Valladolid: 10 Titles to Track from ‘All of Us Strangers’ to Germany’s Oscar Entry and Four Spanish World Premieres
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There’s “an enormous amount of fresh talent coming through, and those new voices for the most part don’t come from the U.S.,” CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland said at San Sebastian’s Creative Investors’ Conference. Valladolid, especially in its main competition and Meeting Point section for first and second films, highlights some star turns. Many, moreover, are women who pack out 11 of the 15 berths in the latter section.
This 10 to Track could have chosen, of female filmmakers, Brit Molly Manning Walker’s “How To Have Sex,” a Cannes Un Certain Regard winner and the buzziest debut at this year’s mega festival; or “Sweet Dreams,” a gorgeous, sardonic portrait of colonial decline,” which establishes the Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević in only her second film as “a formidable talent,” announced Variety; or “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed,” from American Joanna Arnow, a “raw, intimate and more importantly extremely funny new talent,” said Variety; or Greek Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal,” a “poignant,” “slow-burn sophomore drama.”
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Instead the 10 plumps for a broad cross section, focusing especially on Spanish world premieres or arresting debuts and two first films or fiction feature debuts from outside Spain – “Gasoline Rainbow” and “Hoard” instancing the fresh talent coming through. It makes for a highly eclectic selection if six titles are from Spain. The 10 Titles:
“All of Us Strangers,” (Andrew Haigh, U.K., U.S.)
Setting a high benchmark for Valladolid’s main competition, “a curious kind of ghost story, at once incredibly tender and profoundly devastating as it slowly reveals its secrets,” Variety wrote in its review. Written and directed by Haigh. behind an impressive body of work taking in “Weekend,” “45 Years” and HBO series “Looking.”
“Andrea’s Love,” (“El amor de Andrea,” Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain)
Sold by Filmax, the latest from the always interesting Martín Cuenca (“Cannibal,” “The Daughter”) about Andrea, 15, attempting to reconnect with her estranged father. “A title opening up a new stage in Martín Cuenca’s career, his simplest, most tender and sincere of works,” Valladolid Festival notes run.
“Gasoline Rainbow,” (Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross, U.S.)
Produced by Mubi and sold by The Match Factory, the Venice Horizons world premiere follows five teens who pile into a van somewhere in Oregon heading for the Pacific Coast. Judged the best to date from rising indie values the Ross brothers (“Bloody Nose,” “Empty Pockets”).
“Hoard,” (Luna Carmoon, U.K.)
A breakout at this year’s Venice Critics’ Week, where it won its Audience Award and a shred special mention for lead Saura Lightfoot Leon, “Hoard” announcing “that rare thing nowadays of a genuinely audacious, unnerving British debut,” said Indie Wire. Certainly the tale of a late teen girl marked by a childhood of garbage collecting with mum, is not a conventional premise, which Carmoon develops into a tale of grief, trauma and sensual body horror self abuse.
“The Movie Teller,” (“La Contadora de Películas,” Lone Scherfig, Spain, Chile)
The European premiere of the ‘60s Chilean mining town-set latest from Denmark’s Scherfig, director of 2010 triple-Oscar nominee “An Education,” which made Carey Mulligan, and sporting the Scherfig hallmarks: Standout performances – here a career milestone turn from Chile’s Sara Becker, and upbeat full-on emotion which still takes in grimmer social realities. Largely well-received at Toronto. Embankment sells.
“On the Go,” (María Gisèle Royo, Julia de Castro, Spain)
The movie debut of one of Spain’s biggest stars, “Elite’s” Omar Ayuso, but inspired by 1982 cult play “Corridas de alegría” in its Andalusía setting, freewheeling and sexually charged road movie, superb music – “Gitana” from Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba, for example – and exploration of the bedrock affective bonds in a modern age. MPM Premium sells.
“Rioja, Land of the Thousand Wines,” (“Rioja, la tierra de los mil vinos,” José Luis López-Linares, Spain)
From López-Linares, Spain’s premier doc feature director, who struck gold with 2022 Cannes Classics highlight “Goya, Carriere and the Ghost of Buñuel,” a study, shot in lustrous tones, of what Rioja wine is, what makes Rioja wine so special, and why it’s key to the regions future. Produced by Morena Films, (“Cell 211,” “Che,” “Champions”) and sold by Latido Films.
“Samsara,” (Lois Patiño, Spain)
Produced by Señor y Señora, a soul’s journey to reincarnation from the temples of Laos to Zanzibar, where some women work in sea-weed farms. A Berlin Encounters winner, “a film like you’ve never seen before,” promises sales agent Luis Renart – though not that far, perhaps, from the more fantastical scenes of Patiño’s “Red Moon Tide” but indeed so original that it’s proved a breakout in some overseas markets.
“The Teacher Who Promised the Sea,” (“El maestro que prometió el mar,” Patricia Font, Spain)
Another world premiere, the heartrending real-life story of Antoni Benaiges (Enric Auquer, “A Perfect Life”), a Catalan teacher who in 1934 introduced progressive teaching methods to a backward village near Burgos. Laia Costa plays a modern-day woman in search of her great-grandfather in a mass grave. Filmax co-produces and sells.
“The Teacher’s Lounge,” (Ilker Çatak, Germany)
On Be for Films’ sales slate, described by Variety as a “gripping classroom-ethics thriller,” a movie that ticks most of all of the right boxes: an Oscar submission from Germany, a Sony Pictures Classics U.S. pick up, five Lolas, including best picture at the German Film Awards, and Europa Cinemas Label prize in the Berlinale’s Panorama section.
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