event kicks off, blessed by early Spring sunshine, in the Andalusian city:

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In 2022, super-sized by the Spanish Screenings Content, part of Spain’s €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) Avs Spain Hub, a vibrant Mafiz, the Malaga Film Festival industry area, fair exploded, delivering a sterling confirmation of Spain’s build as a fiction force in a platform age, aided by robust state sector backing. This year, Mafiz looks even larger. At 1,560 delegates and counting as of March 6, Mafiz is tracking to pass 2022’s final attendance figure of around 1,600, Juan Antonio Vigar, Málaga Festival director told Variety. Participants come from 62 countries, up from 53 last year. “The event’s consolidation is clear,” Vigar added.

Running March 10-19, and now hosting the Spanish Screenings, the Malaga Film Festival is now firmly established as Spain’s biggest movie event in the early part of the year. Strategically positioned fairly sharp on the heels of the Berlinale, the Spanish event offers top Spanish titles at the German festival the chance to consolidate their reputations while often producing new discoveries, especially from first-time directors.

Many titles, from a Spanish film industry whose younger directors are highly social conscience and favor art-house, are issue driven.

“There’s a search for identity, whether a young trans girl’s exploration of gender identity or young leads to understand the world they live in, or the search for love and a sense pf strangeness, of being a stranger to oneself,” Juan Antonio Vigar, Málaga Film Festival director said of this year’s main Competition. Following, a brief breakdown of its titles.

“20,000 Species of Bees,...

The festival is an important stopping point for directors including Carla Simon and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa.

Malaga film festival director Juan Antonio Vigar is ready for the curtain to rise on his 10th edition in charge of the Andalucian event.

The world premiere of Someone To Look After Me (Alguien Que Cuide De Mí ), novelist Elvira Lindo’s debut as a film director, will open the festival tonight, screening out of competition. It will close on March 19 with the world premiere of Paz Jiménez’s Como Dios Manda, also playing out of competition.

Vigar has programmed a competition line-up...

Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold North American distribution rights for its Berlinale-selected drama “Delegation” to Greenwich Entertainment.

“Delegation” is a story of three Israeli high school friends who take part in a class trip visiting Holocaust sites in Poland – their last time together before going to the army. During the trip, shy boy Frisch, aspiring artist Nitzan and class heartthrob Ido deal with issues of love, friendship and politics against the backdrop of concentration camps and memorial sites. The journey will change them forever.

The deal for the film, which had its premiere in the Generation 14Plus competition, was negotiated by Naszewski and Greenwich co-president Edward Arentz.

“While it appeared in Gen14 and its main characters are teenagers, this is not what you would think of as a typical YA film or typical YA filmmaking, nor will the audience be limited to young adults.