Filmax Snags Spanish Suburban Comedy ‘Girlfriends’ from Carol Rodríguez Colas (EXCLUSIVE)

Leading Spanish sales, production and distribution company Filmax has secured sales rights for first-time director Carol Rodriguez Colas’ “Girlfriends,” currently in post-production. The company has already started sharing a promo reel with distributors.

Filmax has anchored itself as one of the premier sales companies for independent films from new, female filmmakers in Spain such as Lucía Alemany’s San Sebastian New Directors player “Innocence” and Paula Cons’s “Island of Lies,” a main competition player at this year’s Shanghai Festival.

“Girlfriends” is produced by Madrid-based Balance Media and stars four of Spain’s most exciting young film and TV stars in Vicky Luengo (“Barcelona Summer Night”), Elisabet Casanovas (“Merli”), Carolina Yuste (“Carmen & Lola”) and Angela Cervantes (“Perfect Life”).

In the film, young Marta (Luengo) finds herself jobless after losing her dream job as a photographer at a trendy fashion magazine. With few options, she is forced to leave behind her modern, urban lifestyle and return to the working-class neighborhood she grew up in.

It’s there that she reunites with Desi, Soraya and Bea, a group of friends she once believed was inseparable. Bea and the others are forced to reconcile the women they have become with the girls they once were, while reevaluating uncertain futures. Only by relying on each other and the bonds of friendship are the four able to discover what is really important to each of them and learn that sometimes, maybe you can come home.

“What we loved about this project right from the start was its freshness. It has similarities to ‘Tapas,’ which worked great for us both at home in Spain and internationally,” says Ivan Diaz, head of international at Filmax. “We feel it also shares the same spirit as the HBO series ‘Girls,’ except in this case, we’ve swapped New York for Cornellá. You can find glamor anywhere!”

Producer Miguel Torrent adds: “’Girlfriends’ is a sincere, first-person depiction of what it means to come to terms with who you are. It’s about looking in the mirror, accepting what you see and allowing yourself to grow and about how the long-lasting friendship and love that our protagonists share allows them to do just that.”

Rodriguez Colas explains that, “Our intention was to break down the usual cliches of what it means to be a young woman growing up on the outskirts of a big city. We wanted to give a positive, yet realistic image, by offering a unique, fresh vision of our characters’ universe. I feel we’ve dealt with the film’s themes naturally and with a great, bold sense of humor”.