Like water taking the shape of any container in which it’s kept, Catalan cinema tends to work its way into every corner of a festival or marketplace in which it is present. This year’s European Film Market is no exception. Here’s a look at 10 Catalan titles set to make an impression at this year’s festival and market.
The highest profile appearance will be Eva Libertad’s debut feature, “Deaf,” based on a short of the same name, which world premieres in the Panorama section. Sold by Latido Films and produced by Distinto Films, A Contracorriente Films and Nexus CreaFilms, it’s based on Libertad’s Goya-nominated short of the same name.
Lucía G. Romero’s “Close to September” will world premiere in Berlinale Shorts. Produced by Escándalo Films, Filmax, ESCAC Films and ESCAC Studio, it centers on an imbalanced youthful romance.
Generation Kplus showcases two Catalan productions this year, the Danish-Catalan documentary “Only On Earth,” directed by Robin Petré and produced by Hansen & Pedersen and Polar Star Films, and “Juanita” from directors Karen Joaquín and Uliane Tatit, produced by Avocado & Pumpkin. The former examines the shared struggles of humans and animals in fire-threatened Galicia, while the latter is about a young girl growing up under suffocating expectations of female beauty.
Film Factory hosts market screenings for a pair of commercially appetizing features from Nostromo Pictures. Olga Osorio’s romantic period drama “The Goldsmith’s Secret,” starring Goya-winner Mario Casas, will get its Spanish release later this month from Warner Bros. and is looking for global buyers. Meanwhile, box office favorite Javier Ruiz Caldera’s “Wolfgang,” a feel-good comedy about autism and fatherhood, will be released domestically in March by Universal.
Filmax is bringing an array of Catalan titles to this year’s EFM. Laura Casabé’s Argentina-Spain-Mexico co-production “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake” leads the lineup, one of the few titles able to buck the bad mojo at this year’s Sundance and attract global attention. “Truman” director Cesc Gay’s latest “My Friend Eva” is an audience-friendly romantic comedy produced by longtime Gay collaborator Marta Esteban of Imposible Films. Gemma Blasco’s “Fury” was recently selected for the Global section of this year’s SXSW, immediately elevating the film’s lofty profile ahead of an EFM market screening. And “The Light of Aisha” is a vibrantly animated tale about Spain’s often underrepresented Arabic history.
