Unfinished affairs 2

Source: Latido Films

Unfinished Affairs

The sixth annual Spanish Screenings, taking place within the Málaga Festival Industry Zone from March 21-24, is bigger than ever this year as part of the Spanish government’s plan to revitalise the audio-visual sector as the country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Some 57 feature films are screening to 500 buyers from 53 countries.

“The Spanish government, through ICEX [the Spanish institute for Export and Investment] and the Ministry of Culture through the ICAA [the Spanish Film and Audiovisual Institute], has financially supported Málaga for this XXL edition of the Spanish Screenings,” explains festival director Juan Antonio Vigar. “The idea is  the Spanish Screenings will carry on at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It keeps an ‘on-tour’ format that aims to take the content to the buyers abroad at key markets.”

The Spanish Screenings encompasses various industry strands, including a work-in-progress section, a co-production forum, a Latin American territory focus (this year, Costa Rica) a Spanish territory focus (Valencia) and Hack Málaga, a new digital creators forum aiming to welcome a diversity of formats beyond films and series.

Of the 57 features in the Spanish Screenings, three are in competition at the festival and are market premieres: the political thriller What Lucía Saw, directed by Imanol Uribe; the adaptation of a detective novel set in the Andalucian town of Cadiz: Unfinished Affairs, directed by Juan Miguel del Castillo; and Beyond The Summit, the story of a dramatic ascent in the Himalayas directed by Ibon Cormenzana.

Further industry sidebars include the Neo Screenings, comprised of eight experimental titles; Next from Spain, a selection of trailers of upcoming productions in post-production; a film library of another 30 recent titles already introduced at other markets; the Remake Day, a selection of Spanish films with confirmed or available rights for an international remake (including Girlfriends, My Masterpiece and Champions); a Book Showcase that suggests a list of literary works with available rights for screen adaptations; Animation Day, spotlighting three animation features (Inspector Sun And The Curse Of The Black Widow; Tadand The Curse Of The Mummy and Unicorn Wars) and the Regional Film Hub screenings, a selection of productions financed with the support of Spanish regional governments.

Of the buyers attending around 25% of participants are linked to VoD platforms. The international buyers are mainly from Europe and Latin America but also from the US and Asia. Vigar confirmed Russian companies have been excluded following the invasion of Ukraine.