Spanish films headed for Cannes

By JONATHAN HOLLAND, JOHN HOPEWELL, EMILIO MAYORGA

'Seven Billiards Tables'

8 DATES
(Impala/Tesela)
Romantic comedy from young Spanish TV talent. Preemed in Malaga. Sogepaq

14 (aka LOPE)
(Antena 3 Films/Conspiracao/Ikiru)
Biopic of 16th-century dramatist Lope de Vega, helmed by Andrucha Waddington ("House of Sands"). Antena 3's flagship $16 million 2009 production.

14 KILOMETERS
(Wanda Vision/Explora)
African emigrants cross the Saharan sands in search of paradise. Latido

ACNE
(Control Z/Rizoma/Avalon)
Adolescent angst dramedy from Uruguayan auteur Fernando Veiroj. Directors' Fortnight. Rezo

AGORA
(Telecinco Cinema/Mod/Himenoptero)
Helmer Alejandro Amenabar directs Rachel Weisz in this Roman/Egyptian epic. Fernando Bovaira produces. Shooting.

THE ARGENTINE/GUERRILLA
(Telecinco/Morena/Wild Bunch)
Steven Soderbergh's multi-part Che Guevara bio, with Benicio Del Toro upfront. Cannes Competition. Wild Bunch

THE ANARCHIST'S WIFE
(P'Artisan/Boissiere/Zip/KV)
Husband (Juan Diego Botto) and wife (Maria Valverde) fight Franco and fate in the Spanish Civil War. Peter Sehr and Marie Noelle direct. Post. Bavaria

ASD (aka UNDERGROUND)
(Filmax)
Graffiti artists escape down subway tunnels from security guards, stumbling on a half-human creature. New Fantastic Factory entry from goth horror short filmmaker Tinieblas Gonzalez. Post. Filmax

BEFORE THE FALL
(Maestranza/Green Moon/Pentagrama)
Genre debut from Javier Gutierrez -- part sci-fi, suspense, rural drama and horror -- in a story occurring days before the world's end. Filmax

BROKEN EMBRACES
(El Deseo/Universal)
A "four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of '50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled," says helmer Pedro Almodovar. Toplining Penelope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, Lluis Homar and Jose Luis Gomez. Shoots May 26. Focus

EL CANT DELS OCELLS
(Andergraun Films/Eddie Saeta)
Three Wise Men tale, reworked by austerely styled left-of-field talent Albert Serra. Directors' Fortnight. Capricci

CAMINO
(Pendelton/Mediapro)
Story of a dying 12-year-old girl, exalted as a saint by Opus Dei. Based on real events. From Javier Fesser, Oscar-nommed for short "Binta and the Great Idea." Wild Bunch

CELL 211
(Vaca/Telecinco/Morena)
Following hit "Kovak Box," screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarria and helmer Daniel Monzon reteam on a gritty prison thriller. Development. Vaca/Morena

CHAOTIC ANA
(Sogecine/Alicia Produce)
Julio Medem's Toronto player. Intense femme psychodrama as the protagonist finds herself leading a variety of lives. Sogepaq

CHEF'S SPECIAL
(Canguro/Antena 3 Films)
Crowdpleaser about a gay chef dealing with his family-in-tow. Malaga fest audience award. Imagina

THE CHICKEN, THE FISH AND THE KING CRAB
(Zebra/Lopez-Li)
A young Spanish chef samples the bitter taste of failure in Jose Luis Lopez Linares' critically well-received docu. Latido

CIRCUS
(Filmax)
American family trapped in a deadly desert circus. Third solo feature from "REC" co-director Paco Plaza. Filmax

COLD SKIN
(KanZaman)
Antarctic Island-set sci-fi thriller, adapting hotly pursued Spanish novel. Development.

THE CONSUL OF SODOME
(Lolafilms)
Biopic of bourgeois multinational exec Jaime Gil de Biedma, a famed Spanish poet, homosexual and rebel. Lolafilms Intl.

