Huelva Honors ‘Sex and Lucía’ Star Paz Vega, Frames the Energies of Next Gen Latin American, Spanish Cinema

Firmly established as one of Europe's biggest dedicated showcases for movies from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival celebrates its 50th edition with a bang, with a high-caliber main Competition, a new showcase on Spain. Following, some highlights and trends at this year's festival, which runs Nov. 15-23.

Paz Vega : A Director is Born

Paz Vega will accept at Huelva a Premio Luz at this year's opening ceremony. It comes at an opportune time. Known to date as a performer – star of Adam Sandler comedy "Spanglish" and Julio Medem's carnal physiological odyssey "Sex and Lucia" – Vega has just bowed her first feature, the heavily autobiographical "Rita," to upbeat reviews. Major plaudits to not only the central performance of the eponymous Rita, a loveable seven year-old moppet growing up in 1984 working class Seville, but Vega's helming. "Rita' is shot with an exquisite taste for light, framing and point of view," says Spanish newspaper El Pais. "Rita" has begun to rack up major market sales , an uphill challenge for a drama. A director is born.

A Rising Tide: Latin America's Production Build

Back in the day, Huelva had to scrape for a great competition lineup. Now it rolls off both the escalating volume of Latin American and Spanish movie production as Latin America has built film schools and passed film laws from the early 2000s. Latin America produced 179 features in 2003, 746 in 2023, according to Omdia. Huelva received 1,600 submissions this year, up from just over 1,000 in 2016, Huelva Festival Director Manuel H. Martín tells Variety. Films need festivals more than ever as marketing springboards. But festival slots are limited, Martín notes. If Huelva didn't exist, somebody would invent it.

Cannes, Venice, Berlin, SXSW, Tribeca Winners at Huelva

Eight of the 13 Huelva Competition titles this year were selected for either Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, Tribeca or SXSW. More to the point, five won silverware, led by Audience Awards for "Bionico's Bachata" at SXSW and "Memories of a Burning Body" at Berlin, a Nora Ephron Award for "Don't You Let Me Go" and Venice Days' Best Director plaudit for "Manas." "Audiences rate the films. We're getting very high marks," says Martín.

A Window Onto Latin American Cinema

Huelva's main Competition also takes the pulse of current Latin American filmmaking. Titles vary in genre, auteurist viewpoints and themes, Martín notes. A few common threads hold the selection together. Five of its 13 titles have a thriller edge, a trend which dates back to "The Secret in Their Eyes," Juan José Campanella's influential Oscar winner, Martín suggests. Nearly all are social issue movies, though the issues range from the emotional toll of activism or revenge, class dynamics, escape from patriarchy and sexual abuse, or belated freedom, intolerance and political makeover. Above all, nine movies in the lineup are first or second features. "We're very happy to be one of the points of departure for many directors with long careers," says Martín.

Framing Spain

In its major innovation this year, Huelva has added a section Acento, framing a clutch of the most exciting Spanish movies of the year, if Variety is any judge. Making the cut is Albert Serra 's San Sebastián's 2024 Golden Shell winner "Afternoons of Solitude," highly appreciated by the international press, and "They Will Be Dust," Carlos Marques-Marcet's spirited euthanasia drama which won Toronto's biggest trophy, its Platform Award. "La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortes," a portrait of the rising star on Spain's flamenco scene, merited a special mention at San Sebastian's New Directors.

Buzz Titles

Variety called "Afternoons of Solitude" "extraordinary" and "a major work from a richly maturing filmmaker," while describing Huelva Competition title "Igualada" as a "stirring, behind-the-scenes documentary," and "Linda" the "best kind of thriller, one that forces its audience to maintain rapt attention." Currying bullish word of mouth on its San Sebastian bow, "La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortes," the debut film of Antón Alvarez, better known as singer-songwriter C. Tangana , has dazzling set-pieces but it's in his narrative teasing out of Cortés' most profound sense of tragedy, that he really shows his narrative chops.

Gender Pivot

Only one woman director won Huelva's top Golden Columbus in its first 42 years: Beatriz Flores' Silva in 2001 with "This Tricky Life" ("En la puta vida"), a blockbuster in Uruguay. Since 2017, films by a woman director, directors or co-director have won six out of seven years at Huelva. Nearly 50% of Huelva's lineup this year is directed by women, says Martín. "We've been implementing [the move towards genre parity] little by little, not only in programming but hiring staff," he adds.

Maybe the biggest Spanish film of the year, "Los Tigres," from Seville's Alberto Rodríguez, is set and shot in Huelva. As its own production power, Andalusia is an increasingly potent fiction force. Talento Andaluz, a Huelva fest section, frames its documentarians. A historical mystery feature, MLK Producciones/RTVE's "Tierra de Atlantes," explores the reality of Phoenician civilization Tartessos. "Fandango" mixes live performance and archival footage to capture the legacy of Huelva-based flamenco fandango."Francisco De Saavedra, Puño y Letra de la Historia," from Mundo Ficciones/RTVE, portrays a key figure of Spain's frustrated Enlightenment; Atin Aya," portrays the shutterbug whose photos of Guadalquivir backwaters helped inspire Rodríguez's "Marshland."

Huelva's Strategic Timing

One of Spain's last big festivals of the year, Huelva also takes place just over two weeks before Ventana Sur, Latin America's biggest film market. Nearly all competition players have sales agents. Most will attend Ventana Sur. A big prize at Huelva won't make a sales deal. But it's one more bonus as sellers battle to snag buys in a fast evolving Latin American distribution market, no longer dominated by global streamer pan-regional pick-ups. "Our main aim is to aid these films diffusion. If we help them travel further, that's great," says Martín.

Dominican Republic Focus

Rolling off a framework pact signed at the 2022 Cannes Festival with Dominican state agency DGCine, Huelva will present three projects from its Film Residency Program. La Voz Dominicana," the first fiction feature from admired documentarian Óliver Olivo ("Yaque") charts how in a coup d'état, a group of revolutionaries force a producer to falsify history. A hybrid doc, Mariú Benzo's "De Qué Hablamos Cuando Hablamos de Lipo..." captures a cineaste from a family of doctors shooting a playful documentary on plastic surgery. "Historias de Autobús" frames six separate stories, ranging from a thriller to drama to suspense, all taking part on a bus. Luis Ignacio Rodríguez, part of Malaga Talent, directs.