Firebook Entertainment Acquires Key Rights to Sideral’s Buzzy Spanish Horror Project ‘In the Flesh’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Firebook Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales rights (excluding Spanish-speaking countries) to Sideral’s buzzy horror feature “In the Flesh” from debut director Ainhoa Menéndez Goyoaga.

The two companies will be at this year’s AFM to share the project as part of Spanish Screenings on Tour, a promotional program backed by European Recovery funds.

“In the Flesh” (“En carne viva”) plays with the universal fear of losing the person closest to us and the lengths we’re willing to go to prevent that loss.

Set in Madrid, it tells the story of Mara and Sandra, two women who could hardly be more different except that each is hiding a dark secret from their pasts. As their relationship grows stronger and their feelings towards one another become more intense, the fear of losing Sandra sparks Mara’s cannibalistic impulses to hold onto her at all costs, as she has done with anyone who ever got close to her in the past.

“‘In the Flesh’ finds itself within this new era of cinema that combines genres and uses horror as a tool to pose more profound questions,” Sideral executive producer Nuria Landete told Variety. “In fact, there is a new wave of female directors who manage this style skillfully and who have a notable presence in the top festivals around the world. That’s why I want to support this genre made by women, and Ainhoa is a director who has been experimenting with the genre in all her work as a short filmmaker.”

The producer said she’s excited to be partnering with Firebook and adds, “We are confident that it will be a perfect match, and our relationship will go beyond this film.”

As a project, “In the Flesh” raised a fair few eyebrows at labs over the past four years, including the MFI Script Workshop, ECAM’s Incubadora, Abycine Lanza, Eave Marketing and, most recently, it scored the BeDigital Award at Brussels’ BIFFF Market earlier this year.

Sideral is the new production distribution wing of Elamedia Estudios. Since its creation, Sideral has produced Spanish Oscar race entry and Malaga top winner “Saturn Return,” “Girl Unknown” by Pablo Maqueda and “The Fantastic Golem Affairs.”