CLASIFICADA S
(Antena 3 Films/Little Giraffe)
Recounts late-'70s Spain as it opened up to democracy, and softcore production, chronicled through the lives of three porn actresses. Almodovar proteges Dunia Ayaso and Felix Sabroso direct. Coach 14

COWARDS
(Filmax/Antena 3 Films/Hospiwood/El Terrat)
Second two-hander from "Tapas" directorial duo Jose Corbacho and Juan Cruz, a punchy school bullying parable. Critics award, Malaga Fest. Filmax.

DICTATION
(Oberon)
Man investigates a friend's murder, apparently at the hands of his 9-year-old daughter. Suspenser is the latest from auteur Antonio Chavarrias ("Celia's Lives," "You'll Be Back"). Oberon

DON'T ASK ME TO KISS YOU BECAUSE I WILL
(Rodar y Rodar)
Directorial debut of Barcelona playwright Albert Espinosa, adapting his mentally handicapped-themed stage hit. Shooting. Rodar y Rodar

THE EIGHTH SACRAMENT
(Rodar y Rodar)
Religious thriller, "Omen" style, from scribes Mike Hostench and Angel Salas. Script-stage. Rodar

FERMAT'S ROOM
(Notro/Bocaboca)
Four mathematicians on a mission in Federico Luppi-starring locked-room nail-biter. IFC U.S. pickup. Notro

THE FROST
(Alta Realitat/Frost Media/Gota)
A couple seek absolution after their son's death. Serious, emotional fare from Ferran Audi, toplining Ulrich Thomsen. Shooting.

GARBO
(Antena 3 TV/Voz Audiovisual)
Ambitious Spanish-language fiction thriller about real-life double agent Joan Pujol, who duped Hitler. Flagship project from net affil Antena 3 Films.

GOD'S FORGOTTEN TOWN
(Kines/Dacsa/Just/IPC)
Journalist unearths the paranormal past as debutante Juan Carlos Claver's thriller aims to add to Spain's recent list of international horror successes. Imagina

GOODBYE AMERICA
(Elias Querejeta)
Cigar-chomping Al Lewis, best known for limning Grandpa Munster, reminisces on his acting career and political activism. Niche U.S. distribution potential.

THE HAIRY TOOTH FAIRY 2
(Filmax/Patagonik)
Followup to Spanish and Argentine B.O. hit about the titular rodent. Filmax

THE HOMECOMING
(Rodar y Rodar)
A second hot project from Rodar, from "Orphanage" scribe Sergio Sanchez. Script stage. Rodar

LA HORA DE LOS TRAIDORES
(Fehrmann/Sixaola/World Wide)
Highly awaited next pic from Victor Gaviria ("Additions and Subtractions"), a thriller set in 1962, about a Colombian federal agent in pursuit of an outlaw. Shooting. KWA.

THE INTRUDER
(See-Saw/Rodar)
Co-written by William G. Davies, produced by Iain Canning, an English-language remake of "The Uninvited Guest," to be directed by original helmer Guillem Morales. 2009 shoot. Becker

EL JUEGO DEL AHORCADO
(El Amigo de Lennon, Subotica, Ovideo)
Steamy sexual drama from Manuel Gomez Pereira.

JULIA'S EYES
(Rodar y Rodar)
In an English hamlet, a young blind woman commits suicide, provoking a blackout in a local street. Sister Julia investigates. Reps Guillem Morales' English-language follow-up to "The Uninvited Guest." Pre-production. Rodar

INGRID/MYSPACE
(Benece, TVC)
Eduard Cortes directs cyber fable about the last days and mysterious death of a young performance artist. Pre-production. Benece

IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA
(Eddie Saeta)
A young man carouses around Strasbourg, looking for a girl. Critically admired Venice competish item from arthouse maestro Jose Luis Guerin. DeAPlaneta

LAZY DAYS
(Bailando en la Luna/Jaleo)
Slacker romantic comedy. Imagina

LOLITA'S CLUB
(Trivision/CTV/Stephen Kay/Andres Vicente Gomez)
Offbeat meller from vet Vicente Aranda ("Mad Love") features Eduardo Noriega as both an unhinged ex-cop and his dullard twin. Lolafilms Intl.

