{"id":1143221,"date":"2026-08-11T17:44:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1143221\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:44:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:44:30","slug":"zoe-bonafonte-leads-spain-argentina-soccer-drama-veleta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1143221\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoe Bonafonte Leads Spain-Argentina Soccer Drama ‘Veleta’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGoya-nominated actress Zoe Bonafonte (\u201cEl 47\u201d) will play Spain<\/a>\u2019s first female soccer<\/a> player, Ana \u201cNita\u201d Carmona Ruiz, in \u201cVeleta<\/a>,\u201d a Spain-Argentina<\/a> co-production directed and co-written by Paco Torres (\u201cThe Magic of Hope\u201d) and now shooting in Andalusia.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoya winner Dani Rovira and \u201cVikings\u201d actor Moe Dunford also star. Amaya Muruz\u00e1bal<\/a>, creator of \u201cHern\u00e1n\u201d and showrunner of Prime Video hit \u201cRed Queen,\u201d co-wrote and produces \u201cVeleta.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBlend Studios, Muruz\u00e1bal\u2019s M Content, Nephilim Producciones and Buenos Aires-based Lahaye Media produce. Andalusia\u2019s public broadcaster RTVA<\/a> is also providing production funding.<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in early 20th-century M\u00e1laga, \u201cVeleta\u201d follows Carmona, a young working-class player determined to compete in a sport closed to women. She binds her chest, hides her hair and assumes the identity of \u201cVeleta\u201d to get onto the pitch, while her teammates keep her secret for decades.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tZoe Bonafonte, Paco Torres & Javier Morgade \u00a9 Ra\u00fal P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n

\n\tBonafonte earned a best new actress Goya nomination for Marcel Barrena\u2019s five-time Goya-winning \u201cEl 47.\u201d Rovira, who won the 2015 Goya for best new actor for box-office smash \u201cSpanish Affair,\u201d plays Carmona\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ensemble also includes Javier Morgade (\u201cOur Fault\u201d), Martin Urrutia (\u201cMariliendre\u201d), Blanca Fern\u00e1ndez, making her screen debut, Goya winner Adelfa Calvo (\u201cThe Motive\u201d), Mariola Fuentes (\u201cBroken Embraces\u201d) and Eric Masip (\u201cThrough My Window\u201d).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMariola Fuentes & Dani Rovira \u00a9 Ra\u00fal P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story begins in M\u00e1laga in 1917, as the city\u2019s faeneras \u2014 fisherwomen \u2014 take to the streets and young men from working-class families are drawn into the Rif War.<\/p>\n

\n\tShooting began in July across M\u00e1laga, Torrox, Antequera and Motril and is due to wrap in mid-August. The film is slated for release in 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur goal is to make a film that moves audiences, mobilizes them, and brings to light the largely unknown story of Anita Carmona,\u201d Torres said, describing the project as \u201ca tribute to Andalusia, to its color, its joy and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNita didn\u2019t just fight to play football: she fought to decide who she wanted to be, at a time when many women were denied that possibility,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are women who blazed a trail long before the world was ready to recognize them. Nita was one of them,\u201d said Marta Rangel, Blend Studios\u2019 general manager and executive producer. \u201c\u2019Veleta\u2019 also stems from the need to look back, reclaim those stories, and understand that many of the freedoms we enjoy today began with women who refused to accept the place they had been assigned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRun by Luis Collar and Jorge Moreno, Nephilim\u2019s credits include Daniel Hendler\u2019s Venice-selected \u201cA Loose End,\u201d Manuel Mart\u00edn Cuenca\u2019s \u201cAndrea\u2019s Love\u201d and Gracia Querejeta\u2019s \u201cInvisibles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLahaye Media combines production with a sizeable post-production operation, having worked on nearly 300 audiovisual productions, including titles for Disney+, Prime Video and HBO Max.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project has institutional backing from Spain\u2019s ICAA and the M\u00e1laga Provincial Council, alongside private capital. It also has the support of Spanish soccer club M\u00e1laga CF, which has been involved since the start of filming and has agreed to take part in a series of promotional activities around the film\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPaco Torres \u00a9 Ra\u00fal P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goya-nominated actress Zoe Bonafonte (\u201cEl 47\u201d) will play Spain\u2019s first female soccer player, Ana \u201cNita\u201d Carmona Ruiz, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1143222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[310840,10105,2000,299,310841,10031,104,310842],"class_list":["post-1143221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-amaya-muruzu00e1bal","tag-argentina","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-rtva","tag-soccer","tag-spain","tag-veleta"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117078123311276135","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1143222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}