Orson Welles famously started but never finished an adaptation in Spain of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes’ beloved 17th-century novel. Terry Gilliam’s first attempt to shoot his take on Quixote fell apart so spectacularly in 2000 that it resulted in a widely viewed “unmaking-of” documentary titled, grimly, Lost in La Mancha.
But they weren’t just tilting at windmills. Gilliam completed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote nearly two decades later, making it one of literally dozens of screen adaptations from around the world based on the widely published novel. In April, Oscar-winning director Alejandro Amenábar (The Sea Inside)will start shooting on The Captive, an origin tale about a young, storytelling Cervantes in an Algiers prison in 1575.
Spanish literature — and its literary figures — have been inspiring filmmakers since the dawn of cinema. According to a now-defunct Cervantes Virtual Library database, considered incomplete by some accounts, in Spain almost 1,200 literary...
But they weren’t just tilting at windmills. Gilliam completed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote nearly two decades later, making it one of literally dozens of screen adaptations from around the world based on the widely published novel. In April, Oscar-winning director Alejandro Amenábar (The Sea Inside)will start shooting on The Captive, an origin tale about a young, storytelling Cervantes in an Algiers prison in 1575.
Spanish literature — and its literary figures — have been inspiring filmmakers since the dawn of cinema. According to a now-defunct Cervantes Virtual Library database, considered incomplete by some accounts, in Spain almost 1,200 literary...
- 2/16/2024
- by Jennifer Green
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A group of 200 internationally renowned writers, publishers, directors and producers have signed an open letter sounding the alarm over the implications of AI for human creativity.
“Several generative models of language and images have recently appeared in the public and private domains; they are developing at breakneck speed, accessible to all for any task which involves writing and creating,” read the letter, published online on Tuesday.
“These models are shaping a world where, little by little, creation can do without human beings, thereby hastening the automation of many creative and intellectual professions formerly deemed inaccessible to mechanization.”
The letter, initiated by European translation professionals under the banner of “Collective For Human Translation – In Flesh And Blood”, comes amid growing concern about the impact of generative AI technology on professionals working in the creative industries.
Signatories from the literary world included Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux (Happening) as well as best-selling...
“Several generative models of language and images have recently appeared in the public and private domains; they are developing at breakneck speed, accessible to all for any task which involves writing and creating,” read the letter, published online on Tuesday.
“These models are shaping a world where, little by little, creation can do without human beings, thereby hastening the automation of many creative and intellectual professions formerly deemed inaccessible to mechanization.”
The letter, initiated by European translation professionals under the banner of “Collective For Human Translation – In Flesh And Blood”, comes amid growing concern about the impact of generative AI technology on professionals working in the creative industries.
Signatories from the literary world included Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux (Happening) as well as best-selling...
- 10/3/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish director becomes the fourth consecutive woman director to win the festival’s top prize
The Rye Horn (O Corno), the second feature by Jaione Camborda, has won the top prize, the Golden Shell, at the 2023 San Sebastian Film Festival.
Set on an island off the coast of Galicia in 1971, the film tells the story of a woman who earns a living harvesting shellfish. She is also known on the island for helping other women in childbirth but has to flee and try to cross the border into Portugal after an unexpected event.
Camborda, who was born in San Sebastian,...
The Rye Horn (O Corno), the second feature by Jaione Camborda, has won the top prize, the Golden Shell, at the 2023 San Sebastian Film Festival.
Set on an island off the coast of Galicia in 1971, the film tells the story of a woman who earns a living harvesting shellfish. She is also known on the island for helping other women in childbirth but has to flee and try to cross the border into Portugal after an unexpected event.
Camborda, who was born in San Sebastian,...
- 9/30/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
The negotiations of adult sexual relationships, as well as the demands forced upon single women in society, are recurring fascinations in the work of Spanish writer-director Isabel Coixet, albeit to erratic effect: In recent years, particularly in such English-language efforts as “It Snows in Benidorm” and “The Bookshop,” her voice has felt unconfident, even a little stifled. But Coixet strikes with a renewed sense of conviction in “Un Amor,” an adaptation of Sara Mesa’s Spanish-language bestseller that plays to her unusual strengths as a full-blooded feminist filmmaker. Making no cozy compromises in its portrayal of a young woman socially and sexually exploited by rural patriarchy — while still foregrounding the consuming strength and autonomy of her desire — it’s a tricky balancing act that mostly works, thanks also to a crackling lead performance by Laia Costa.