LIVERPOOL
(Eddie Saeta/4L/Slot Machine/Fortuna/ Black Forest)
Argentine auteur Lisandro Alonso's Directors' Fortnight player: A 50-ish merchant sailor searches for his origins and a sense of life in remote Tierra del Fuego. The Match Factory

MARADONA BY KUSTURICA
(Pentagrama/Telecinco Cinema/Wild Bunch/Fidelite)
Emir Kusturica's years-in-the-making portrait of the Argentine soccer legend. DVD, TV prospects overseas. Cannes Midnight Screening. Wild Bunch

MATAHARIS
(La Iguana/Sogecine)
Iciar Bollain's fourth feature spotlights a trio of femme detectives. Sogepaq

MORTADELO & FILEMON - MISSION: SAVE THE PLANET
(Prods. Zeta/On Pictures/Antena3)
Titular Spanish comicbook heroes given full-on digital treatment in big-budget laffer that did fine Spanish B.O. 6 Sales

MOSES TAITE'S WAR
(Revelations/KanZaman/TriSquare)
Morgan Freeman-starring, India-set, $33.5 million project. KanZaman

LA MUJER SIN CABEZA
(Aquafilms/El Deseo/Slot Machine/ Teodora/ R&C)
Argentinian Lucrecia Martel's politically tinged drama of a conscience-stricken woman. Cannes Competition. Focus

OLD MAN BEBO
(Babel)
Winner of Tribeca's Documentary Emerging Filmmaker award. Helmer Carlos Carcas' jazz-inspired trip through the life of veteran Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes.

OTHER WORLD
(Sorolla)
Iraqi mother searches for the man who killed her son at a checkpoint. Directed by Amer Alwan. Pre-production.

PAINTBALL
(Filmax)
Company retreat where the paintball bullets are for real. Action-horror deb of Daniel Benamayor. Filmax

LOS PECES DE LA AMARGURA
(Perro Verde)
Bigscreen adaptation of on-the-rise Spanish writer Fernando Aramburu's short-story collection, about the impact of ETA terrorist attacks on the lives of Basques. From EFP Producer on the Move Manuel Cristobal. 6 Sales

PLANET ONE
(Ilion/Handmade/Antena 3 Films)
Big-budget ($50 million) sci-fi comedy toon penned by Joe Stillman ("Shrek"), animated out of Spain. New Line pickup for U.S. Handmade

PRETEXTS
(Ovideo)
Marriage-breakdown drama, written, directed by and starring Silvia Munt. Director prize, Malaga fest. KWA

RAMIREZ
(Independent Cinema Resistance)
Portrait of an attractive serial killer, from first-time helmer Albert Arizza. With Geraldine Chaplin.

SALT OF THIS SEA
(JBA/Clarity/Thelma/Louverture/Mediapro)
Mideast romantic drama, debut of multiprized filmmaker Annemarie Jacir. Un Certain Regard. Post.

SEVEN BILLIARDS TABLES
(Elias Querejeta/Ensueno/Enrique Cerezo)
Femme helmer Gracia Querejeta directs Maribel Verdu ("Pan's Labyrinth") and Blanca Portillo ("Volver") in this drama. DeAPlaneta

SPIRIT OF THE FOREST
(Dygra)
Endangered woodland-set sequel to European breakout toon pic "The Living Forest." Fantastic Films Intl.

THUNDER CAPTAIN
(Maltes)
Ambitious live-action project about Spanish crusader charged with rescuing a chalice in Palestine. Pre-production. Maltes

TRANSSIBERIAN
(Castelao/Scout/Universum & Telecinco Cinema/Future/Lithuanian Film Studios)
Brad Anderson's switchback Transsiberian Express meller. With Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Kate Mara, Eduardo Noriega. Filmax

UNDER THE STARS
(Fernando Trueba)
Tender drama featuring Alberto San Juan as a jazz trumpeter returning to his roots. Did good Spanish B.O. Notro

UNTITLED KATIA LUND PROJECT
(KanZaman)
Palestine-Israel drama from "City of God" co-director Katia Lund. KanZaman

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
(Gravier/Mediapro/Antena 3 Films)
Woody Allen's homage to Catalonia. With Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall. Out of Competition at Cannes. Wild Bunch

WHO'S NEXT
(C.I.P.I.)
Drama about life in Spain's politically delicate Basque region, in which a terrorist begins to reconsider his actions. Special Jury Prize, Malaga fest. Latido