Spain Scores a Historic Cannes Competition Double

For the first time since 1988, Spain has two movies in Cannes main competition, neither of whose directors are Pedro Almodóvar: Carla Simón’s “Romería” and Oliver Laxe’s “Sirat.”

That says much about this year’s Cannes Official Selection, packed with emerging talent. The double also marks, however, what might prove a turning point for Spanish film. From 1988, the feeding frenzy died for films by Carlos Saura in particular and at large titles picturing Spain’s dark past from which it had happily just emerged with democracy. Outside Almodóvar, this century, in 15 editions, only one Spanish director had scored a Cannes Competition place since Isabel Coixet in 2009: Albert Serra with “Pacification” in 2022.  

Now, however, France – its big festivals, networks, distributors, sale agents, critics and audiences – are embracing Spain with energy, both Spanish film and indeed TV. When it comes to Spain, the change has been long in the making. 

Cannes loves to “promote” directors which have worked their way up the prize ranks. Simon won Berlin best first feature with her 2017 debut, “Summer 1993,” competed for and won a Berlin 2022 Golden Bear with “Alcarràs.” She’s now competing for a Palme d’Or. “Carla Simón has worked her way up, done the ‘schooling’ of young artists at Cannes,” said Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux, announcing her selection on April 10.

Likewise, Laxe’s first feature, 2010’s “You Are All Captains,” scored Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight Fipresci Award, his next, 2016’s “Mimosas,” scooped Critics’ Week top Grand Prize, then 2019’s “Fire Will Come” an Uncertain Regard Jury Prize. 

In late 2015, Spain’s subsidy rules changed, ditching domestic box office performance as a main criteria in favor of a multi-point system, which for artier films prized a producer or director’s festival track-record, plus first features. Spanish arthouse has flowered again in Spain, especially from a new generation of filmmakers. 

“There’s no part of the world where people are more talented. There are parts of the world, however, where talent is encouraged more,” says María Zamora, producer of “Romería.” 

“Film policies fomenting prior festival selection with shorts and first features mean that directors with their third and fourth films can have more resources, budgets and time which they need for their films to get where Carla and Oliver have reached,” she adds.

“Spanish cinema is changing. For Cannes’ competition presence, it’s been very dependent on Pedro Almodóvar who remains our leading director, but other voices are now being heard as well, says Guillermo Farré, head of original film and Spanish cinema at Movistar Plus+, the biggest Spanish pay TV/SVOD operator, which co-produces “Sirat.”

This new generation is highly cosmopolitan. “I remember when I started, 20 years ago, going to co-production forums and we were two or three Spanish co-producers. Now, there are scores of young Spanish producers with projects going everywhere,” says Zamora. Simón studied at the London Film School, Laxe has lived part of his life in France. 

Of networks, Movistar Plus+ and Atresmedia SVOD service Atresplayer, Spain’s biggest film-TV groups have put their weight behind younger generation auteurs, Laxe’s “Sirat” being one of Movistar Plus+’s first slate of six “event auteur” movies, as it calls them, others directed by “The Beasts” Rodrigo Sorogoyen, “Marshland’s” Alberto Fernández and “Querer’s” Alauda Ruiz de Azúa.

“Given traditional financing schemes, Spain makes films of a very concrete size, at €1.5 million-€4.5 million [$1.7 million-$5.2 million] budgets, which is what can be financed from TV and international pre-sales and box office,” says Farré.  

“Movistar Plus+’s idea is to make films which maybe couldn’t be made without us with the ambition and production levels of its series and a unique voice, In a world with so many films and series, what stands out is something that’s different but which aims to reach audiences,” he adds. 

Spain has already begun to take France by storm. Only given a Premiere slot, “The Beasts” won the 2023 Cesar for best foreign-language film, beating four Cannes competition winners. 

Released on Arte France in November, “La Mesías” from Los Jarvis – Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo – has been feted by French critics, Liberation hailing it as “one of the most beautiful series of the year.”

It’s no coincidence that it’s France, whose large bourgeoisie cherishes culture as one of its hallmarks, has taken Spain to heart. Cannes could now signal Spain’s French consecration.    

The Festival takes place just two months after two Spanish series, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Querer” and Diego San José’s “Celeste,” scooped in late March the biggest prizes out at France’s Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, Ruiz de Azua winning best series in main competition.

And it may be no coincidence that three companies – Buenapinta Media, Encanta Films, BTeam – that backed Ruiz de Azúa’s feature debut, “Lullaby,” hailed by Pedro Almodóvar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” produced Guillermo Galoe’s anticipated feature debut “Sleepless City,” now selected for Cannes Critics’ Week. Once an outlier for Cannes, Spain is emerging as an arbiter of exciting newer talent.

Yet, will its consecration be fleeting? Many of the film and TV titles now making a splash in France were produced, co-produced or acquired in Spain by Movistar Plus+.

Two weeks ago, charismatic Movistar Plus exec Domingo Corral who has driven its push into artistically ambitious, auteurist series and movies grounded in the realities of Spain, attracting many of the best younger creative talents in Spain, was pink-slipped as Movistar Plus+ director of  fiction and entertainment content. 

The most obvious way to interpret that move is that Movistar Plus+ under new management will now pursue a different production line. 150 prominent figures from the Spanish entertainment sector have signed a public letter expressing their gratitude and consternation. 

In Europe, France in cinema and the U.K. in TV have been robust industries for decades. Other countries have to hope that the stars align. With ones of Spain’s most trailblazing execs no longer in play, Spain fears for the future of its newly won visibility on the world stage.