14/10/2025 - Franka Potente and Sophie Cookson topline the thriller that was shot this summer, produced by German outfit augenschein and Spain’s Volcano Films

The Hive, the third feature directed by Martín Rosete, boasts a cast led by German actor Franka Potente (who broke through in 1998 with Run Lola Run, appeared in titles such as The Bourne Identity and, more recently, Muse [+see also:
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interview: Franka Potente
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The plot - penned by Gabriel Dowrick, George Nicholis, Ben Phelps and Gemma Ventura - takes viewers inside the Hive, a high-tech counter-terrorism unit tasked with neutralising threats. With a political summit about to be held in Tenerife, Commander Kate McKenzie (played by Franka Potente), known for her ruthless, no-nonsense methods, needs an insider with knowledge of a dangerous terrorist group posing a constant risk. Undercover agent María Gómez (Sophie Cookson) arrives at the Hive on the eve of the summit, just as a bomb explodes in the city centre, accompanied by a warning: a senior UN executive will be killed in 90 minutes. McKenzie then mobilises her elite team: the hunt has begun, and María may prove pivotal.

Rounding off the international cast are Jamie Bamber (the series Battlestar Galactica and Law & Order: UK), Adam Pålsson (Beware of Children [+see also:
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Shot in July and August, the film is currently in post-production, with its release date to be confirmed. Various Tenerife locations play a key role, including the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz, the Faculty of Fine Arts in La Laguna, the natural landscape of La Esperanza and the former Tabacalera in Santa Cruz, which doubles as the story’s operations centre. After filming on the island, production moved to Cologne (Germany) to wrap the shoot.

“This display of expertise, commitment and creative leadership from the Canary Islands is redefining the role of local production companies and helping to structure the sector in a more organic, comprehensive way, starting from this very place,” says Sebastián Álvarez, executive producer at Canary-based Volcano Films. “With The Hive, we are making a qualitative leap: we’re no longer just talking about attracting shoots with incentives, but also about consolidating our own industry with international reach,” he adds.

Martín Rosete was nominated for a Goya in 2013 and won the Méliès d’Or at Sitges for his short Voice Over. He has worked in New York for more than a decade, directing films and adverts. His two previous features are Money (2016) and Remember Me [+see also:
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interview: Martín Rosete
film profile] (2019).

The Hive is being produced by Maximilian Leo, Scott Veltri, Jack Heller, Georgia Poivre and Jonas Katzenstein for Germany’s augenschein Filmproduktion and by Sebastián Álvarez for Volcano Films, in association with Tower Way, Assemble Media and ZDF. The project is supported by Film und Medienstiftung NRW and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). Its international sales are handled by London-based agency Architect.

(Translated from Spanish)