22/04/2015 - A Perfect Day, starring Tim Robbins and Benicio del Toro, has been selected to take part in the Directors’ Fortnight

The Cannes Film Festival had been evading Fernando León de Aranoa. His films have been paraded through myriad international festivals... apart from the French one. The 2015 edition will serve to redeem him “with responsibility and pride”, in his words. His latest movie – self-funded through his production outfit, Reposado Producciones, and with backing from Mediapro, Canal+, TV3, Telecable, Orange and TVE – is entitled A Perfect Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando León de Aranoa
film profile] and boasts the elements necessary to kick off his international career from the Croisette, “the most important avenue for the film industry and a wonderful showcase”, he said gleefully after finding out that he had been selected. The multinational cast comprises Tim Robbins, Benicio del Toro, Olga Kurylenko, Mélanie Thierry, Ben Temple and Catalan actor Sergi López.

A Perfect Day was shot last year in Granada and is, as Aranoa himself has declared, a drama in which there is no lack of comic ingredients, in particular those arising from the dialogue, that great secret weapon of the Madrilenian’s cinema. It tells the story of the situation that a number of international voluntary workers in a conflict zone find themselves in, complete with the dangers they face from the surroundings, from each other and from themselves.

The movie, an adaptation of a novel by Paula Farias entitled Dejarse llover, and directed by the person behind Mondays in the Sun [+see also:
trailer
film profile], will be released in Spain on 28 August, distributed by Universal Pictures International Spain. WestEnd Films is in charge of its international sales, while the rights for France have been acquired by TF1.

However, this famous 46-year-old filmmaker will not be Spain’s only representative at the Fortnight: Pueblo, a short film by Elena López Riera, a member of the lacasinegra collective, has also been selected. This semi-documentary work portrays the impact felt by a person when they return to their homeland after spending a long time away; her project won an award at the Seville European Film Festival.

(Translated from Spanish)