At the last Cannes Film Festival, the most pessimistic expressed their concern about the absence of Spanish cinema in the different sections. The presence of Jonás Trueba with You will come back at the Directors’ Fortnight, and the short film by Elena López Riera, Southern BridesAt the Critics’ Week – apart from Juan Antonio Bayona as a jury member of the Official Section – there seem to be few results. Perhaps the success of previous years had accustomed people, or perhaps it was simply necessary to wait for this last quarter when the most powerful premieres of the course traditionally arrive.
In 2024, it was the Venice Film Festival – which traditionally treats Spanish cinema much worse – that adopted our proposals. The most anticipated is The next piece, Pedro Almodóvar’s new film. The first in English. The premiere of any film by the filmmaker is a global event. He is an auteur for whom any festival would give anything to have his films, and on this occasion it was the Mostra – as happened with Parallel mothers― who managed to take the first world premiere of one of the most anticipated works not only of Spanish cinema, but of all international cinema of the year.
The premiere in Venice is logical for a film that its distributor in the US (Sony Picture Classics) will want to include in the awards season. After passing through Venice, it will be in Toronto and will be the centerpiece of the New York Festival, where part of this film, which adapts the book by Sigrid Nunez, is set. What is your torment? and which has Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as absolute protagonists. Its release will take place on Monday, September 2, before the premiere in Spain on October 18 and after also passing through the San Sebastián Festival where Almodóvar will receive the Donostia Prize.
But he will not be the only Spanish director. Also in the Official Section, but out of competition, you will be able to see the new series by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, New Years, that he writes this time without Isabel Peña. Ten episodes to x-ray a decade of a couple (and a generation) played by Iria del Río and Francesco Carril. Paula Fabra and Sara Cano are the co-creators of this drama that marks their return to television after riot police. Sorogoyen directed four episodes, while the rest were directed by Sandra Romero and David Martín de los Santos.
The inclusion of Sorogoyen demonstrates his status on the international festival circuit. The director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera, described him at the press conference where the titles of this edition were announced as “the most important Spanish author currently after Pedro Almodóvar”. Coincidentally, both will be there this year. The filmmaker’s projection is unstoppable and we will have to see where he will go with his new film that he will shoot again with Movistar+, like this series.
There are even more. At Orizzonti, the second competitive section of the festival, there will be Frame, the long-awaited film by ‘Moriarti’, the trio formed by Jon Garaño, Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga, responsible for Handia And The Infinite Trench. This time, the three of them write the script, while Garaño and Arregi direct. The creators started the year by presenting their series, Christophe Balenciagaand they will end up presenting it in Venice Framethe story of Enric Marco, a Spaniard who lied about being a victim of the Holocaust. Beware of Eduard Fernández, whose interpretation was also highlighted by Alberto Barbera.
To complete, you can see Úrsula Corberó in the co-production The Jockey, directed by Luis Ortega (director of The Angel); and Antonio Banderas in little girl, also in the Official Competition section. Out of competition it will be released Portabella constellation, documentary that will take the figure of the legendary Spanish director to Venice.
What about Netflix?
One of the things that surprised most when the Official Competition section was announced was the absence of Netflix films. Since the platform began producing films for awards, with the exception of the year of the pandemic, it has always been there. Since 2018, when Rome won the Palme d’Or, it was here that the company’s films began their fight for the Oscar.
This year, there are none. This is not due to a change of heart on the part of the festival, but rather to what it indicates as a shift within Netflix, which had to buy Emilie Perez, their big bet for the awards this year, at Cannes. Beyond the title, Jacques Audiard doesn’t seem to have much in reserve. We’ll have to see what happens next year, but it seems to indicate that after years of trying to get this prestigious award, they have given up on finding an entertainment film that suits them better on their platform despite its low quality. In the Netflix of 2024, there is room for a director’s version of a Zack Snyder film, but there has been no room for any auteur proposals.
This is not the only alarm bell ringing in Venice. The other was offered by Apple. After a few years in which it opted for movie theaters as the first window for its big bets (The Moon Killers) either Napoleon), now backs down. Ironically, he does so with a film that seems made for theaters, WolvesA thriller action with George Clooney and Brad Pitt. In the United States, it will only be released in theaters for one week, while in Spain, not even that. Relations between theaters and platforms are once again fragile and no consensus has yet been reached on the subject. Of course, if Cannes remains faithful to its rules – to be in Official Competition you have to go through theaters – in Venice, the door continues to be opened to any proposal, regardless of where it is released.
Despite the absence of Netflix, Venice has once again taken care of having an official section full of stars since the inauguration, out of competition, of the sequel to Bitelchus, and with a handful of titles that will try to make themselves understood at the Oscars, with the sequel to jokerin the lead and with Weird, by Luca Guadagnino and Marriedby Pablo Larraín and with Angelina Jolie in the role of the singer Maria Callas, as more important bets that will also be the competition of Pedro Almodóvar for the Golden Lion.
