10 Emerging Spanish Producers to Watch

Spanish cinema boasts an incredible depth of filmmaking and producing talent that is increasingly based outside the traditional centers of Madrid and Barcelona. Below, we highlight ten of the most promising Spanish producers from across the Iberian peninsula worth keeping a keen eye on.

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Eva Bodas, Entre las piedras (Madrid)

A graduate of Madrid’s ECAM, where she is still involved with the espirituescalera film collective, Bodas founded her own production company, Entre las piedras, in 2022. Projects at the label include Antonio Llamas’s short film “La insurrección que viene” and Jorge Cantos’ “Los olvidados.” Several of the label’s titles have participated in markets at the Berlinale, Cannes and Busan, among other top international forums. The company’s first feature, “A Suburban Mythology” from directors Antonio Llamas, Alejandro Pérez Castellanos and Jorge Rojas, will hit Spanish theaters later this year. Bodas tells Variety she launched Entre las piedras because she “felt the impulse to make bold films, believing in new generations who have great talent to showcase.” She says she’s most interested in creating political cinema with a magical component that is committed to expanding the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction.

Charli Bujosa Cortés, Mansalva Films (Madrid)

By their own account, Spain’s only trans-non-binary producer is Mallorca-born Charli Bujosa. After studying law in Berlin, Bujosa returned to Madrid and changed career paths to study cinema instead. They received diplomas in editing and documentary film, and in 2019, released “Bubota,” their first film as a director and producer. In 2021, Bujosa co-founded the live-action/stop-motion-focused Mansalva Films with David Castro. Last year, Mansalva’s first feature, “A Landscaped Area Too Quiet For Me,” won prizes at DocsLisboa and DocumentaMadid, and the company’s latest animated short, “Toda Está Perdido” was nominated for a Spanish Academy Goya Award. “I believe in films that I like to call ‘non-binary’; films that can be bigger or smaller and shorter or longer, but are a gesture that extends a hand to whoever wants to grab it. Films that care about being themselves more than the genre assigned to them.”

Jesús Choya Zataraín, Sincio de Pelis (Cantabria, Madrid)

A 2020 graduate of Madrid’s ECAM, Jesús Choya Zataraín has worked at Marisa Fernández Armenteros’ Buenapinta Media since 2021. During that time, he also founded Cantabria’s Sincio de Pelis, racking up credits on Spanish standouts including Alauda Ruiz de Azua’s “Lullaby,” Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor” and Guillermo García Lopez’s upcoming “Ciudad sin sueño.” At the 2022 Malaga Film Festival, two Choya-produced shorts were featured, and he was recognized as a Málaga Talent. At 25, Choya is most interested in telling stories that are relatable to younger audiences and ones “that look at the blind spots of our daily lives, even when it’s uncomfortable. As a young producer from a region with little production, I want to give young voices an opportunity to tell their stories.”

Carlota Darnell, Cornelius Films (Barcelona)

A Barcelona native, Darnell is a junior executive producer at Cornelius Films. Her first producer credit came on Elena Ballvé Martín and Alex Gantzer’s short “The Things That Keep Us Apart,” which debuted at the Malaga Film Festival in 2021. In 2023, her first feature, “Negu Hurbilak,” won a Jury Special Mention at Locarno, where she returns this year as part of the Match Me! sidebar for new and emerging producers. She tells Variety that she’s most interested in producing films that leave the viewer with more questions than answers. Agnostic when it comes to format and genre, Darnell is most interested in telling stories that “emphasize the sensitivity of their creators and have the potential to appeal to an international audience.”

Laura Egidos Plaja, Contraria (Barcelona)

A former employee of leading Catalan production and sales outfit Film Factory, Egidos has worked on big-name Spanish titles such as J.A. Bayona’s Oscar nominee, “Society of the Snow.” She is also co-founder of Contraria, where she is financing a pair of debut features: Jordí López Navarro’s “The Day After” and Alberto Gross Molo’s “March 14.” Egidos recently participated in the Rotterdam Lab and will be at this year’s Match Me! in Locarno. “I produce independent, auteur films with commercial potential to reach audiences,” she tells Variety , adding, “I don’t look for a specific genre or topic, but for the message of the stories to have an impact on the audience and make them reflect on a topic that I consider important or that matters to me. I like thought-provoking content.”

