Five Square Meters and What’s A Bear For? triumph at Malaga
A social drama without a distributor and a comedy that aims to become one of this year’s hits were the top winners at the 14th Malaga Spanish Film Festival, which announced its prize list last Saturday. Despite the drastic cuts to its budget, the Malaga festival remains an essential event for Spanish productions that are not showcased at leading international festivals and its main strength lies in the variety of its line-up, as shown by this year’s winners.
The Golden Biznaga went to Madrid-born director Max Lemcke’s third feature Five Square Meters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Max Lemcke
film profile], which looks at the trials and tribulations of couple Álex (Fernando Tejero, who won Best Actor Award) and Virginia (Malena Alterio), who see their dream house fade away as they become victims of Spain’s current property crisis. The film also picked up Best Screenplay (penned by brothers Pablo and Daniel Remón) and Best Supporting Actor for Jorge Bosch.
Despite the fact that Lemcke’s previous film, Casual Day, received rave reviews, Five Square Meters still has no distributor, although its success at Malaga could change this.
The chemistry between actors Javier Cámara and Gonzalo de Castro is at the heart of the comedy What’s A Bear For? [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the second feature by Tom Fernández, who won Best Director. Like in his debut work, Suso’s Tower [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the landscapes of his native region, Asturias, become a protagonist in their own right in a story with clear environmental overtones.
Produced by Versátil Cinema and Alta Films, the film also took home Best Supporting Actress (Geraldine Chaplin) and Best Editing (Ángel Hernández Zoido).
Finally, the Special Jury Prize went to Catalunya Über Alles! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Ramón Termens and the Audience Award to Friends [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Borja Manso and Marcos Cabotá. Begoña Maestre nabbed Best Actress for her performance in Arriya, and Aaron Schock’s Circus claimed Best Documentary.
(Translated from Spanish)
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