The J.A. Bayona-Produced “Un Fantasma en la Batalla” to Debut at San Sebastian Film Festival

J.A. Bayona’s latest film will be getting its world premiere in his native Spain.

The 50-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s political thriller Un Fantasma en la Batalla will debut at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

J.A. BayonaThe title, produced by Bayona, was among several other Spanish titles announced by the festival.

Directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, the film stars Susana Abaitua, Andrés Gertrúdix, Iraia Elias, Raúl Arévalo and Ariadna Gil.

Producing along with Bayona are Belén Atienza and Sandra Hermida.

The film’s synopsis reads: Inspired by the lives and experiences of several members of the Guardia Civil directly involved in the fight against terrorism and grounded in the historical, political, and social context of the 1990s and 2000s, Un fantasma en la Batalla tells the story of Amaia, a young civil guard who spends more than a decade working as an undercover agent within ETA, with the aim of locating the band’s hideouts in the South of France.

Un Fantasma en la Batalla is a Netflix title.

Filmmaker Alberto Rodríguez will return to San Sebastian this year with two projects. First, Anatomía de un instante, a 3-episode mini-series based on the book of the same name by Javier Cercas about the attempted coup d’état in Spain on 23 February 1981. The series stars Álvaro Morte as President Adolfo Suárez, Eduard Fernández as the communist leader Santiago Carrillo, Manolo Solo in the part of the army officer and politician Gutiérrez Mellado, and David Lorente as the lieutenant colonel leading the coup, Antonio Tejero.

The second Rodríguez title is Los Tigres, a feature written with Rafael Cobos, in which Antonio de la Torre and Bárbara Lennie play siblings who work as professional divers for an oil company. Their lives change when Antonio has an accident and learns that he can no longer dive.

Elsewhere, Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi return to San Sebastian with Maspalomas, while José Luis Guerin returns to the official competition with a new non-fiction work, Historias del buen valle, which he shot in Vallbona, a Barcelona district known for its migrant communities.

This year’s San Sebastian Film Festival runs from 19-27 September.

Eduard Fernández to Star in “Mr. Sunny Sky”

The sunny sky’s the limit for Eduard Fernández.

The 60-year-old Spanish screen and stage actor, a Goya Award winner, will star in Mr. Sunny Sky.

Eduard FernándezFernandez joins a cast that includes Guy Pearce, Rufus Sewell, Tom Davis, Hannah Waddingham and Daniel Ings.

Directing is Matt Chambers, based on his own screenplay, with filming scheduled to start later this year in Gran Canaria. Bankside will continue sales at the EFM.

The crime-thriller follows Leonard Moore, a once chart-topping pop star now lounge singer at a mid-budget Canary Island hotel. One night he meets Shirley, another lost soul with whom he shares an instant connection. But Shirley’s husband is a dangerous man and soon the new couple’s burgeoning romance is thrust into a spiral of paranoia, suspense and violence.

The film is being produced by PK Fellowes of Ellipsis Pictures and Rowena Wallace of Peach House.

Executive producers are Peter Welter of Fresco Films and Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green of Bankside Films.

Casting is by Clare Harlow and the film will be shot by Chambers’ longtime collaborator Nanu Segal BSC. Iain Cooke will serve as music supervisor.

HBO Max Orders Second Season of Miguel Ángel Silvestre’s Mystery Horror Series “30 Coins”

Miguel Ángel Silvestre will continue making coin(s)

HBO Max has ordered a second season of Álex de Iglesia and Jorge Guerricaechevarría’s mystery horror series 30 Coins, starring the 39-year-old Spanish actor.

Miguel Angel SilvestrePrincipal photography will begin later this month on the eight-episode second season, which will air next year.

The series will pick up from the end of season one, which dropped on the platform in late 2020.

Most of the people of Pedraza have lost their minds, confined to a psychiatric hospital. Elena lies in a Madrid hospital bed in a coma; Paco, shattered by remorse, tries to take care of her. As horror grows around them, the group of heroes must face a new enemy.

“If the first season was the gathering of the storm clouds, the second will be the maelstrom preceding an epic storm,” said de la Iglesia.

In addition to Silvestre, 30 Coins also stars Eduard Fernández and Megan Montaner.

The show is one of many being produced outside of the U.S. by HBO Max, which is rolling out to more European territories throughout this year.

Silvestre’s previous credits include Netflix’s Sense8, Narcos, Velvet, Sky Rojo and Money Heist.