Spain’s Solita Films, the outfit run by director-producer brothers José Esteban Alenda and César Esteban Alenda (“Sin Fin,” “La Pecera”), has boarded Alberto Gross Molo’s feature debut “Catorce de Marzo” (“March 14th”).
The divorce drama is set up at Barcelona’s Contraria Media, one of the 36 emerging producers selected for the upcoming Locarno Film Festival edition’s networking initiative Match Me! Which takes place Aug. 9-11 at the Swiss Film Festival.
Producers on the project also take in Catorce de Marzo AIE, a tax vehicle, and Ayhe Productions.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Underscores MCU’s Much-Needed Evolution
StubHub Sued for Illegally Boosting Profits With Deceptive Pricing and Junk Fees in Washington, D.C.
The project is produced by Contraria Media’sco-founders Laura Egidos Plaja and Albert Aynés Clapés, Ayhe’s David Aymerich and the Esteban Alenda Brothers. Egidos and Cecilia Rivas executive produce.
In late development and at a financing stage, and scheduled to roll by Summer 2025, “March 14th” producers will be looking at Match Me! for a European co-producer and a sales agent.
Co-written by Gross Molo and Tomàs Bayo Encontra, the film narrates the history of Héctor, a 11-year-old boy, and his sister Gema (6), who face the day before their parents’ divorce trial, in which they will be asked whom they prefer to live with from now on, fearing they could be separated if they choose different homes.
Starting in 2021, the project has completed an intense circuit of labs or development competitions including Poland’s Ekran+ and Zagreb Film Festival My First script in Croatia (2021), Spain’s Faberllull in 2022, Madrid’s La Incubadora ECAM, also in Spain, and, in 2024, Germany’s Berlinale Talents script Station and D’A Film Lab in Barcelona.
During the most recent edition of Wrocklaw’s New Horizons Studio+ meet, which ran July 18-21, “March 14th” producer Ejidos received an award from the Producers’ Guild of Poland , which will take the form of mentoring by an experienced member of the Guild.
The project was also finalist in 2022 at the 19th edition of the Julio Alejandro Screenplay Award for best Spanish un-produced screenplay, organized by Fundación SGAE.
“March 14th” producers have already confirmed development funds and have applied for the Spanish production grants.
An arthouse film company, well connected to Latin American talent and its industry, Solita’s latests productions have been presented at festivals such as Berlinale, Sundance, San Sebastián and Málaga. It has scored several nominations for the Goya Awards, most recently in 2024 for Best Ibero-American film for “La Pecera,” which world premiered at Sundance 2023.
“We have had the opportunity to see the project grow at La Incubadora and the work that has been done in development has been brilliant. We are very happy to join this film and to be able to accompany Alberto in his feature debut. At Solita Films we love to be part of brave films that challenge the viewer and in which you are emotionally involved. This is what ‘March 14th’ is all about,” the Esteban Alenda brothers commented.
“I’m interested in complex family relationships and in exploring conflicts from the everyday details, the silences,” said writer-director Gross Molo.
In particular, with “March 14th,” Gross Molo aimed to portray how complex a badly managed divorce can be.
“I don’t want to talk about victims or culprits, I simply want to put the focus on the children and live this experience, which is so common nowadays, from their point of view. Very often they find themselves, without wanting to, completely in the middle of a conflict they shouldn’t be part of,” he explained.
“This powerful personal story follows the line of Gross’ previous works, the short films ‘Broken Roots,’ which earned a Jury Mention at 2019’s Tallinn Black Nights – PÖFF Shorts, ‘Solo,’ nominated for best short film at the Gaudí Awards in Catalonia, and “As It Was” (2024),” said Contraria Media producer Laura Egidos Plaja.
“In them you can already see Alberto’s clear interest in exploring family and human conflicts, from a realistic, everyday, raw approach, without sugar-coating situations. With this very personal style, he manages to make the emotion of the moment have an impact on the viewer, leaving them thinking about what they have seen”, added Egidos, a producer who has accompanied Gross Molo since his first works, continuing with his feature debut.
The Locarno Film Festival runs August 7-17, hosting the Locarno Pro’s international networking initiative Match Me!
