El Planeta is an absurdist comedy film directed and written by Amalia Ulman. The film stars Amalia Ulman, Ale Ulman (Amalia's real-life mother), Nacho Vigalondo, Zhou Chen and Saoirse Bertram.[3]

El Planeta
Poster
Directed byAmalia Ulman
Written byAmalia Ulman
Produced by
  • Amalia Ulman
  • Kathleen Heffernan
  • Kweku Mandela
Starring
CinematographyCarlos Rigo Bellver
Edited by
  • Katharine McQuerrey
  • Anthony Valdez
Production
company
Distributed byUtopia[1]
Release date
Running time
79 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • Spain
Languages
  • Spanish
  • English

The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2021.[2]

Plot

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An absurdist comedy, the film centers on the story of a mother and daughter facing eviction in post-crisis Spain and scamming their way to a more comfortable lifestyle. The film is loosely based on the real-life Spanish mother-daughter petty-crime duo Justina and Ana Belén.[4]

Cast

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The cast includes:[5]

Production

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Ulman wrote, produced, and directed the feature, which stars herself and her mother in the latter's debut performance on the silver screen.[4] The film was shot in black and white in Gijón, the Spanish town where Ulman grew up.[7]

Release

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The film had its premiere in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2021, in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section.[8]

On March 17, 2021, Utopia acquired the US distribution rights to the film.[7] On July 16, 2021, Static Vision announced their acquisition of the Australian and New Zealand rights to the film.[9]

The film was selected for screening at the Brisbane International Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival in October and November 2021 respectively.[10] The film was also selected to screen at the 2021 edition of the Melbourne International Film Festival, before the in-person element of the festival was cancelled.[9]

Reception

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As of May 2022 review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 41 critics and, categorizing the reviews as positive or negative, assessed 39 as positive and 2 as negative for a 95% rating. Among the reviews, it determined an average rating of 7.5 out of 10.[11]

It won critical acclaim at its Sundance screening.[12][13]

Accolades

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El Planeta has been nominated for and won a number of awards. Wins have included:[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Sundance 2021 Deals: The Complete List of Festival Purchases". June 8, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Sundance - FPG". Sundance. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  3. ^ CineconÑ (December 16, 2020). "'El Planeta', la película española que participará en Sundance 2021". cineconene.es (in Spanish). Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Gilda Williams on Amalia Ulman's el Planeta (2021)".
  5. ^ "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - El Planeta". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on March 23, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  6. ^ El Planeta (2021) - IMDb, retrieved January 5, 2024
  7. ^ a b "Utopia Nabs North American Rights to Sundance Hit 'El Planeta' (EXCLUSIVE)". March 17, 2021.
  8. ^ Debruge, Peter (December 15, 2020). "Sundance Film Festival Lineup Features 38 First-Time Directors, Including Rebecca Hall and Robin Wright". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Static Vision's El Planeta announcement on Instagram". July 16, 2021.
  10. ^ Di Rosso, Jason (October 28, 2021). "Sydney Film Festival highlight El Planeta, David Lynch's Inland Empire and actor Hal Cumpston" (Audio + text). ABC Radio National. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  11. ^ "El Planeta (2021) Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on May 3, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  12. ^ "Artist Amalia Ulman Makes Her Feature Debut with Sundance Contender 'El Planeta'". January 30, 2021.
  13. ^ ""El Planeta" Heralds Amalia Ulman as an Invigorating New Cinematic Voice". February 2021.
  14. ^ "El Planeta: Awards". IMDb.
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