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Alvaro Garcia, Hampa Studio (Valencia)

Based in Valencia, Garcia is a producer-creator who began his career in the U.K. at Enlightenment Productions and later returned to Spain as a production and marketing assistant at Telecinco Cinema. There, he worked on some of Spain’s biggest features of the time, including J.A. Bayona’s “A Monster Calls,” Álex de la Iglesia’s “Perfect Strangers” and “Tad, the Lost Explorer,” Spain’s highest-grossing original animated franchise. In 2020, he landed at Valencia-based animation outfit Hampa Studio, where he is in charge of development and executive production for the label. Garcia says he wants to make films that “connect with a big audience, have a strong identity as an IP, create a powerful world and tell a great story.” Garcia’s current animated feature project, “Girl and Wolf,” from director and graphic novelist Roc Espinet, certainly fits that bill.

Sara Gómez, La Claqueta (Seville)

A University of Navarra communications graduate, Gómez works for the Andalusian production outfit La Claqueta, where she served as executive producer on Rocía Mesa’s SXSW Audience Award-winner “Tabacco Barns” and Patricia Oretega’s Sundance competition player “Mamacruz.” Her debut feature as producer, Belén Funes’ “Los Tortuga,” will world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Gómez is driven to produce family films and comedies and wants to work on stories for and about women of all ages. “Now that I’m a mother, I’m more concerned about education and would like to tell stories that teach our daughters about how valuable they are in the world.”

Nati Juncal Portas, Cósmica Producións (Santiago de Compostela)

Juncal started working in the industry as a P.A. in 2004 and has served in just about every crew position imaginable in the years since, working on films such as Álvaro Gago’s “Matria,” César Souto’s “A Foreign Story” and Lois Patiño’s “Lúa Vermella.” She is currently director of production on Locarno First Look title “Prefiro Condenarme.” In 2018, Juncal co-founded Cósmica Producións with Sonia Méndez, whose debut feature “As Neves” was produced by Juncal and premiered to a stellar reception at the Malaga Film Festival this year. Coming from a strong activist background, Juncal says, “I can’t help but see my work as a means to contribute to society and culture.” She tells Variety she’s drawn to auteur films, especially those from women filmmakers, and even better if they’re from her native Galicia.

Montse Pujol Solà, Boogaloo Films (Barcelona)

Pujol began her professional career at Boogaloo Films in 2018, where her credits include Miguel Ángel Blanca’s Seriesmania best short series winner “Autodefensa,” Elena Molina’s Malaga winning doc “Remember My Name” and the short films “The Painter’s Room” and “Todos los días domingos.” Pujol-produced “Downriver, A Tiger” is part of this year’s Locarno First Look lineup. According to the producer, “The films we produce are committed to the reflection of current issues, with a vocation for internationalization of young talent, without forgetting risk and creative and artistic points of view.” With a flair for combining fiction and documentary elements, Pujol says her goal is to produce films that will inspire conversations among their viewers.

Katixa Silva, CSC Films (Vitoria)

A University of Navarra graduate, Silva works for CSC Films as an executive producer and as a freelance production designer. Her past credits include David Pérez Sañudo’s “Ane is Missing” – which won three Spanish Academy Goyas in 2020, Víctor Iriarte’s Venice player “Sobre todo de noche,” Marina Sereseky’s “Sin instrucciones” and Pablo Hernando’s “Una ballena,” which will premiere at Sitges in October. She is currently working on several features, including Maider Oleaga’s “Harakune” and Nerea Castro’s “Canción animal.” Silva is focused on producing stories told by women filmmakers and is especially motivated to back first-time filmmakers. “I’m interested in producing human stories that deal with the most complex emotions, regardless of genre,” she says.

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