23/08/2011

Although it had been an open secret for months, until early August there was no official confirmation that the cinematic comeback by Bilbao-born director Enrique Urbizu would screen in the Official Selection in competition at the forthcoming edition of the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 16-24), ahead of its release in Spain by Warner Bros on September 23.

Eight years after his previous film, Life Marks (2003), Urbizu returns to film noir, a genre in which he is a reference name in Spanish cinema, with No Rest for the Wicked, produced by Ignacio and Gonzalo Salazar-Simpson (Lazona) and Álvaro Augustín (Telecinco Cinema).

Co-scripted by Urbizu and Michel Gaztambide, the film stars José Coronado in the role of Santos Trinidad, a downcast police inspector who finds himself involved in a shoot-out. As he makes progress in the investigation of the disappearance of a young woman, he discovers that behind the altercation lies a much more dangerous plot than he thought.

“Enrique is a guarantee of many things. We’d waited a long time for him as a director and filmmaker”, said Gonzalo Salazar-Simpson, adding that “one of the keys to the film is the idea of fate, which takes your life in one direction or another. José Coronado’s character comes up against elements of fate which force him to do things that will have consequences for all around him”.

No Rest for the Wicked is sold internationally by Filmax International, which together with its producers decided to kick off the film’s international career at the latest edition of Madrid de Cine – Spanish Film Screenings, where it was shown in buyers-only screenings. According to Salazar-Simpson, their strategy involves “not exploiting the film first in Spain then taking it abroad, but doing this at the same time and ensuring that the box office and festival success here helps boost sales abroad”.

(Translated from Spanish)