{"id":438288,"date":"2025-09-20T10:10:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T10:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/438288\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T10:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T10:10:16","slug":"spains-vibrant-streaming-service-scene-impacts-san-sebastian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/438288\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain’s Vibrant Streaming Service Scene Impacts San Sebasti\u00e1n"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhy talk about TV at Spain at the Spanish-world\u2019s biggest film festival? One reason: in 2024, San Sebasti\u00e1n hosted the world premieres of Movistar Plus+<\/a> Original Series \u201cQuerer\u201d and \u201cCeleste,\u201d which both went on to win the two biggest prizes at 2025\u2019s Series Mania, Europe\u2019s most important TV festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, Spanish pay-TV\/SVOD operator Movistar Plus+ and Netflix<\/a>, both out in force at this year\u2019s San Sebasti\u00e1n, are the two companies that have moved most the needle in Spanish film production over the last five years.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike other big TV companies \u2013 think Fremantle \u2013 Movistar Plus+ and Netflix are both plowing into movie production. The results and the companies will generate many of the highest-profile movies at this year\u2019s festival and some of its main talking points.<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus\u2019 announced its first slate of movie originals in Jan. 2024, to early spectacular results. Playing Cannes main competition, Oliver Laxe\u2019s \u201cSir\u00e2t\u201d gleaned rave reviews, was acquired for North America by Neon, won Cannes\u2019 Jury Prize and, handled by The Match Factory, has now sold in all major markets .<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Spain, \u201cSir\u00e2t\u201d was released June 6 by BTeam Pictures and had grossed a robust \u20ac2.7 million ($3.2 million) by Sept. 7. The Movistar Plus+ upcoming production slate includes next films from Pedro Almod\u00f3var (\u201cBitter Christmas\u201d), Rodrigo Sorogoyen (\u201cThe Beloved,\u201d starring Javier Bardem) and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (\u201cLa Bola Negra,\u201d with Penelope Cruz).<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo more Movistar Plus+ titles \u2013 Alberto Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s \u201cLos Tigres\u201d and Alauda Ruiz de Az\u00faa\u2019s \u201cSundays\u201d \u2013 account for half of San Sebastian\u2019s four Spanish main competition Golden Shell contenders.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve created a hybrid model: We\u2019re a broadcaster but support theatrical runs and co-produce with independent producers, allowing normally complicated access to finance,\u201d says Guillermo Farr\u00e9, Movistar Plus+ head of original films and Spanish cinema.<\/p>\n

\n\tA Netflix Spain movie production, J.A. Bayona\u2019s \u201cSociety of the Snow\u201d still ranks as Netflix\u2019s third biggest non-English-language global hit film ever, with 98.5 million views. Having commissioned one-to-two Spanish movies each half year from the second half of 2022 to 2024, Netflix Spain ordered five movies in first half 2025, Ampere Analysis estimates. \u201cThere\u2019s a marked shift towards movies in [early] 2025 compared to first run TV shows,\u201d comments Ampere\u2019s Guy Bisson. In Latin America, movie orders have surged from four in late 2023, when operators in general pulled back due to Hollywood strike action, to eight in the second half of 2024 and six in the first six months of 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat shows at San Sebasti\u00e1n where Netflix movies has secured their best festival real estate ever. The Basque festival opens with Argentine Netflix movie \u201c27 Nights,\u201d directed by Daniel Hendler (\u201cA Loose End\u201d). Another Netflix feature, \u201cLimpia,\u201d from Chile\u2019s Dominga Sotomayor (\u201cToo Late to Die Young\u201d), bows San Sebastian\u2019s Latinos Horizontes, one of the festival\u2019s most significant sidebars. Buzzy Spanish Netflix title \u201cShe Walks in Darkness\u201d plays out of competition.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Festival\u2019s major talking point looks set to turn on the future of Movistar Plus+, under new top management. Driven by then original fiction head Domingo Corral, the Telefonica-owned pay TV\/SVOD player emerged from 2017 as a prominent content investor, producing 10-11 series a year of often huge artistic ambition.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow under new CEO Daniel Domenj\u00f3, Movistar Plus+ is battling to build on and expand beyond what Corral, former CEO Cristina Burzako, and ex-President Sergio Osl\u00e9 have created.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMovistar Plus+ has its own marked, consolidated brand of prestige premium product. Still betting on this legacy, which has been built so well in the past, we aim to grow in the future broadening Movistar Plus+\u2019s focus,\u201d Domenj\u00f3 tells Variety.<\/p>\n

\n\tMoves in that direction have already been made. \u201cSundays\u201d is classic arthouse, a deep dive into complex contemporary ethics. \u201cLos Tigres,\u201d in contrast, is Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s biggest movie to date, \u201ca very personal film about the precariousness of a certain working class in Europe, its lack of prospects, and at the same time a highly entertaining thriller, set against the narco trade, a very open film,\u201d says Farr\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe need subscribers, viewers and to make more noise, opening up to formats and genres like entertainment, where we aren\u2019t at the moment,\u201d says Domenj\u00f3. Entertainment could be \u201cabove all,\u201d docu reality shows, a \u201cfiction\/doc hybrid, say, where we can remain faithful to our brand but innovate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus+ viewers skew older adult, says Jorge Pezzi, Movistar Plus director of fiction and alliances, citing as an early example of a play for younger audiences \u201cSe tiene que morir mucha gente,\u201d adapting a novel of from Victoria Mart\u00edn, one of Spain\u2019s most prominent YouTube and podcast comedians.<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus+ can play off several market tailwinds. It is still growing. Movistar Plus+, a streamed version of its basic pay TV tier priced at just \u20ac9.99 ($11) has helped the company post net additions in the double-digit thousands each quarter since second quarter 2024, observes Maria Rua Aguete at Omdia. \u201cMovistar\u2019s growth is especially notable considering the broader trend of pay TV decline across Europe,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt also enjoys a fruitful title-by-title alliance with Arte France. Their latest co-production, \u201cAnatomy of a Moment,\u201d is an incisive, mordant miniseries portrait of the three figures who stood up against Spain\u2019s attempted military coup d\u2019etat in 1981. Also directed by Alberto Rodr\u00edguez, it is shaping up as one of the biggest buzz titles at this year\u2019s San Sebasti\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

\n\tMovistar Plus+ can also play off a far more fluid international TV business which allows for split rights and windowing deals, permitting big plays but controlled investment. \u201cProduction with Netflix or Amazon Prime Video? Why not? We\u2019ve already talked with them and they\u2019re very, very receptive,\u201d says Domenj\u00f3, also pointing out that Movistar Plus+ has already sold its original \u201cMuertos\u201d Season 3 to stream on Netflix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why talk about TV at Spain at the Spanish-world\u2019s biggest film festival? One reason: in 2024, San Sebasti\u00e1n…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,48016,451,148419,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-438288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-movistar-plus","11":"tag-netflix","12":"tag-san-sebastian-film-festival","13":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115236086978651369","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438288","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=438288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}