Spanish director Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s latest film, The Birthday Party, is set to be presented at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) (13-19 February). Represented jointly by Bankside Films and Heretic, the project will be shown off to potential buyers during the event. Starring four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe, the film boasts an impressive ensemble cast and is currently in post-production.

Set on an exclusive Mediterranean island in the late 1970s, The Birthday Party follows Marcos Timoleon, a powerful, Onassis-like tycoon portrayed by Dafoe, who hosts an extravagant birthday celebration for his daughter, Sofia. Marcos, accustomed to controlling everyone and everything around him, has a hidden agenda for the evening, planning a life-altering decision on Sofia's behalf. As the night unfolds and the festivities spiral into decadence, Sofia reveals news that challenges her father's authority. The gathering of guests – each with their own motives – adds to the tension, leading to an explosive confrontation that shatters familial bonds and exposes deep-seated rifts.

Led by Dafoe, in his second collaboration with Heretic after Inside [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Vasilis Katsoupis, the film's cast includes two-time Goya-winning Spanish actress Emma Suárez (Julieta [+lire aussi :
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Q&A : Pedro Almodovar
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interview : Peter Flinth
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interview : Magnus von Horn
fiche film]). Additional supporting roles are filled by Christos Stergioglou, Carlos Cuevas, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Francesc Garrido, Maria Pau Pigem, Pelle Heikkilä and Elsa Lekkakou.

The Birthday Party, primarily shot on location on Corfu and in Athens, is written and directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez, with co-writing credits attributed to Giorgos Karnavas and Nicos Panayotopoulos. The screenplay is adapted from Panos Karnezis's novel of the same name. Jiménez is known for his previous work on the San Sebastián-premiered Window to the Sea [+lire aussi :
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interview : Miguel Ángel Jiménez
fiche film], which Suárez also starred in, and which was co-produced by Heretic and was also shot in Greece, along with Seagull [+lire aussi :
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The Birthday Party is a co-production involving Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK. The producing team is led by Giorgos Karnavas, of Heretic, and the co-producers include Adria Mones for Fasten Films, Erik Glijnis and Leontine Petit for Lemming Film, and Kurban Kassam for Raucous Pictures. The production received financial support from the Greek Film Centre, ICEC, the Netherlands Film Fund and the BFI’s Global Screen Fund. Additional backing came from EKOME, ERT, Kalamata Films, Eolo Films, Hopeless Romantic, Osmyx Film Clinic and Frontstage Entertainment.