The Spanish Film Festival of Malaga is set to pay tribute to director-producer Jose Luis Cuerda and actor Adolfo Marsillach at its fifth annual edition, to be held a month earlier than usual this year (April 26 to May 4).

Acclaimed director of 1999's Butterfly (La Lengua De Las Mariposas) and 1987's The Enchanted Forest (El Bosque Animado), Cuerda is also known internationally as the producer who discovered director Alejandro Amenabar. Cuerda backed Amenabar's Thesis, Open Your Eyes and most recently The Others.

Marsillach, who passed away earlier this year, was a veteran stage and cinema actor. In 1959 he won a best actor award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for his work in Leon Klimowsky's Salto A La Gloria. More recently, Marshillach had acted as director of the Spanish Theater, Spain's National Dramatic Center and the National Classic Theater Company.

The Malaga event this year will inaugurate a Market Screenings mini-market for all new Spanish productions. The Screenings will run May 2-4 following the festival's existing documentary market, Mercadoc, April 28-30.