Golden Bear awards and top 10 lists: Spanish cinema is gaining international ground

It’s not an exaggeration when we say that 2022 is a historic year for Spanish cinema outside of Spain. Outside the last third of the year, we have won awards and have been selected at leading international film festivals and recognised for awards from international academies… things have happened that had not happened for a long time, or that clearly had never happened. To traditional structures has been added, in the background, and for many years, the leading role of Spanish films in these new ways of consumption. A combination that should at least be taken into consideration.

When it seemed like 21^st century cinema globalisation only left room for three or four Spanish names in its select firmament, a generation of filmmakers under the age of 50 have been committed to further open the doors of prestigious circles. To this, we must add the new, or somewhat new, phenomenon of global distribution, available through streaming platforms, which allow unprecedented visibility to commercial films. The fortunate position of Spanish cinema in catalogues, places it continuously with other, most viewed, films in other countries. 

A-list film festivals and Netflix 

Something key has happened at film festivals, a feel for real influence in Europe and North America. The list: Golden Bear Award in Berlin for a Spanish film after nearly 40 years of not receiving it, an Official Selection at Cannes after 10 years without receiving it (besides Almodóvar), two awards at Karlovy Vary, and up to nine Spanish productions at the Fantastic Fest, which is perhaps the most important genre film festival in the world (besides Sitges). 

To these announcements, we should add other Spanish film selections in some of the previously mentioned film festivals, or other, more common, competitions such as the Venice, Toronto, Sundance, Locarno, or Rotterdam film festivals. We are still waiting for what may happen to the list of winners at San Sebastián, which also carries its weight on an international level, or Mar del Plata, the only A-list Latin American film festival. This way, the feeling of a forceful presence of Spanish cinema in circles of great reputation is endorsed, also supporting five preselected Spanish films for the European Film Awards (14% of the total).    

Although, the presence of Spanish cinema at an international level can be extended beyond the festival bubble; we can in fact measure it through a different angle. An angle of mass cultural consumption in 2022, one furthest away from the classic or elitist way of watching cinema – streaming platforms. Not one week goes by on Netflix, the platform par excellence, and the only one offering its own weekly measurements, where there is no Spanish film in its top 10 most viewed non-English speaking list, successful in several countries. Spanish cinema and series are standing out. What is happening? 

New Spanish cinema, looking for allies 

For some time now, so much so that we’re counting in decades, Spanish cinema did not have much of a presence in popular international scenes. The occasional appearance of Isabel Coixet, Jaime Rosales or recently, and in the background, Albert Serra and Oliver Laxe, joined the regular Pedro Almodóvar, king of international Spanish cinema. The man from the La Mancha region was the only one who maintained a consistent presence on the front lines of film festivals like Cannes or Venice. Selections from the others, common in the 80s and 90s, became sporadic in the 2000s. 

But it looks like the ‘almodependency’, a special case because of the very characteristics of cinema and the filmmaker’s career, is beginning to break down. The film Alcarràs at the Berlin Film Festival is a representative example that summarises this shift in trend, both through the scale of its success and the characteristics of the project. On the one hand, it perfectly synthesises the new wave of outlook in Spanish cinema – directed by a woman (like other films who recently gained international visibility, such as The Water (El agua), Lullaby (Cinco lobitos), or Libertad) and tells a local story from a seemingly smaller scale, away from classic genres. 

Carla Simón’s film, paradoxically, takes on an approach that focuses on our land. An approach that fits in with some of the trends of contemporary European auteur cinema: resources and staging that seeks to erase the limits and notions between fiction, non-fiction, documentaries, non-professional actors, natural family drama… all audio-visual ways and concepts, whose differences and quirks can be coded and understood by a viewer who is accustomed to watching films from other countries in the world. Ways that come in and out of the margins of the Spanish industry and that find more space for visibility in Europe and North American. 

By contrast, Alcarràs is a co-production with Italy. The tough system of script development labs, sales markets, industry events (a system that intensifies some of the inbreeding and “class” problems in Spanish cinema) is in fact encouraging the maturation of projects to be able to find partners that give it that added extra in resources that filmmakers need, and that they often cannot find by themselves in Spain. As it has already been highlighted throughout the year by directors and producers, films at Cannes or Berlin such as those of Simón, Albert Serra or Isaki Lacuesta have been financially supported by other countries. Co-production expands economic commitment and, on top of that, amplifies its contact with the outside world. 

Conquering the Spanish-speaking market 

Traditionally, the other great display of Spanish cinema, in terms of global distribution, had been film theatres (where we can also mention good results for the year with The Beasts – As bestas, in France, or Tad, the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet – Tadeo Jones 3) in other countries. In less than 10 years now, the power of these streaming platforms should be added to the equation. Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+ premier their films and series in more than 100 countries on average, a distribution never seen before for Spanish cinema. 

Although the audience measurement system on the platforms is still up to debate, Netflix’s recent publication on the weekly top 10 most watched (in terms of cumulative hours) is a cornerstone to keep in mind. It is enough to look back at the historical top 10 of non-English speaking films to see that Spanish cinema stands out with up to three films: 2^nd – The Platform (El hoyo), 4^th – Through my Window (A través de mi ventana), 6^th – Below Zero (Bajocero). The film with the most presence in this exclusive list.  

Still on the topic of weekly classification, the results of Spanish cinema also stand out. It’s very common to find a Spanish title on the list of most viewed films around the world. Lately, titles varying from Centauro, Valley of the Dead (Malnazidos), Live is life, or Code Name: Emperor (Código emperador), have been popular in the summer, with market potential all year round. It’s almost systematic: Netflix buys their rights, or they’re already a Netflix original, with a real promotion, and they end up in the top 10 worldwide.  

The main explanation for why this continuously happens is more quantifiable and objective than for previous ones: Spanish productions are widely accepted in Spanish-speaking countries. Spanish films and series have a comparative advantage over other releases on the platforms because they can very easily be watched from Latin-America, where they are keenly watched, or at least, are given the opportunity to do so. Whether for a purely linguistic, or cultural reason, I would dare say, that it is an approach that other films do not have with their potential audience. That’s why Netflix continues to produce a lot in Spain, as a vantage point, and HBO, in its general state of shock, won’t stop doing so. 

This is how, in this unlikely combination of prestige in the classic structures of the film world, and popular success in the new ones, Spanish cinema is gaining ground on the international scene, to which perhaps, Spain should be more aware of. The final award season could deflate the sense of success of 2022, but the moves upward and onward are certainly taking place. This needs to be said from an insider.

Cover image: promotional picture of Piety (La piedad), by Eduardo Casanova – DyP Comunicación.