The filmmaker from Reus, Maria Martínez Bayona, will premiere her first film, 'The end of it', in the Cannes Première section of the Cannes Film Festival, out of competition. The director received the news when the film was about to be finished, at a particularly significant moment for a project that has just closed its final phase.
The film is set in a dystopian future in which old age has been overcome and death has become an option. It is the debut film of Martínez Bayona, a filmmaker from Reus who for years has been developing her career outside Catalonia.
"Making a film is a miracle, and going to Cannes is a total prize" - Maria Martínez Bayona, filmmaker
An international premiere for his first feature film
The selection arrived the day before the film's completion, a fact that the director has received as a boost for a work that now faces its international premiere. The presence in Cannes represents one of the most relevant steps in the filmmaker's career, who debuts in feature film with a production of international projection.
The cast brings together prominent names such as Rebecca Hall, Noomi Rapace, Gael García Bernal, David Verdaguer, Susan Wokoma and Kristine Kujath Thorp. The script was developed with the BBC, within a creation process that has accompanied the project's evolution until its entry into the French competition.
"We are super happy. It's an enormous recognition now that we have just closed the film" - Maria Martínez Bayona, filmmaker
From Reus to London
Martínez Bayona resides in London since 2014. He moved to the British capital after completing a master's degree in Fiction Direction at the National Film and TV School thanks to a scholarship from La Caixa. From there he has driven a career that now reaches one of its milestones with the arrival of 'The end of it' to the Cannes showcase.
The presence of the director from Reus in Cannes Première places her debut in one of the main focuses of international cinema and opens a new stage for a Catalan author who makes the leap to feature film with a science fiction story and a top-level cast.