In recent days, one of the best pieces of news for Spanish cinema in the last year has emerged: Arantxa Echevarría’s debut feature, Carmen y Lola, has been selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Shortly afterwards, the awards were announced at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival, where the awards for Best … Read more
These past few weeks, I haven’t stopped hearing good news for debut features and films by new directors. Alongside the theatrical success of Summer 1993, by Carla Simón, and the announcement of the Netflix premiere of Amar: With You, by Esteban Crespo at the end of August, we have learned of the … Read more
This past weekend, Carla Simón’s feature film Summer 1993 won the prestigious Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale. This is great news for Spanish cinema and for the film’s trajectory, as well as, of course, for its director. Carla Simón is the first Spanish female director to receive this award. Achieving … Read more
Last week I was at the Seville European Film Festival, where several Spanish feature films premiere, many of them by new directors. Since I reviewed festivals dedicated to first films in Spain in August, I had been meaning to do the same with international festivals in this segment. I believe this is … Read more
A first feature film is very important for a new director, as a film career can depend heavily on the success of the first film. In this regard, it should be borne in mind that there are specific ICAA grants for new directors and a whole international circuit of debut-feature festivals, so … Read more