Focus on Catalonia

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CATALONIA

By EMILIO MAYORGA

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ecimated by Spain’s financial crisis, which shriveled regional government and TV finance for its movies, the once-effervescent film hub of Catalonia is finally showing signs of recovery.

Some early indicators: A live-action short Oscar nomination for Juanjo Giménez’ security-guard romance “Timecode.” Lluís Quílez’s post-apocalypse love story “Graffiti” made the Academy Award shortlist for shorts. Carla Simón’s childhood tale “Summer 1993” won the Generation Kplus Grand Prix in Berlin and Laura Ferrés’ “The Disinherited” is playing Critics’ Week, the lone Spanish film selected for Cannes.

The drivers of recovery are twofold: government support and the other film-

makers themselves.

A tax levy on telecoms in Catalonia is fueling the country’s film industry via the Catalan Institute of the Cultural Industries, says its head Xavier Díaz. In 2013, the institute’s cinema-TV budget stood at €8.5 million ($9.2 million); the 2016 budget comes in at $19.6 million. Catalan producers hail the new financing and what it can do for previously depleted but sophisticated institute support mechanisms.

“Catalonia will almost certainly become Spain’s highest-production capacity territory,” says Zentropa Spain’s David Matamoros.

The funds will power not only institute production aid but also development support, a combination absent at the national

Catalonia will almost certainly become Spain’s highest-production capacity territory.”

David Matamoros

Living Easy Catalonian director Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993” won the Generation Kplus Grand Prix in Berlin.

Interest Group, says Carlos Fernández at Filmax Ent. It is only a matter of time before this happens, he adds.

“In sectors with small [domestic] markets — such as Catalonia’s — the government support is important,” says Jaume Roures at Mediapro.

He cites French government action. “The French have managed to create audience-driven products, apt for export and with their own identity,” he says. “[But] when making a movie, our first goal should be the audience.”

Public-aid mechanisms are not the be-all and endall of Catalonia’s rebound, however.

Catalonia spawned a Barcelona school of new film in the 1960s, and now another wave of cinema is flourishing driven by a new generation of filmmakers.

Among them are the likes of Leticia Dolera, Sergi Portabella, Sergi Pérez, Mar Coll, Isa Campos, Dani de la Orden, Clara Roquet, David Gutiérrez and Víctor Alonso.

The key to this new →

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Fresh financing sources and new talent help restore Catalonian cinema’s luster

try-driven projects for the global market; auteur-titles with a strong cultural heft,” says Francisco Vargas, director of the audiovisual area at ICEC. “We’re still supporting and bet on in-house fiction and out-of-house co-productions, although we are conscious there’s a need to increase the budgetary commitment,” says Oriol Sala-Patau, TVC head of fiction and cinema.

Just how that could happen is another question. It seems unlikely that TVC will slash its head count as Catalonia is pushing for independence. One resort would be to share rights with independent producers, especially on TV production, allowing the latter to tap into investor tax deduction financing, channeled via the Economic

MAY 22, 2017

Film Community Powers Rebound From Recession

level in Spain. The org also backs reciprocal minority, then majority co-production deals with the same foreign production partner.

“This is common in Europe and Latin America, but unfortunately not in Spain,” Matamoros adds.

Unfortunately, pubcaster TVC, Catalonia’s other film-financing pillar, is not enjoying such plenty.

Spain’s double-dip recession slashed its co-production and pre-buy budget — for film, TV movies, documentaries, miniseries and animation — from $18.5 million in 2010 to $6.6 million in 2015, with a slight uptick to $7.2 million last year.

“Subsidy regulation, Catalan and Spanish, doesn’t allow film production without an important TVC participation,” says Valérie Delpierre of Inicia Films.

“TVC’s de-capitalization is a problem,” says Isona Passola at Massa d’Or Produccions. “The telecom levy, however, places us in an interesting position compared to the rest of Spain.”

Catalonia’s incentive system is still a work in progress. Kicking in an Audiovisual Strategic Plan from a September subsidy round, new aid will target three production axes: “singular projects aimed at local audiences; more indus-

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← generation is that it is driven not only by directors but also up-and-coming producers, says Mar Medir at Catalan Films. Aritz Cirbián, Marta Cruañas, Marta Rodríguez, Tono Folguera, Anna Soler-Pont, Bernat, Manzano Oriol Maymó, Martín Samper and Sergi Moreno rank among noteworthy producers.

Many studied at two prestige Catalan film schools, the Escac and Pompeu Fabra University. But the strength of Catalonian schools, which helps explain the constant emergence of new talent, runs deep, including the Bellaterra Autonomous University, Bande a Part, the Barcelona cinema school, Reus’ Ecir, the Mab and Bau School of Design.

