First, on Saturday night, Spaniard Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved,” starring Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo, scored some of the best reviews of any competition title to date this year at the Cannes Film Festival.
One evening later, on May 17, a long line formed around the corner of Cannes’ Olympia theater for the sold out Where Talent Ignites – Stories Travel Further showcase, celebrating Spain’s breakout onto the international stage in cinema, embodied by Sorogoyen. There was a palpable, buzzy atmosphere in the room as the success of Spanish cinema at the French fete this year was brought up on stage.
The 90-minute unveil also highlighted further international breakout talent and stage-centered other Spanish creative industries – dance, fashion and design – world premiering three new short films from Berlin Golden Bear winner Carla Simon (“Alcarràs), Rosalía music vid director Nicolás Méndez and flamenco guitarist Yerai Cortés, who scored Turbo‘s nearly seven-minute piece “La Tarara” by creative duo Turbo, comprised of Pau López and Gerardo del Hierro.
“Flamenco,” from Simón, follows Rocío, who returns to her Ebro Delta home to attend her mother’s funeral. “La Tarara,” Mendez’s first fiction piece after directing Rosalia’s extraordinary music vid “Berghain,” turns on Carmen (Ingrid García Jonsson), brainy but socially tongue-tied, whose sister works in fashion. He moves into her sister’s flat to take care of her obstreperous nephew when sis takes off for a week. An animated short, “La Llama” presents a fast-paced vision of more than a century of Spanish design and architecture.
