SALES Spain
Operación E spearheads DeAPlaneta International’s line-up
by Sergio Ríos Pérez
29/06/2012 - Spanish-French co-production Operación E, directed by Miguel Courtois, is spearheading Spanish international sales agency DeAPlaneta’s line-up, whose sales manager Gorka Bilbao presented the film for the first time in Cannes and recently at the Madrid de Cine.
Made on a budget of €3.5m, this political drama, based on a true story, is set in Colombia, where it was entirely shot. It tells the story of the political conflict between the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the Colombian government. The film stars Luis Tosar and Martina García.
Co-produced by Spanish production companies Tormenta Films and Zircozine as well as French production company A.J.O.Z. Films, the film is set to be released in Spain on September 28 by DeAPlaneta and in France on November 7 by Luc Besson’s company, EuropaCorp. According to Bilbao, he is currently looking to find the film a spot in the second half of the year’s film festival circuit.
DeAPlaneta has already found a spot for another of its great hopes, Oriol Paulo’s feature debut El cuerpo set to open the next Sitges Film Festival (read more). This thriller, produced by the Barcelona-based Rodar y Rodar, has been acquired in France (Bac Films), as well as South Korea, China and Venezuela, as a result of a nine-minute promotional video screened in Cannes and Madrid. A final cut of the film will be screened in Toronto.
Among increasingly reduced sources of funding for films in Spain, pre-sales stand out as one of the more viable options. To give them impulse, Bilbao says that producers should approach the agency “when they have a screenplay, because, even if the film is not easily pre-sellable, getting it out on the market and telling buyers about it is perfect for sales. The whole pre-sale process, even if there is no pre-sale, is a way of confronting the film with the market.”
DeAPlaneta’s catalogue also features two comedies (Fuga de cerebros 2 [trailer] by Carlos Therón and Lo contrario al amor [trailer] by Vicente Villanueva) and a horror film (Callejón by Antonio Trashorras).
(Translated from Spanish)