“The new generation follows two lines: A more avant-garde one of auteurs who experiment with genre blending and storytelling

Emerging Talent “Facing the Wind” is the feature film debut of Meritxell Colell, one of the new generation of Catalan directors.

-Lluís Galter, Miguel Ángel Blanca, David Gutiérrez, Neus Ballús, Albert Serra– and a second more naturalist one: Carlos MarquesMarcet, Marc Recha, Mar Coll, Carla Simón and Meritxell Colell,” whose debut is “Facing the Wind,” Medir says.

This next-gen Catalan cinema and ICEC initiatives will prove crucial in Catalonia’s drive to regain its status as one of Europe’s most vibrant regional film hubs, mixing genre movies, arthouse pictures, documentaries, and high-profile international co-productions in a healthily broad range of moviemaking options.

John Hopewell contributed to this report.

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CATALONIA

GENRE KINGS WEIGH THEIR BEST MARKET OPTIONS English-language dialogue, comedy help distinguish Catalan horror internationally

By EMILIO MAYORGA

MAY 22, 2017

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atalan genre films come with high expectations this year, with movies from two heavyweight auteurs, Jaume Balagueró’s “Muse” and Rodrigo Cortés’ “Down a Dark Hall,” looking set to hit major festivals.

But while names such as J.A. Bayona, Balagueró and Paco Plaza are regarded with fanboy reverence, Catalonia’s genre film movement, which boasts “[REC]” and “The Orphanage” among landmarks, is under-

going market mutation.

“Spanish thrillers keep selling, although the best sales are titles with high production values and political or social elements,” says Film Factory Ent. Vicente Canales, citing “Marshland.” For horror, the key is “to go theatrical, fleeing from the B-movies, which is a saturated sector.”

Another key may now be language; major directors are shooting in English, opening projects up to international casts.

Filmax’s supernatural suspense thriller “Muse” stars Elliot Cowan, Ana Ularu and Franka Potente and tells the story of a man with nightmares of a woman’s brutal murder, which then occurs in real life.

Sold by Lionsgate and produced by Adrián Guerra’s Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Down a Dark Hall” stars AnnaSophia Robb, Isabelle Fuhrman and Victoria Moroles.

Also upcoming: “Cold Skin,” a co-production between Madrid and Canary Islands’ Babieka Films, Kanzaman France and Barcelona’s Pontas Films. Directed by Xavier Gens (“The Divide”), “Skin” is an Antarctic Circle thriller with sci-fi elements.

Exec-produced by Bayona and the directorial debut of “The Impossible”’ scribe Sergio Sánchez,

horror drama “Marrowbone” is a Lionsgate acquisition and Telecinco Cinema production.

All with English dialogue, this season’s biggest Catalan bets face an evolving market.

“There’s a demand for genre, terror in Latin America and Asia. But it’s becoming more difficult for the Spanish market where audiences are changing and young spectators are unpredictable,” says Iván Díaz, Filmax Intl. head of sales.

Creators are looking to bring a touch of originality and humor to the genre.

Produced by Asallam Films and sold by Paris’ Reel Suspects, the English-language “Black Hollow Cage” from Sadrac GonzálezPerellón (“The Vampire in the Hole”), centers on a girl living in isolated woods who discovers a mysteri-

Spanish Horrors A girl finds a device to change the past in “Black Hollow Cage,” top; Jesus battles zombies in “Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem.”

ous device that is able to change the past.

Zombies get a neo-religious comedic makeover in “Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem,” by David Muñoz and Adrián Cardona, featuring Jesus, Judas, zombies, demons, post-apocalyptic punks and all kind of critters. Vampi Films also resorts to humor in mockumentary “Denise Castro’s Dracula,” a low-cost spoof on a Transylvania film shoot. Catalan sci-fi comedy-thriller “The Year of the Plague” by Carlos Martín Ferrera (“Suspicious Minds”), is set in a world where people appear to have lost their emotions.

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A NEW WAVE RISING: 10 LEADING FILMMAKERS

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new wave of filmmakers is emerging in Catalonia: Cosmopolitan, schooled in industry practices, genre blenders and versatile in style, they have tackled wide ranging subjects. Many of them happen to be women. Variety profiles 10 leading lights from the Spanish region. EMILIO MAYORGA

MAY 22, 2017

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NEUS BALLÚS

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1 Ballús’ short “Immersion” was well received by critics and her feature, “The Plague,” was nominated for the European Discovery - Fipresci’ Prize at the European Film Awards and took multiple 2014 first feature prizes on Spain’s fest circuit. Now the alum of Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University is initiating the French-Spanish co-production “Staff Only,” a dramedic comingof-ager exploring international tourism in developing countries, and developing comedy “Six Ordinary Days.”

