Sitges to open with Oriol Paulo's The Body

by Sergio Ríos Pérez

27/06/2012 - Spain and possibly Europe's most important fantastic film event, the Sitges Film Festival, continues to generate confidence in Spanish genre films. Its next edition, to be held from October 4 to 14, will open with a screening of The Body by Oriol Paulo, produced by Joaquín Padró (read the interview) for Rodar y Rodar, the creators of The Orphanage [trailer].

Paulo's feature debut is closer to a noir, detective thriller than to a horror film, according to the film's international sales agent Gorka Bilbao (DeAPlaneta). Production company Rodar y Rodar worked with Antena 3 Films and Sony Pictures on producing the film, and the latter is in charge of the film's distribution in Spain (read more). It's not the first time that the production company has a film opening the Catalan film festival, as Julia's Eyes [trailer] opened the event in 2010.

According to the sales agent at the recent edition of Madrid de Cine - Spanish Films Screenings, after a nine-minute video was shown in Cannes, the film has been sold for France (Bac Films), Korea, China and Venezuela. "We are hoping for more sales in Toronto, where we will show a final cut," he said.

The festival's official selection for its competition includes two other Spanish productions: Painless, Juan Carlos Medina's first film, a thrilling fantastic tale set during the Spanish Civil War (read more), and El bosc by Óscar Aibar, who adapted a story by Albert Sánchez Piñol for the big screen.

Meanwhile, online film portal Filmin will offer internet users the chance to view some the Sitges 2012 films online for a set period of time, starting from the day after their screening at the festival.

To find out more about this year's programme, please visit the festival's official website.

(Translated from Spanish)