10 Spanish Directors on the Rise
10 exciting Spanish directors to track in 2022:
GABRIEL AZORÍN
“I’m interested in films that move from intimacy to mystery exploring language without being solemn,” says shorts director Azorín (“Greyhounds”). Backed by Spain’s Dvein Films and Filmika Galaika, “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes,” his long-awaited first feature and a friendship tale straddling Roman and modern times, proved a buzz title at Locarno’s 2021 Match Me forum.
VERÓNICA ECHEGUI
Launched as an actor by Bigas Luna in “My Name is La Juani,” the “Trust” and “Fortitude” thesp’s surprising first short “She Wolf Totem” earned her a director Goya. Now she’s writing her feature debut. “I love movies that focus on life aspects that may go unnoticed,” she says citing “Drive my Car,” Michel Gondry and Isabel Coixet.
Related Stories
VIP+Generative AI & Licensing: A Special Report
Amazon Greenlights Kay Scarpetta Series Starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis, Adds Five Cast Members
ANNA FERNÁNDEZ DE PACO
Popular on Variety
A poetic depiction of a couple’s changing flats in Sarajevo, De Paco’s short, “I Didn’t Make it to Love Her” plays Critics’ Week. Studying with Béla Tarr she’s drawn to “films whose narratives leave space for aspects other than story.” Straddling Bosnia and Catalonia, her feature debut track young Bosnians entering the European Union via a final school trip, she says.
CERES MACHADO
The Melilla-born Machado’s shorts “Amateurs” and “Candela” screened at multiple festivals. She’s currently shooting her intimate feature debut “Reflections in a Bedroom,” while producer Antonia Nava is set to back Machado’s gay romantic drama “If Walls Had Ears.” “I want to make films where women have their own voice and portray us from the guts,” she says.
PABLO MAQUEDA
Credits include “Manic Pixie Dream Girl,” doc-feature “Dear Werner” and Filmax’s “Girl Unknown,” where a young girl e-meets Leo, an adult passing himself off as a 16-year-old boy. Next up: Elamedia-produced “Campo de Fiori,” “a tribute to Italian neorealist cinema.” “I’m interested in breaking genre rules from a hyperrealistic viewpoints, provoking viewers,” he says.
JAVIER MARCO
The director of the Emma Suarez-starring “Josefina,” one of San Sebastian’s standout first features last year, Marco pursues “simple, intimate stories where the characters are in command.” His next project, written with longtime collaborator Belén Sánchez-Arévalo, marks a feature spin-off from their short “A la cara,” which earned the duo a Spanish Academy Goya.
ALBERTO MIELGO
An Academy Award animated short winner for “The Windshield Wiper,” Mielgo’s credits also include “The Witness” episode from Netflix’ hit “Love, Death & Robots.” “Animation is just a technique. My big dream is to make a great movie considered just as a picture, independent of technique,” he says. He’s working on two ambitious features.
EVA SAIZ
Saiz’s “Woman Without a Child” scooped up multiple awards at 2019’s Málaga Festival. New short “Magical Thinking,” a first Cannes Focus Script title, forms part of her feature debut, the unusual coming-of-age “Casa de Fieras,” developed at Madrid’s prestigious Incubator lab. “I’m interested in a cinema of disobedience, but far from the paradigms of normal generational conflicts,” she says.
ESTÍBALIZ URRESOLA
Following a women’s choir as they face off with an environmentally unfriendly big corporation, Urresola’s short, “Chords,” plays Cannes Critics’ Week. Urresola is also about to shoot one of Spain’s awaited feature debuts, a project tackling child transgender identity. Urrusola’s hallmark style encompasses “a direct and close cinematographic language, without large artifice,” as she puts it.
AINARA VERA
An editor on Victor Kossakovsky’s “Gunda,” Vera’s first short “Sertres” premiered at Locarno. Playing Cannes ACID showcase, Vera’s first feature, the documentary “Polaris” follows a ship’s captain in the Arctic. “My intention is to capture beauty in reality, provoking viewers not to consume it passively,” she says. She also sayes she’s working on a fiction film “with comedy strokes.”
Read More About:
Jump to CommentsMore from Variety
Nicole Kidman Unable to Accept Venice Acting Prize in Person Due to Mother’s Death: ‘My Heart Is Broken’
Apple Vision Pro Clouds the Bright Future for XR
Emmys Rebound Bolsters 2024 Awards Show Ratings
Most Popular
Luke Bryan Reacts to Beyoncé’s CMA Awards Snub: ‘If You’re Gonna Make Country Albums, Come Into Our World and Be Country With…
Donald Glover Cancels 2024 Childish Gambino Tour Dates After Hospitalization: ‘I Have Surgery Scheduled and Need Time Out to Heal’
‘Joker 2’ Ending: Was That a ‘Dark Knight’ Connection? Explaining What’s Next for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker
‘Love Is Blind' Creator Reveals Why They Didn’t Follow Leo and Brittany After Pods, if They'll Be at Reunion (EXCLUSIVE)
Have We Reached Ryan Murphy Overload?
‘That ’90s Show’ Canceled After Two Seasons on Netflix, Kurtwood Smith Says: ‘We Will Shop the Show’
Rosie O'Donnell on Becoming a 'Big Sister' to the Menendez Brothers, Believes They Could Be Released From Prison in the ‘Next 30 Days’
Dakota Fanning Got Asked ‘Super-Inappropriate Questions’ as a Child Actor Like ‘How Could You Have Any Friends?’ and Can ‘You Avoid Being a Tabloid…
Why Critically Panned ‘Joker 2’ Could Still Be in the Awards Race for Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix
Toxic Fandom: How Hollywood Is Battling Fans Who Are 'Just Out for Blood' — From Social Media Boot Camps to Superfan Focus Groups
Must Read
- Film
COVER | Sebastian Stan Tells All: Becoming Donald Trump and Starring in 2024’s Most Controversial Movie
By Andrew Wallenstein 2 weeks
- TV
Menendez Family Slams Netflix’s ‘Monsters’ as ‘Grotesque’ and ‘Riddled With Mistruths’: ‘The Character Assassination of Erik and Lyke Is Repulsive…
- TV
‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Part 2 to Air on CBS After Paramount Network Debut
- TV
50 Cent Sets Diddy Abuse Allegations Docuseries at Netflix: ‘It’s a Complex Narrative Spanning Decades’ (EXCLUSIVE)
- Shopping
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Sets Digital and Blu-ray/DVD Release Dates
Sign Up for Variety Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Variety Confidential
ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXN%2Bjp%2BgpaVfnLmwrsClZmpoXai9orrIrJ9mnJmnsqTAzquqZqyilrCseZBram5qZ2d%2Bcn%2BO