Arte/ZDF, the German arm of European public broadcaster Arte, and German production company Port au Prince have boarded “Ivan & Hadoum,” the feature debut of Ian de la Rosa, one of Spain’s top emerging talents.
Now casting, “Ivan & Hadoum,” will be presented Friday at the EFM’s Spain in Focus Showcase by Emilia Fort at Avalon, one of the film’s Spanish producers.
Arte/ZDF will support “Ivan & Hadoum” via its Das Kleine Fernsehspiel initiative for new and artistically ambitious filmmakers.
“Ivan & Hadoum,” which won a Eurimages Co-production Development Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2023, is set in an industrial greenhouse in Almería, Spain. Iván falls in love with co-worker Hadoum, a young Spanish-Moroccan woman. Ivan’s desired job promotion is challenged by the relationship, however, forcing him to decide what kind of man he wants to be.
Port au Prince and Arte/ZDF join Spain’s Avalon and Pecado Films, producers of Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs” and “Close Your Eyes,” respectively, as well as Vayolet Films, another Spanish company.
De la Rosa won the Cannes 2015 Cinéfondation Award with short “Victor XX.” He also co-wrote “Veneno,” created by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. It aired to acclaim on HBO Max in the U.S. and Latin America.
His short “Farrucas” was nominated for a Spanish Academy Goya Award and won a Catalan Film Academy’s Gaudí Award, making him the first trans filmmaker to win such a prize in Spain.
“Ian’s intimate understanding of the film’s landscape – his homeland, Almería, with the Sea of Plastic and the beaches of Cabo de Gata – and its characters – led by a trans man like himself and a Spanish-Moroccan woman, a community he engaged with in “Farrucas,” shapes the heart of our film,” said Fort.
“A unique love story about belonging, exemplifying our commitment to a more diverse film industry. An inspiring feature debut that has drawn international interest from the start and aims to reach broad audiences,” she added.