The combined draws of Costa and popular, much-translated source material should ensure “Un Amor...
The combined draws of Costa and popular, much-translated source material should ensure “Un Amor...
- 9/27/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Isabel Coixet recounts that she vowed to never to do another literary adaptation after her 2017 English-language feature The Bookshop based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s critically acclaimed 1978 novel of the same name.
Then the Spanish director read compatriot writer Sara Mesa’s dark 2021 novel Un Amor at the tail-end of the pandemic.
The unsettling work follows troubled translator Nat who quits life in the city for a dilapidated, leaky house in a remote village in Spain’s depopulated rural interior.
It is not exactly clear what prompted the move but she appears to be suffering from some sort of vicarious post-traumatic stress disorder connected to the harrowing refugee accounts she translates for her job.
A figure of curiosity as a lone woman, Nat lives as an outsider and then embarks on an unexpected and inexplicable passionate affair with a local social outcast.
“Sara Mesa is one of the most powerful voices in young Spanish literature.
Then the Spanish director read compatriot writer Sara Mesa’s dark 2021 novel Un Amor at the tail-end of the pandemic.
The unsettling work follows troubled translator Nat who quits life in the city for a dilapidated, leaky house in a remote village in Spain’s depopulated rural interior.
It is not exactly clear what prompted the move but she appears to be suffering from some sort of vicarious post-traumatic stress disorder connected to the harrowing refugee accounts she translates for her job.
A figure of curiosity as a lone woman, Nat lives as an outsider and then embarks on an unexpected and inexplicable passionate affair with a local social outcast.
“Sara Mesa is one of the most powerful voices in young Spanish literature.
- 9/26/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Incendiary Spanish director Isabel Coixet (“The Secret Life of Words”) heads to San Sebastian for the international premiere of her latest drama “Un Amor,” a take on devouring love starring Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) and Hovik Keuchkerian (“Money Heist”) that sets Coixet up to compete on the festival’s main stage for the first time.
“Un Amor” is produced by Buenapinta Media’s Marisa Fernández Armenteros (“The Mole Agent”) alongside “Society of the Snow” producers Sandra Hermida and Belén Atienza, here producing out of Perdición Films. World sales are handled by Film Constellation (“Return to Reason”).
The film is based on its namesake novel by Sara Mesa, branded Spain’s 2020 book of the year by Spanish newspaper El País. The script was written by Coixet and Laura Ferrero (“Empty Pools”).
Tormented by occupational hazards and the hustle of city living, protagonist Nat ventures to the countryside town of La Escapa to start fresh.
“Un Amor” is produced by Buenapinta Media’s Marisa Fernández Armenteros (“The Mole Agent”) alongside “Society of the Snow” producers Sandra Hermida and Belén Atienza, here producing out of Perdición Films. World sales are handled by Film Constellation (“Return to Reason”).
The film is based on its namesake novel by Sara Mesa, branded Spain’s 2020 book of the year by Spanish newspaper El País. The script was written by Coixet and Laura Ferrero (“Empty Pools”).
Tormented by occupational hazards and the hustle of city living, protagonist Nat ventures to the countryside town of La Escapa to start fresh.
- 9/25/2023
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
The 12th edition of the Spanish festival runs October 18-24
Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor will open the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival while Lone Scherfig’s The Movie Teller will close the 12th edition of the Palma event.
Coixet will also receive the festival’s 2023 vision award. The Spanish filmmaker and her cast of Laia Costa, Hovik Keuchkerian and Hugo Silva, are expected to attend.
Un Amor is based on Sara Mesa’s novel and explores a complicated sexual relationship between a young woman and her older neighbour. It will world premiere at San Sebastian before screening at the UK’s Raindance Film Festival.
Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor will open the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival while Lone Scherfig’s The Movie Teller will close the 12th edition of the Palma event.
Coixet will also receive the festival’s 2023 vision award. The Spanish filmmaker and her cast of Laia Costa, Hovik Keuchkerian and Hugo Silva, are expected to attend.
