Spain Hones Sales Strategies to Focus on Genre, Animation and Breakout Directors

On the eve of Berlin’s European Film Market, Spanish sales agencies are priming slates that focus on genre, animation and breakout auteurs — and which are still in demand.

Expectations remain high for Berlin. “Berlin has been the best market in the last two years,” says Iván Díaz, head of international at Filmax. “It’s a very efficient market in which many things happen.” Díaz thinks that efficiency to how business is being done these days — multiple small-to-middling agreements made across a broad gamut of territories — has been a boon to dealmaking.

Díaz is also buoyed by some early-year indicators. “Sundance is always a good market thermometer before Berlin. Many things happening there tell you how the EFM will turn out,” he says, pointing to the U.S. remake of Cesc Gay’s Filmax-sold “The People Upstairs,” adapted by Olivia Wilde as “The Invite,” which premiered at Sundance and landed at A24.