19/03/2012 - The Málaga Film Festival will open with Winning Streak by Eduard Cortés, with Daniel Brühl, Lluis Homar, and Miguel Ángel Silvestre

Spanish cinema’s main competition, the Málaga Film Festival, has announced the 13 films to compete for its grand prize, the Golden Biznaga. The festival’s 15th edition will be held from April 21 to 28. Over the years, the competition has made a name for itself as an unmissable event in Spanish cinema, despite continuous budget cuts, its initial association to television films, and its closeness to Cannes, a festival that denies access to Spanish productions with even the greatest of international potential.

The competition’s Official Selection this year is, once again, eclectic, with all of animation film, auteur cinema, fake documentaries, romantic comedies, and social dramas. Perhaps the most awaited moment at the festival will be its opening film, Winning Streak [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (photo) by Eduard Cortés about a family of conmen. One of the major attractions of this Loris Omedes production for Alea Docs & Films and Bausan Films is its cast to feature Daniel Brühl, Lluis Homar (Goya award this year for Best Supporting Actor in Eva [+see also:
film review
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film profile]), Miguel Ángel Silvestre, and Blanca Suarez.

One of the most prominent directors of Spanish cinema, Imanol Uribe, is to compete with the political thriller Miel de naranjas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. “Honey of oranges”), set in Andalucía in the 1950s. This story of two lovers in a time of detentions was produced by Enrique González Macho, president of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences. Also in the competition will be Argentinian director Daniel Burman, known for films such as Lost Embrace [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2004), which received the Jury’s Grand Prize at the Berlinale. In Málaga, he will present his romantic comedy La suerte en tus manos (lit. “Luck in your hands”), produced by Tornasol Films and featuring songwriter Jorge Drexler in his debut as an actor.

Also in the selection are A puerta fría (lit. “Door-to-door”) by Catallan director Xavi Puebla, Kanimambo by Hwidar, Carla Subirana, and Adán Aliaga, produced by Eddie Saeta, a company for the most rigorous of auteur films; Memories of My Melancholy Whores [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a co-production by Danish director Henning Carlsen recently presented during the first edition of the Oslo Film Festival; Ali by Francisco R. Baños with echoes of American independent cinema; Wilaya [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Pedro Pérez Rosado, presented in February at the Berlinale; Ana Rodríguez’ first film Looking for Eimish; Els nens salvatges by Patricia Ferreira; The Sex of the Angels by Xavier Villaverde, produced by Pancho Casal, the creator behind crowdsourcing platform Wecoop; the fake documentary Carmina o revienta by Paco León; and the first animation film ever to take part in the festival O apóstolo by Fernando Cortizo.

(Translated from Spanish)