Un Amor is based on Sara Mesa’s novel and explores a complicated sexual relationship between a young woman and her older neighbour. It will world premiere at San Sebastian before screening at the UK’s Raindance Film Festival.
- 9/21/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Spanish cinema has undoubtedly been making a strong imprint on the international film festival circuit throughout the last few years and, crucially, there’s a new wave of female filmmakers that are driving this charge.
Carla Simon’s Alcarràs took the Golden Bear in Berlin last year, while Elena Lopez Riera and Clara Roquet debuted their respective films The Water and Libertad in Cannes as well as Elena Martin’s feature debut Creatura, which played in the festival’s Directors Fortnight section this year.
So at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, it’s unsurprising that the trend is continuing as three Spanish films in official competition this year are directed and produced by women: Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor, based on a bestselling novel by Sara Mesa, which is produced by Marisa Fernández Armenteros and Sandra Hermida; Sultana’s Dream, the debut feature from Isabel Herguera which...
Carla Simon’s Alcarràs took the Golden Bear in Berlin last year, while Elena Lopez Riera and Clara Roquet debuted their respective films The Water and Libertad in Cannes as well as Elena Martin’s feature debut Creatura, which played in the festival’s Directors Fortnight section this year.
So at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, it’s unsurprising that the trend is continuing as three Spanish films in official competition this year are directed and produced by women: Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor, based on a bestselling novel by Sara Mesa, which is produced by Marisa Fernández Armenteros and Sandra Hermida; Sultana’s Dream, the debut feature from Isabel Herguera which...
- 9/19/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
The 31st edition of London’s Raindance Film Festival will open with the U.K. premiere of British actor Jack Huston’s directorial debut “Day of the Fight.”
The film comes to Raindance fresh off its Venice debut, where Huston was honored by Variety as a breakthrough director.
The story of a once-renowned boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he left prison stars Michael Pitt alongside a cast including Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and a cameo from Steve Buscemi.
The U.K. premiere of Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor” will close the festival after it bows at San Sebastian. Based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel, Laia Costa plays a young woman who escapes her stressful life in the city and relocates to rural Spain. When she accepts a disturbing sexual proposal, it gives rise to an all-consuming and obsessive passion.
The film comes to Raindance fresh off its Venice debut, where Huston was honored by Variety as a breakthrough director.
The story of a once-renowned boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he left prison stars Michael Pitt alongside a cast including Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and a cameo from Steve Buscemi.
The U.K. premiere of Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor” will close the festival after it bows at San Sebastian. Based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel, Laia Costa plays a young woman who escapes her stressful life in the city and relocates to rural Spain. When she accepts a disturbing sexual proposal, it gives rise to an all-consuming and obsessive passion.
- 9/13/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Headlined respectively by “Sound of Metal” lead Riz Ahmed and “Matrix” stars Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving, Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” and Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel” figure among seven newly unveiled films which will play in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
Also in the running are buzz titles “A Journey in Spring,” from Taiwan’s Peng Tzu-Hui, Wang Ping-Wen, and “Kalak,” directed by Denmark’s Isabella Eklöf.
Announced Friday, the new additions are comprised by one debut (“Spring”) and five second features from emerging talent ranging from Japan’s Kei Chica-ura to France’s Xavier Legrand, nominated for an Academy Award for best live action short film for 2013’s “Just Before Losing Everything.”
The new titles confirm a 2023 main competition which, including previously announced titles, frames three feature debuts – Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Isabel Herguera’s “Sultana’s Dream...
Also in the running are buzz titles “A Journey in Spring,” from Taiwan’s Peng Tzu-Hui, Wang Ping-Wen, and “Kalak,” directed by Denmark’s Isabella Eklöf.
Announced Friday, the new additions are comprised by one debut (“Spring”) and five second features from emerging talent ranging from Japan’s Kei Chica-ura to France’s Xavier Legrand, nominated for an Academy Award for best live action short film for 2013’s “Just Before Losing Everything.”
The new titles confirm a 2023 main competition which, including previously announced titles, frames three feature debuts – Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Isabel Herguera’s “Sultana’s Dream...
- 8/25/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
14 Spanish productions selected for this year’s festival, which runs September 22-30.
Isabel Coixet’s romantic drama Un amor, Isabel Herguera’s animation Sultana’s Dream and JaioneCamborda’s drama The Rye Horn are among the 14 Spanish productions selected for the 2023 San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff), running from September 22-30.
