The Spanish film scene is ablaze, and San Sebastián is preparing to raise its own flames. In recent months, the nation secured five main competition spots at Cannes — a tally surpassed by no country beyond France. The San Sebastián Film Festival, which begins later this month, appears positioned to carry that energy forward.
José Luis Rebordinos, the festival’s director, says the moment is unprecedented. “I’m 64. I’ve been programming cinema since I was 28,” he says. “Spanish cinema has never been so powerful, with so many important international films.”
The Numbers Behind the Boom
The rise of Spanish cinema owes its momentum to the country’s broadcasters and streamers, according to Rebordinos. Movistar Plus, the largest Spanish operator, is sending three films into major sections at San Sebastián this year: “La Bola Negra,” “El Castillo”, and “5 Minutes More.”. Netflix Spain also has a title in contention: “After Society.”.
Movistar Plus has a track record at Cannes. Its previous competition entries include “Sirāt” and “The Beloved,” both Originals. “La Bola Negra” follows in that tradition, weaving together the story of Spain’s gay experience across 1932, 1937 and 2017 — drawing on four pages from an unfinished novel by Federico García Lorca, the revered poet-playwright.
The Bet on Talent
Juan Andrés García Ropero, Movistar Plus’s director of contents, frames the strategy plainly. “Above all, what we’re trying to do is to bet on the best talent, not on genres or formats but creators with their own voices,” he says.
The strategy appears to be working well. “La Bola Negra” represents the shared goals of Movistar Plus and Los Javis, the directing team of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. The project’s budget has been estimated at around €14 million (or $16 million), rising to as much as €18 million (or $20 million), a scale that can only be reached in Europe through strong support from a major player.
Oscar attention is already building around the film, with talk of an international feature nomination and possible recognition in other categories. Netflix acquired the U.S. and Canada rights at Cannes, and has now set a 47-day gap between theatrical and streaming release. That is the longest window the streaming giant has ever used for a single picture, stretching from Oct. 16 through Dec. 1.
The Test at San Sebastián
“La Bola Negra” screens at San Sebastián, debuts theatrically in Spain via Elástica on Sept. 25, and premieres in North America at the Toronto International Film Festival. Those three events will measure whether the film can sustain the buzz.
The director García Ropero believes the movie will stir things up in San Sebastián and set a new record for Spanish cinema.
A New Name in the Mix
One question at this year’s festival is whether Isabel Peña can now take her career to the next level. Peña co-created “El Castillo” with Rodrigo Sorogoyen, her career-long co-scribe. The six-part series follows Spain’s sex trade as it transforms from roadside brothels to nationwide organized crime.
This is Peña’s first time flying solo. The project leans on strong buzz before San Sebastián, and it presents itself as an honest record told from three distinct voices: Claudia, a Colombian sex worker and single mother; Manuel, the insatiable kingpin of the local trade; and Liesa, the young inspector who works with a police special unit tasked with bringing Manuel down.
García Ropero believes “El Castillo” will draw attention and become a topic of discussion at San Sebastián.
Comedy and Genre Blend
Writer-actor Berto Romero is stepping up with “5 More Minutes,” a comedic sci-fi thriller about a couple caught in a time loop at a rural setting. Romero is a top Spanish standup who has risen through the Movistar Plus ranks from late-night shows to a first fiction series, “Look What You’ve Done,” and then “The Other Side,” a comedic-horror-thriller.
“It’s not easy to blend comedy and fantasy,” says García Ropero. “Berto likes this mix of different genres and ‘5 More Minutes’ is a magnificent example.”
The approach itself is defined by Romero, who describes it as a compelling way to tell stories through the deliberate use of genre conventions. He explains that the process involves bending those conventions, altering them, and steering audiences toward an unexpected destination.
“Using the conventions of genre to subvert them, reshape them, and lead audiences to places other than where they expect to go is, to me, a fascinating way of telling stories.”
Documentary Expansion
Netflix’s “Beyond Society” is a three-part nonfiction follow-up to “Society of the Snow,” created by Spain’s high-grossing director, J.A. Bayona, and Carles Torrens. The doc series visits the scene of the 1972 Andes Flight 571 crash, subject of the narrative feature “Society of the Snow.”
“It was there that we realized just how closely the true story and the people who lived through the tragedy were already intertwined with the fictional characters we had created,” Bayona has commented. “Beyond Society” traces the 50 years following the tragedy, giving voices to the survivors and the relatives of the deceased.
A Global Stage
Spain’s broadcasters and streamers use the festivals as their platform, with San Sebastián offering a global audience to demonstrate just how far they’ve come.
The festival opens later this month.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| “La Bola Negra” theatrical debut (via Elástica) | Sept. 25 |
| “La Bola Negra” Toronto premiere | Later this month |
| Netflix 47-day U.S. window | Oct. 16 to Dec. 1 |
The boom is real.
Source material: “TV Operators Power Spain’s Global Breakout as the San Sebastian Film Festival Readies Launch: ‘Spanish Cinema Has Never Been So Powerful’,” Variety.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.