Films From Carla Simon, óliver Laxe, Jaime Rosales Feature in Our First Look at the Buzziest Catalan Titles Coming in 2025
Catalan films have impressed at festivals and awards ceremonies around the world for years now as the region continues to punch far above its weight in the screen industries. As the fall festival season transitions into awards season, we wanted to take a look at the buzziest Catalan titles set to make their debut sometime next year.
Carla Simon, among the most exciting young filmmakers working in Europe today, will return with her fourth feature, “Romeria,” which is shooting now. The film tells the story of Marina, who travels to Vigo in the northwest of Spain to meet her biological father’s family after he dies of AIDS. The film is particularly close to Simon, who lost her parents to the disease when she was only six years old.
More from Variety
óliver Laxe made headlines when his next production, “After,” was unveiled in January with Pedro Almodóvar’s El Deseo producing alongside Los Desertores Films and Uri Films. Shooting in Spain and Morocco, the film turns on a man and his son who arrive at a rave lost in the middle of what are described as the arid and ghostly mountains of southern Morocco. They are looking for Marina, the man’s daughter and boy’s sister, who disappeared months ago at another rave.
Isabel Coixet, one of the region’s most decorated filmmakers, is working on her next project, Penelope Cruz starer “The Days of Abandonment,” based on Elena Ferrante’s Italian novel of the same name. The film is produced by Lotus Production, Leone Film Group and Cruz’s Moonlyon with The Mediapro Studio and Nimoa Entertainment.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Borja Cobeaga (2007 short “One Too Many”) is in post on his upcoming comedy “Loa aitas.” The ’80s-set comedy follows a group of clueless dads who accompany their daughters’ gymnastics team to a competition in Berlin when the girls’ mothers can’t make the trip. Inicia Films, Sayaka Producciones, BTeam Prods and Despadres produce.
Cesc Gay, one of the region’s most sure box office bets, is in post-production on “My Friend Eva,” produced by recent Oscar-nominated studio Arcadia Motion Pictures (“Robot Dreams”), La Tentación Producciones, Galatea Films and Fidéle Production. Set against the backdrops of Barcelona and Rome, the romantic comedy headlines local stars Nora Navas (“Libertad”) Juan Diego Botto (“The Suicide Squad”) and Rodrigo de la Serna (“Money Heist”).
Cannes regular Jaime Rosales’s “Morlaix” is finished and a sure bet to debut soon. Sold by A Contracorriente Films and produced by Fresdeval Films, Iwaso Films and Les Productions Balthazar, the France-Spain co-production is a coming-of-age film about a girl who sees a film that seems inexplicably inspired by her own life and the recent loss of her mother.
Other promising titles from established Catalan filmmakers include “La Gang,” the latest from “Chavalas” director Carol Rodríguez; “Caro Nanni” from “Dear Werner” director Pablo Maqueda; “Wolfgang (Extraordinary)” from “Three Many Weddings” director Javier Ruiz Caldera and “Emergency Exit” from Catalan super-producer and Gaudi-nominated filmmaker Luis Mi?arro (“Falling Star”).
As eye-catching as the 2025 slate of films from consecrated Catalan filmmakers is, the number of titles that will come from first-time feature directors is equally impressive. We’re tracking around 25 features that we expect to bow in 2025, although the number will surely go up, and 11 of them will be debuts.
After impressing at the Residència Guions Acadèmia Cinema Català incubator in 2022 and 2023 and Rome’s MIA Market and Spanish Screenings at Ventana Sur last year, Jaume Claret Muxart’s “Estrany riu” is shooting now. The film tells the story of 15-year-old Didac as he and his family travel by bicycle along the Danube River, perhaps the last such trip the boy will share with his family.
In Lucía Ale?ar’s “Forastera,” young Catalina has her family’s holidays ruined by the absurd and violent death of her grandmother. Mourning, the girl dons her grandmother’s clothes, opening the door to a phantasmagorical world that will place the girl in her grandmother’s shoes.
“Sorda,” which translates to “Deaf,” comes from Eva Libertad and tells the story of a pregnant deaf woman and her hearing partner who fall into crisis as they face the challenge of raising a child in an unaccommodating world. The feature is based on Libertad’s 2023 short of the same name, which was nominated for a Spanish Academy Goya Award and screened in festivals around the world.
Other promising debuts on the horizon include Iván Morales’ “Join Me for Breakfast,” Gerard Oms’ “Away,” Claudia Estrada Tarascó’s “Salen las Lobas,” Irene Bartolomé’s “Dream of Another Summer,” Miguel Santesmares’ “Dismantling an Elephant,” and Victor Diago’s “Downriver, a Tiger” – a winning work in progress at Locarno – and Eloy Calvo with his hybrid live-action/animation feature “The Van.”
Catalonia’s animation industry has been booming in recent years, capped off with an Oscar nomination for Arcadia Films-produced “Robot Dreams” and several successful commercial films in Spain and across Europe. That trend looks likely to continue in 2025, with films such as “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake,” “La Luz de Aisha” and “The Treasure of Barracuda” all nearing completion.
“The Treasure of Barracuda” and “The Light of Aisha” both turned heads at the Marché du Film in May after being picked up by Catalan sales agent powerhouse Filmax. “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake,” the first-ever Catalan stop-motion feature, made a huge impression during an Annecy Work in Progress session in June.
Catalan TV production is making similar waves in the premium series market. Hugely popular actor Leticia Dolera (“[REC] 3: Genesis,” “Perfect Life”) will continue her directing career with the series “Puberty,” about a case of alleged abuse among teenagers that asks if a 13-year-old can be a sexual offender and if not, who should be held responsible for their actions? Distinto Films, Corte y Confección de Películas and Uri Films produce for Max.
Catalonia boasts an impressive breadth of projects, both in style and format, that should debut in 2025 and continue the incredible momentum that the diminutive region has built in recent years on the festival and awards circuit, at the box office and on TV and streaming platforms.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