Scroll down for full line-up
Coixet will compete for the first time in San Sebastian’s official section with Un Amor, starring Laia Costa and Hovik Keuchkerian. Sold by Film Constellation, Un Amor is based on Sara Mesa’s novel that follows a woman struggling to start afresh in a countryside hamlet.
Isabel Coixet’s romantic drama Un amor, Isabel Herguera’s animation Sultana’s Dream and JaioneCamborda’s drama The Rye Horn are among the 14 Spanish productions selected for the 2023 San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff), running from September 22-30.
Scroll down for full line-up
Coixet will compete for the first time in San Sebastian’s official section with Un Amor, starring Laia Costa and Hovik Keuchkerian. Sold by Film Constellation, Un Amor is based on Sara Mesa’s novel that follows a woman struggling to start afresh in a countryside hamlet.
- 7/14/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed the lineup of Spanish titles that will screen as part of the Official Selection of its latest edition, which is due to unfold from September 22 — 30. Scroll down for the full list.
Selected titles include Un Amor from Isabel Coixet, who competes for the festival’s Golden Shell for the first time with the pic based on the book of the same name by Sara Mesa and starring Laia Costa at the head of a cast also featuring Hovik Keuchkerian, Hugo Silva, Luis Bermejo, Ingrid García-Jonsson and Francesco Carril.
Filmmaker Fernando Trueba, of the Oscar-nominated feature Chico & Rita (2012), will present his latest project, They Shot the Piano Player, directed alongside Javier Mariscal in the fest’s Special Screening sidebar. The film, narrated by the voice of Jeff Goldblum, follows the figure of Brazilian musician Tenorio Jr. during the early days of the musical movement known as bossa nova.
Selected titles include Un Amor from Isabel Coixet, who competes for the festival’s Golden Shell for the first time with the pic based on the book of the same name by Sara Mesa and starring Laia Costa at the head of a cast also featuring Hovik Keuchkerian, Hugo Silva, Luis Bermejo, Ingrid García-Jonsson and Francesco Carril.
Filmmaker Fernando Trueba, of the Oscar-nominated feature Chico & Rita (2012), will present his latest project, They Shot the Piano Player, directed alongside Javier Mariscal in the fest’s Special Screening sidebar. The film, narrated by the voice of Jeff Goldblum, follows the figure of Brazilian musician Tenorio Jr. during the early days of the musical movement known as bossa nova.
- 7/14/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscar winner Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”), “The Secret Life of Words” director Isabel Coixet and “Veneno” writer-director-producers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo feature among talent behind Spanish titles at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the highest profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world.
Coixet will compete for the first time in San Sebastian’s main competition with “Un Amor,” a probing village-set tale of emotional dependence starring Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) and “Money Heist’s” Hovik Keuchkerian.
Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal will present as a special screening animated feature “They Shot the Piano Player,” a joyful and finally devastating portrait of the life and fate of pianist Francisco Tenorio Jr. narrated by Jeff Goldblum.
Ambrossi and Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – will world premiere “La Mesías,” the most awaited Spanish series of the year, a big-scale, period-hopping Movistar Plus+ original, chronicling the devastating effect of a childhood education,...
Coixet will compete for the first time in San Sebastian’s main competition with “Un Amor,” a probing village-set tale of emotional dependence starring Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) and “Money Heist’s” Hovik Keuchkerian.
Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal will present as a special screening animated feature “They Shot the Piano Player,” a joyful and finally devastating portrait of the life and fate of pianist Francisco Tenorio Jr. narrated by Jeff Goldblum.
Ambrossi and Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – will world premiere “La Mesías,” the most awaited Spanish series of the year, a big-scale, period-hopping Movistar Plus+ original, chronicling the devastating effect of a childhood education,...
- 7/14/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Principal photography has wrapped in Spain’s La Rioja region on Isabel Coixet’s romantic drama “Un Amor,” a tale of obsessive passion that forces the film’s protagonist to reconsider the woman she thought she was. The 2023 Goya actress winner Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) stars opposite Hovik Keuchkerian (“Money Heist”); Film Constellation handles world sales. A sales promo will be unveiled for buyers in Cannes.
