20/10/2010

Buried [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Cortés
film profile] was another major winner at the Sitges Festival, even though it had its festival premiere eight months ago (at Sundance). Crowning an excellent year, the film won the Golden Méliès Prize for Best European Fantasy Film of the Year, awarded annually by the European Fantasy Film Festivals Federation.

The second feature by Galician director Rodrigo Cortés thus follows in the footsteps of French production Martyrs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2009), Sweden’s Let the Right One In (2008) and Denmark’s Adam’s Apples (2006).

Moreover, after three weeks on release in Spain, Buried has grossed €1.86m in takings. This is an outstanding result considering the film’s limited release (199 prints) and, above all, its unusual characteristics, for it is set entirely in a coffin, where a US civilian contractor (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself buried. Although swathes of critics have been impressed by the director’s skill at keeping up the tension with so few elements, there is no doubt it will be difficult for the film to connect with a mainstream audience.

However, thanks to the intelligent production and promotional approach (Cortés claimed, half-jokingly, half-seriously, that he has actually shot the US remake to his film), Buried has become the biggest Spanish release in history (4,000 prints worldwide).

This success has helped Cortés secure Robert de Niro and Sigourney Weaver for the cast of his next film, Red Lights, which will also be produced by Versus Entertainment (this time in collaboration with US company Parlay Films and South Korea’s CSE Entertainment and Blue Storm Prods) and has received screenplay development funding from the ICAA.

(Translated from Spanish)