The Spanish films El hombre bueno, by David Trueba; Los pequeños amores, by Celia Rico; and Segundo premio, directed by Isaki Lacuesta and co-directed by Pol Rodríguez, will compete in the Official Section of the 27^th Malaga Festival, that will take place from the 1^st to the 10^th of March 2024.
 
El hombre bueno
 
The director and writer David Trueba returns to the Malaga Festival with his latest film, El hombre bueno, produced by Buenavida Producciones and Perdidos G.C., with a cast including Jorge Sanz, Macarena Sanz, and Vito Sanz.
 
Vera (Macarena Sanz), Juan (Vito Sanz) and their daughter Manuela travel to Mallorca to spend a few days in an ideal beachfront house owned by Alonso, Juan's former colleague, who, after losing his partner, decided to retire from the world. They have decided to separate and want Alonso (Jorge Sanz) to act as a good man, a mediator, to help them in the process. Isolated in the beachfront house, it will be time for all of them to reveal their secrets and confront the idea of love and loss.
 
La buena vida (1996), presented at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, was David Trueba's first film as a director. In 2000, he directed Obra maestra and in 2003 Soldados de Salamina, presented in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Festival and nominated for eight Goya awards. With Bienvenido a casa (2006), he received the Best Director Award at the Malaga Festival. In 2011, he participated in the official section of the Sundance Festival with Madrid, 1987. In 2013, he directed Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados, which received six Goya awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Script. Casi 40 (2018) received the Special Jury Prize at the Malaga Festival. In 2020, he presented the film A este lado del mundo at the same festival. In 2023, he released Saben aquell, winner of 7 Gaudí awards and nominated for 11 Goya awards.
 
Los pequeños amores
 
Celia Rico Clavellino directs and writes the script of Los pequeños amores, a Spanish-French production by Arcadia Motion Pictures, Viracocha Films and Noodles Productions. The film is financed by the ICAA-Ministry of Culture, supported by the ICEC, CNC and Creative Europe MEDIA, with the participation of RTVE, TVC and Filmin, and distributed by Bteam Pictures. International sales will be managed by Latido Films.
 
The cast of Los pequeños amores includes María Vázquez, Adriana Ozores, and Aimar Vega. The film tells the story of Teresa, who changes her holiday plans to help her mother, who has had a small accident. Mother and daughter spend a suffocating summer together, where they cannot agree on even the most trivial things. However, the necessary coexistence will stir up more than expected and during the summer nights Teresa will experience revealing moments with her mother.
 
Celia Rico began as a screenwriter and director with the multi-award-winning short film Luisa no está en casa, the only Spanish representation at La Biennale di Venezia in 2012 and winner of the Gaudí Award (2013). Viaje al cuarto de una madre, her debut feature, premiered at the New Directors of the San Sebastian Film Festival (2018), where it won the Jury's Special Mention award. The film received four Goya Award nominations and got, among others, four Gaudí Awards, a Feroz Award and four Asecan Awards, as well as a nomination for Best First Film at the Platino Awards. Celia has also worked in animation, co-creating the kids’ series Mironins and publishing the book Celia se aburre (2017). Los pequeños amores is her second fiction feature film.
 
Segundo premio
 
Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez co-direct Segundo premio, a Spanish-French production by La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films, Bteam Prods, Sideral Cinema, Capricci, Los Ilusos Films and Toxicosmos AIE, distributed by Bteam Pictures. 

Segundo premio has the participation of RTVE, Canal Sur, 3CAT, Movistar Plus+, Mogambo, Vodafone and Crea SGR; in association with Latido; with the financing of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain. It is supported by the Agencia Andaluza de Instituciones Culturales and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region in collaboration with the CNC; with the collaboration of the City Council of Madrid, the Community of Madrid, the Diputación de Granada, Film In Granada and the City Council of Granada.

Isaki Lacuesta and Fernando Navarro are the screenwriters of the film, starring Daniel Ibáñez, Cristalino, Stéphanie Magnin, Chesco Ruiz and Edu Rejón.

Granada, late 90s. During an artistic and cultural boom, an indie music group is going through its most delicate moment: the bass player breaks up with the band, looking for his place outside the music world, and the guitarist is immersed in a dangerous self-destructive circle. Meanwhile, the singer is facing a complicated process of writing and recording his third album. Little does anyone know that this album will forever change the music scene across the country. This is (not) a film about the band Los Planetas.
 
Isaki Lacuesta, two-time winner of the Concha de Oro award at the San Sebastian Festival for Los pasos dobles (2011) and Entre dos aguas (2018). He was the director of, among others, the films La leyenda del tiempo, Los Condenados, La noche que no acaba and La próxima piel. The latter premiered at the Malaga Festival. In 2022, he premiered Un año, una noche, which participated at the Berlinale Official Section.

Pol Roddríguez got two Biznaga awards at the Malaga Festival with his first fiction feature film, Quatretondeta. He’s also the director of chapters of the TV series Deudas and films such as Carta a Eva, Descalzo sobre la tierra roja and Don’t grow up. He made documentary series such as the acclaimed Match Day, or Year Zero, which was selected at the Tribeca Official Section and produced by the Oscar-winning Kathrym Bigelow.