Official Competition

Antonio Banderas' film star and Oscar Martínez’s stage actor vie for the attention of Penélope Cruz’s wayward director in this filmmaking satire. Independent cinema darling and Cannes Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Cruz) is approached by ageing, ailing business mogul Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez) to make a film that he hopes will be his legacy for the world. Intended as an adaptation of a much-loved literary work, Cuevas has more experimental intentions than some turgid piece of heritage cinema. Given carte blanche over the casting – Suárez’s only condition was that she choose ‘the best’ – she pits acclaimed but stiflingly snobbish ‘Actor’ Ivan Torres (Martínez) against handsome but superficial screen icon Felix Rivero (Banderas), believing that the inevitable tension between the two can only help the film’s dynamic. She couldn’t be more right, as the three gather for a nine-day rehearsal that sees each pushed to their wits’ end and underpins Cuevas' belief that art is suffering.