From 'La Bola Negra' to 'La Roja,' Atresmedia Makes Its Case for Bigger, Bolder Spanish Cinema SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain — Spanish theatrical audiences are concentrating around fewer films, with nearly 75% of admissions this year going to just 10 local titles despite more than 275 Spanish films being released, according to Atresmedia Cine general manager Jaime Ortiz de Artiñano. That thinking was on display at the Hotel Maria Cristina’s Salon Elcano in San Sebastián, where Atresmedia presented a slate spanning the return of Adriana Ugarte in “Sira,” thriller “Trazos ocultos” and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s “La Bola Negra,” where it has partnered on the film, taking free-to-air TV rights. The event was Atresmedia Cine’s traditional annual industry presentation during the festival, moderated by journalist David Martos, with a host of actors among them Goya winners Eduard Fernández, and Javier Gutiérrez, both in good sprits, and filmmakers Roberto Bueso, Aritz Moreno, Álvaro Fernández Armero and Daniel Calparsoro with their projects.
Produced by Buendía Estudios Bizkaia with the participation of Atresmedia and Netflix, it will premiere first on Atresplayer before moving to Antena 3 primetime, an increasingly important windowing model for the broadcaster. On the film side, Spain’s Oscar submission “La Bola Negra” and TIFF People’s Choice Award winner, points to a more international model. The Lorca-inspired drama, directed by Calvo and Ambrossi and starring Guitarricadelafuente, Penélope Cruz, Miguel Bernardeau, Lola Dueñas and Glenn Close, is a Movistar Plus original produced with Suma Content Films, El Deseo and Le Pacte, with the participation of Atresmedia.
For Ortiz de Artiñano, the film’s festival trajectory has gone beyond initial expectations. That international reach sits alongside a more hard-headed reading of the Spanish theatrical market. Atresmedia says its films account for more than 50% of Spanish-film box office in 2026, with “Torrente Presidente” alone representing almost 40%.
That logic also shapes financing. Ortiz de Artiñano argues that broadcasters, platforms, distributors and independent producers increasingly need to combine forces around ambitious projects. Atresmedia’s expanding 2027 slate, from “La Roja” and “El Confidente” to “Caza Mayor,” suggests the company sees its role increasingly as both producer and industrial catalyst: assembling partners, reducing risk and helping Spanish projects reach the scale needed to compete for attention at home and abroad.
Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi (Movistar Plus+, Suma Content Films, El Deseo, Le Pacte)Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi direct a multi-generational drama tracing the interconnected lives of three men across three different periods. Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau and Carlos González lead a cast that also includes Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas and Glenn Close. Written by Calvo, Ambrossi and Alberto Conejero, the film explores sexuality, desire, pain and inheritance through a three-part story linked to one of Federico García Lorca’s final unfinished works as well as the subject of his near last love poems.
Igor Legarreta (Lamia Producciones, Lamia Films, Lapona Zinema, Lazona Producciones, Bruja del Norte AIE, Buendía Estudios Bizkaia, Sideral Cinema, Caviar Antwerp B.V.)Igor Legarreta directs and co-writes this 1935-set Basque drama starring Urko Olazábal, Itziar Ituño, Josean Bengoetxea, Miren Gaztañaga and Carlos Santos. When a violent storm grounds an English ship carrying tons of coal off Algorta, Sabas Jauregui sees a chance to save his family from winter and drags his children into the dangerous salvage effort despite his wife Josefa’s fears. The struggle to protect the recovered “black gold” becomes a test of survival, desperation and family loyalty.
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