The distributor plans to release the Iciar Bollan’s drama, which has been shortlisted to represent Spain at the Oscars, on January 7

Independent distributor Alta Films has picked up Spanish theatrical rights to multi award-winning director Iciar Bollain’s new drama Even The Rain from Wild Bunch.

The film, which world premieres at Toronto tonight (September 16), stars Gael Garcia Bernal (pictured) as a director who goes to Bolivia to make a film about Christopher Columbus’s controversial arrival in the Americas, but gets caught up in the modern day troubles of the privatization of water.

Spanish actor Luis Tosar also stars in the film, which is written by Paul Laverty (The Wind That Shakes The Barley), produced by Morena Films (Cell 211, Che: Parts 1 and 2).

Even The Rain will open the Valladolid Film Festival in October and is one of three films shortlisted to represent Spain for the foreign language Oscar, alongside Daniel Monzon’s prison drama Cell 211 and Andrucha Waddington’s historical romantic epic Lope.

Alta Films will release Even The Rain in Spanish theatres on January 7.