MERITXELL COLELL

2 Colell (“Manuscript to the City”) has worked as an editor and cinema lecturer. She has just finished her first documentary feature, “Facing the Wind,” selected for the 2015 Cannes Atelier, about a mature woman

choreographer who returns to her native village after 20 years.

“It’s not inspired by true facts, but true emotions, mine and the character’s,” Colell explains, announcing she’s developing “Duo,” “a road-movie set in Argentina’s North-East, about a couple’s separation.”

VALÉRIE DELPIERRE

3 Delpierre, who founded Inicia Films in 2006, has produced two Catalan New New Wave milestones: “Summer 1993” and Laura Ferrés’ 2017 Critics’ Week short, “The Disinherited.”

With Betta Pictures, Delpierre is producing Pilar Palomero’s debut “Las niñas,” about an 11-yearold that questions her received education. “I’m stimulated by directors with singular views,” she says. “Then I consider their creative interest for audiences and my potential production input.”

ÁNGELES HERNÁNDEZ

4 Having studied at Cuba’s San Antonio de los Baños, Hernandez works with David Matamoros at Zentropa Spain, whose credits include Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s “Evolution” and Roger Gual’s “Tasting Menu.” Currently in post on Richard García and Raúl Portero’s “Grimsey” Hernandez is in pre-production on New Queer Cinema title “Isaac” – a Guadalajara Work in Progress Festival winner this March. She and Matamoros will co-direct the contempo relationship tale.

CARLOS MARQUES-MARCET

5 L.A.-based Marques-Marcet’s first feature, dramedy “10,000 KM,” about love in the Internet age, took the SXSW acting award for Natalia Tena and David Verdaguer. Marques is now finishing his sophomore feature, the Visit Films-sold “Estamos como queremos,” produced by Barcelona’s Lastor Media, L.A.’s LA Panda, and the U.K.’s Vennerfilms. Set in London, its cast includes Tena and Verdaguer, and Oona and Geraldine Chaplin.

ELENA MARTÍN

6 Actress-director Martín starred in and directed “Júlia Ist,” a best feature and

director winner at Spain’s Malaga Fest Zonacine showcase. Coordinating a theatre lab in Barcelona with links to Berlin’s Volksbühne, she’s planning new stories “exploring my generation’s emotional conflicts — selfishness, envy, immaturity but also knowledge, culture, conscience — and the contradictions of those born in this first world,” she explains.

LLUÍS QUÍLEZ

7 Quílez was pre-selected for the 2017 Oscar with “Graffiti” a delicate, language-free dystopian love-story. First feature “Out of the Dark,” a Colombia-set ghost story, was made for Participant Media, Dynamo Capital and Apaches Ent. About to shoot short “72%”; developing Rodar y Rodar-produced “El ocupante,” a psychological thriller with terror beats turning on identity. “I want to make personal films exploring new territories but targeting wide audiences; I know it’s ambitious,” he says.

MARTA RAMÍREZ

8 Before founding Coming Soon Films in 2014 Marta Ramírez worked at Oberón Cinematográfica and Rodar y Rodar. Aiming to nurture young filmmakers, Ramírez has produced several shorts (“El vestido,” “Rol”) and now is finishing “Distances,” the

second feature of Elena Trapé (“Blog”), about friendship. “I’m interested in features with fresh and innovative gazes, with a universal appeal coming from a very personal viewpoint,” she says.

CARLA SIMÓN

9 Simón’s debut, “Summer 1993”, a moving record of a 6-year-old orphan’s loneliness, snagged Berlin’s 2017 Generation Kplus Grand Prix. Schooled in Barcelona and London, where she developed shorts “Born Positive” and “Lipstick,” Simon’s now writing projects set in the Catalan countryside and on Galicia’s coast. “I like to portray the complexity of family relationships through daily life, revealing the characters through small gestures and looks,” she says.

DAVID VICTORI

10 Victori short “La culpa” won the top prize at 2012 YouTube Your Film Festival – and Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender as producers for digital series “Zero.” He has recently directed episodes of Atresmedia thriller series “Lifeline.” Now about to shoot “The Pact,” a Belén Rueda supernatural thriller from Ikiru Films. “My aim is to make commercial cinema deeply related to feelings and moral dilemmas,” he says.