'Eva,' 'Tight' dominate early Sitges

SITGES, Spain -- Two homegrown movies, Kike Maillo's "Eva" and Jaume Balaguero's "Sleep Tight," dominated early media buzz at Spain's 44th Sitges festival, which kicked off Thursday. That's only natural. Both are produced out of Barcelona, just a half hour's car ride up the Mediterranean coast from Sitges. A Wild Bunch sales hit and a The Weinstein Co. U.S. pick-up, "Eva" is -- for Spain -- also a ground-breaking robot meller. Toplining Daniel Bruehl ("Inglourious Basterds") as an emotionally reticent A.I. genius lured back to his home town to design the most emotionally advanced replicant in the world, "Eva" played to a generally warm reception opening Sitges. Encouraged, Paramount will open "Eva" on 302 copies Oct. 28, said producer Sergi Casamitjana at Escandalo. "Sleep Tight," which world premed at Austin Fantastic Fest, is the latest pic from Balaguero, a Sitges Time Machine awardee this year, whose "The Nameless" -- produced like "Tight" by Filmax -- raised the curtain on Barcelona's modern upscale genre pic production. Written by Barcelona-based scribe-producer Alberto Marini -- a talent to track -- "Tight" has Luis Tosar ("Miami Vice," "Even the Rain"), now firmly established as one of Spain's topnotch thesps, as a sadistic, voyeuristic doorman hell-bent on scaring a tenant (Marta Etura) out of her wits. A perverse thriller, with echoes of Roman Polanski's "The Tenant," "Tight" flat-footed some Balaguero aficionados -- it's a far cry from the shuddering camerawork of zombie-fest "REC" -- but was hailed by some of Spain's most influential newspapers as Balaguero's best to date. Both pics mesh mainstream tropes with some of the psychological complexity of arthouse fare. That middle-ground mix also informed the best-reviewed of foreign titles over Sitges' early running: Cary Fukunaga's Gothic-romancer "Jane Eyre," greeted as a "perfect adaptation" by Spanish daily El Pais, and Mike Cahill's sci-fi allegory and relationship-drama "Another Earth," already a Sundance prize winner. Xavier Gens' "The Divide" divided opinions; Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion" was respectfully received; wolverine caper "Games of Werewolves," produced by Spain's Telespan 2000 and Vaca Films, sparked hoots of laughter. At fest's opening ceremony, Bigas Luna ("Anguish") and Rodar y Rodar director-producer Mar Targarona picked up honorary Marias, the latter for her pioneering Screenwriters Workshop Foundation. A trailer for Paco Plaza's Filmax-produced "REC 3 Genesis," featuring a zombie-wedding invasion, raised long applause. And a queue to see first images of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" stretched a hundred yards from fest's main Sitges Melia hotel to the local cemetery. However niche the market, early Sitges suggested a secure fan base for genre going into the future. Fest runs through Oct. 16. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com