EXCLUSIVE: Spanish filmmaker Ian de la Rosa’s Berlin Panorama title Iván & Hadoum has been acquired for sales by Paris-based Indie Sales.
Shot and set in the filmmaker’s native Almería region in southern Spain, Iván & Hadoum centres on a man working in a greenhouse who falls for his newly hired Moroccan-Spanish co-worker. Their relationship is tested when he gets a long-awaited promotion.
First-time actors Silver Chicón and Herminia Loh (known as music artist restinga) star as the titular Ivan and Hadoum.
De la Rosa has stood out with several short films, including Victor XX, which won the CInefondation award in Cannes and went on to play at more than 60 festivals, and the Goya-nominated and Gaudí-winning Farrucas.
He also served as screenwriter for HBO series Veneno and as a director of its spin-off Vestidas De Azul.
Iván & Hadoum is his debut feature. The project won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at Berlin’s Co-Production Market in 2023.
The film is produced by Spain’s Avalon, which has credits including Carla Simon’s Alcarràs and Summer 1993, and will release the film in Spain.
“We cannot imagine a better platform than Panorama to present this powerful love story to the world, now more than ever, in a world that increasingly seems to be shaped by hatred,” said Avalon producers Stefan Schmitz and Emilia Fort.
Co-producers are Spain’s Pecado Films and Vayolet Films, Germany’s Port-au-Prince Films, which will release the film in Germany, and Belgium’s Saga Film.
Núria Palenzuela, head of festivals at Indie Sales, described de la Rosa as “a strong new voice in contemporary Spanish cinema”.
“We were drawn to the project by the way Ian de la Rosa explores the desire for the beloved body with intimacy and boldness, brought to life by wonderful, deeply affecting performance,” she added.
Indie Sales’ EFM slate will also include Rachel Lang’s spy thriller Mata, Marc Fitoussi’s comedy All About Corinne starring Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain and Diane Kruger, and Gabriel Osorio’s animation Brave Cat.
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