Movistar Plus, which backed three Cannes competition titles this year including La Bola Negra, has confirmed its support for film production after recent changes to its management team unsettled the local film industry. The Spanish pay-TV and streaming giant also announced a number of new projects.
Movistar Plus CEO Alfonso Gómez Palacio and content division head Juan Andrés García Ropero talked to the press this week about its film strategy at the San Sebastian film festival.
It coincided with the Spanish premiere of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s La Bola Negra and the news that the film had won the coveted People’s Choice Award at Toronto, boosting its awards season prospects season after winning best director award for Calvo and Ambrossi won in Cannes. The screening came ahead of the film’s release in Spain via Elastica on September 25.
Asked about Movistar Plus’ strategy toward film producing after the departure of Domingo Corral as head of fiction and entertainment in 2025 and further changes in the managing team this year with the appointment of Gómez Palacio and García Ropero, they both insisted that the plan was to maintain the support to the Spanish film industry.
“The DNA of our company hasn’t changed. We are very proud of the work done so we will carry on supporting ambitious projects and quality Spanish cinema”, said CEO Goméz Palacio. “Our policy remains intact and if an auteur project comes to us and we find it interesting we’ll be happy to get involved.”
Alongside La Bola Negra, Movistar Plus also backed Cannes competition titles The Beloved by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Bitter Christmas by Pedro Almodóvar.
Movistar was also behind 2025 Oscar nominated Sirât, by Oliver Laxe, last year’s Golden Shell winner Sundays, by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, and this year’s San Sebastian competition title 5 More Minutes by Javier Ruiz Caldera, as well as series El Castillo (The Castle) in the official selection out of competition.
The list of new projects unveiled yesterday include actor-director Paco León, Sandra Romero and Daniel Monzón’s 250 Metros, starring Luis Tosar; TV series La Náufraga, by Fernando León de Aranoa (The Good Boss) and starring Belén Cuesta; two non-fiction projects produced by JA Bayona; and a series by Moriarti, the creative directing and producing team behind last year’s San Sebastian competition title Maspalomas. The series will star Anna Castillo, Pol López and Eduard Fernández.
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