Barcelona-based studio Filmax, behind a string of new titles in the American Film Market — the survival thriller “Balandrau,” the time-loop comedy-thriller “Five More Minutes,” the tale of the origins of Spanish women’s soccer “Another League” — has secured worldwide sales rights outside of Spain for “A Son,” which bows Nov. 15 in the main international competition at the Cairo Film Festival.
As already announced, Filmax holds the national distribution rights to “A Son” in Spain and will release it in Spanish cinemas during the first half of 2026.
“A Son” adapts a Spanish publishing phenomenon, the illustrated novel “Un Hijo” by Barcelona writer Alejandro Palomas, translated into more than 20 languages. “Un Hijo” also won the Spanish National Prize for Literature for Children and Young Adults.
Having its world premiere in Cairo, “A Son” also marks the first live-action feature film from highly respected Seville and Madrid-based writer-producer-director Nacho la Casa, who co-wrote and directed the 2016 animated feature “Ozzy.”
La Casa is best known for producing two other cartoons, 2014’s “Superklaus” and this year’s “Norbert.” “A Son,” which he also co-wrote, remains in the world of children, not as a target audience but rather as a subject.
Co-written by Juan R. Apolo (“When Brooklyn Meets Seville”), “A Son” begins when María, an inexperienced school psychologist, begins to suspect that something is seriously wrong with 8-year-old Guille, new to school, who just seems immensely and strangely happy, perhaps hiding a dramatic situation with potentially terrible consequences. She decides to decipher Guille’s drawings and overcome her father’s aggressive resistance to any investigation.
“The book is not aimed at a specific age. I hadn’t read anything about an ’emotional’ detective for children. Something is wrong with Guille and what is wrong runs very deep,” Palomas said when the novel was released in 2016.
“This powerful film explores fear, silence and the fragile bond established between a child and the only adult who dares to listen to him, the school psychologist,” Filmax said in a statement.
“A Son” stars Macarena García (“La Mesías”, “House on Fire”), who is quickly establishing himself as one of the best actors of his generation, and Hugo Silva (“Un amor”) who demonstrated his talent in the hit Movistar Plus+ series “Marbella”.
“My favorite types of films are those that stir emotions, and if there’s one quality of ‘A Son,’ it’s precisely that,” La Casa said. “When I finished reading the novel, I knew I had to make a film about it. ‘A Son’ challenges us as adults and brings us back to this innocence of our childhood. A childhood which, unfortunately, is increasingly threatened in our society.”
“This is a project that we have been following for a long time. We know how so many people were touched by the novel and the expectations around its film adaptation are enormous,” added Ivan Díaz, international manager of Filmax. “Its recent selection at the Cairo Film Festival is a great recognition and proves that it is a film capable of moving people around the world.”
“A Son” is produced by Capitán Araña and Guion Alto, La Casa’s Madrid and Seville labels, as well as Veleta Films AIE. It is supported by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, pay television/SVOD Dinar Movistar+ and Andalusian public television Canal Sur, and supported by the Andalusian regional government, the Madrid regional government, the Alava Provincial Council in the Basque Country and the EU Media Programme, receiving funding from the Spanish Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO).
