Adrià Monés is having a busy 2026. The Barcelona-based producer, founder and CEO of Fasten Films co-produced three titles selected for Cannes in May.
The End Of It was UK-based Catalan director Maria Martinez Bayona’s debut feature, produced with the UK’s Elation Pictures and Norway’s Eye Eye Pictures. It starred Rebecca Hall, and screened in Cannes Premiere. Laïla Marrakchi’s Strawberries was a Spain-France-Morocco-Belgium co-production that premiered in Un Certain Regard. And documentary Rehearsals For A Revolution by Iran’s Pegah Ahangarani screened in Special Screenings and won the festival’s L’Œil d’Or documentary prize.
Monés started Fasten in his early twenties to make a short film, and the company remained dormant while he worked for established companies, first Canal+ Spain and later Filmax. He reignited Fasten about 10 years ago with a team of three, which has since expanded to 18.
Fasten is developing a wide slate of projects including the next as-yet-undisclosed film by Ahangarani, as well as Martinez Bayona’s The First Witch, Nely Reguera’s Teresa Up In Arms and Mar Coll’s Dasha. It is also working on original projects for the US streamers and a TV series for Catalan television.
What is your office like?
Our office is in Barcelona, in an area called Poblenou, which used to be full of workshops, factories and warehouses. A lot of film production companies and creative industries have moved there. I love that it’s close to the sea and it’s bicycle-friendly. We have an editing room, a kitchen with a bar in the shape of an F for Fasten, and walls covered with posters of our films.
What is your morning routine?
I have a coffee, prepare my seven-year-old son’s breakfast and then take him to school on my bike. En route, I try to soak up his energy, curiosity, enthusiasm and tenderness to fuel me for the day.
What was your first job in the film industry?
I started working in acquisitions for Canal+ Spain, soon after finishing my master’s degree.
What mentors have you had throughout your career?
Producer Fernando Bovaira was very inspiring. I liked his approach to Spanish cinema made with an international scope, like Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others. I also learned a lot from Jacques Roldan [director of cinema at Canal+], who gave me a clear understanding of how the industry works.
What is the biggest challenge facing the film industry today?
The challenge in Spain is to get a regular flow of audiences to theatres for Spanish and European independent, quality films, particularly young people. From an international point of view, the challenge is to stand out in a saturated market. It’s a joy when you manage it, like with Rehearsals For A Revolution, a small documentary made from home movies, which premiered at Cannes and now has theatrical distribution in many territories including the US via Sony Pictures Classics.
What is your favourite festival?
Cannes, a unique experience for discovering films, meeting people and launching films internationally. The other one is Sitges. I started going there as a kid with my friends and it feels like home. Once, while attending the Zombie Parade in full scary regalia, I came across a girl I liked, it was so embarrassing. Later on, I remember going out for drinks with a bunch of people from the festival and Quentin Tarantino. He defeated us all in a shots contest.
What was your favourite film growing up?
I would go to a video rental shop with my brother and stock up on films, from Back To The Future to The Untouchables. My first memory of the cinema is watching The Goonies when I was very small, and loving the feeling of embarking on a big adventure.
What would you do if you didn’t work in the industry?
A gardener or landscaper. I get into trouble with Fasten’s financial director for buying too many plants for the office.
What book are you reading?
Childish Literature by Chilean poet and novelist Alejandro Zambra, which is about the joys of fatherhood. And Chaves Nogales’s biography of bullfighter Juan Belmonte. I am used to reading several books at the same time because I’m the son of divorced parents and I would have a book at both parents’ homes.
Who would play you in a biopic of your life and who would direct?
If death is not an obstacle, Luis Garcia Berlanga would direct it. Among the living, Simon Mesa Soto. I love A Poet and can’t wait to work with him. And to play me, let’s dream big: Javier Bardem or Steve Carell.
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