Based on the best-selling novel by Sara Mesa, selected by influential Spanish newspaper “El PaÍs” as Spain’s 2020 Book of the Year and translated into 13 languages internationally, “Un Amor” turns on Nat (Costa), 30, a translator who escapes the big city to start anew in the countryside.
Taking refuge in La Escapa, a hamlet, isolated by the hostility of her landlord and villagers’ distrust, she surprises herself by accepting an unsettling sexual proposal from neighbor Andreas. “From this strange and conflicting encounter sparks a devouring and...
Based on the best-selling novel by Sara Mesa, selected by influential Spanish newspaper “El PaÍs” as Spain’s 2020 Book of the Year and translated into 13 languages internationally, “Un Amor” turns on Nat (Costa), 30, a translator who escapes the big city to start anew in the countryside.
Taking refuge in La Escapa, a hamlet, isolated by the hostility of her landlord and villagers’ distrust, she surprises herself by accepting an unsettling sexual proposal from neighbor Andreas. “From this strange and conflicting encounter sparks a devouring and...
- 5/16/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid-based Buenapinta Media, a producer on Maite Alberdi’s Oscar-nominated “The Mole Agent” and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” has unveiled a development slate that includes new features by Ruiz de Azúa, Cinéfondation alum Guillermo García López, and Borja Cobeaga and Victor García León.
The slate announcement comes one week after “Lullaby,” hailed by Pedro Almodovar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” triumphed at the 2023 Spanish Academy Awards, winning best first feature, actress (Laila Costa) and supporting actress (Susi Sánchez)
The 2023-24 production slate at Buenapinta Media, headed by Marisa Fernández Armenteros, also features Isabel Coixet’s just-announced “Un Amor.”
“Lullaby’s” four producers — Sandra Hermida, Buenapinta Media, Encanta Films and Sayaka Producciones — are now backing development on Ruiz de Azúa’s second feature. She is writing the screenplay.
Buenapinta is also developing “Cuidad sin sueño,” from García López, whose “Frágil Equilibrio” won a 2016 best doc feature Goya.
The slate announcement comes one week after “Lullaby,” hailed by Pedro Almodovar as “undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” triumphed at the 2023 Spanish Academy Awards, winning best first feature, actress (Laila Costa) and supporting actress (Susi Sánchez)
The 2023-24 production slate at Buenapinta Media, headed by Marisa Fernández Armenteros, also features Isabel Coixet’s just-announced “Un Amor.”
“Lullaby’s” four producers — Sandra Hermida, Buenapinta Media, Encanta Films and Sayaka Producciones — are now backing development on Ruiz de Azúa’s second feature. She is writing the screenplay.
Buenapinta is also developing “Cuidad sin sueño,” from García López, whose “Frágil Equilibrio” won a 2016 best doc feature Goya.
- 2/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Fresh off her 2023 Goya best actress win for “Lullaby” on Saturday night,” Laia Costa is set to star in the passionate romance drama “Un Amor,” by multi-prized Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet.
Film Constellation, the London and now Paris-based production, finance & sales company, will introduce the new production to buyers at thus and next week’s Berlin European Film Market.
Distributor of Berlin competition entry “20,000 Species if Bees” and La Maternal, a San Sebastian best leading performance winner for Carla Quílez, BTeam Pictures will handle the film’s release in Spain.
Written by Spanish novelist and short-story writer Laura Ferrero and Coixet, “Un Amor” is based on an admired novel by Sara Mesa. A fiction study of emotional dependence in which Mesa returns to the themes of power and subjugation which thread much of her work, “Un Amor” was selected by Spanish newspaper El Pais as Spain’s 2020 book of the year.
Film Constellation, the London and now Paris-based production, finance & sales company, will introduce the new production to buyers at thus and next week’s Berlin European Film Market.
Distributor of Berlin competition entry “20,000 Species if Bees” and La Maternal, a San Sebastian best leading performance winner for Carla Quílez, BTeam Pictures will handle the film’s release in Spain.
Written by Spanish novelist and short-story writer Laura Ferrero and Coixet, “Un Amor” is based on an admired novel by Sara Mesa. A fiction study of emotional dependence in which Mesa returns to the themes of power and subjugation which thread much of her work, “Un Amor” was selected by Spanish newspaper El Pais as Spain’s 2020 book of the year.
- 2/16/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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