The two-time Goya Award-winning screenwriter’s fresh take on 1980s Spanish film noir will compete for the Golden Spike at the 70th edition
Golpes, Rafael Cobos’s first feature film as a director, will be part of the Official Competition at the 70th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival (SEMINCI), where it will have its world premiere. The film, which will compete for the Golden Spike alongside the latest works by the Dardenne brothers, Bi Gan, Lav Diaz, Isabel Coixet, and Fernando Franco, marks the promising feature film directorial debut of screenwriter and creator Rafael Cobos, winner of two Goya Awards for Marshland and The Man with a Thousand Faces, two projects resulting from his collaboration with director Alberto Rodríguez.
Golpes tells the story of Migueli, a criminal who is released from prison in the ever-changing Spain of the early 1980s. Determined to look to the future, he must first heal the wounds of the past. To do so, he needs a lot of money, and he needs it fast. When he arrives in Seville, he reunites with his old gang to carry out a series of robberies at bank branches, jewelry stores, and even the first casino in the area. But the police have assigned the case to Sabino, his own brother, who knows exactly how he thinks. Despite this, Migueli is determined to see it through to the end.
The film appeals to historical memory and cinematic memory. Thus, combining the vertigo and protest of the 80s quinqui cinema with a reflection on family ties and the portrait of a country that was striving to heal old wounds while embracing hope. In the words of Rafael Cobos, Golpes aims to revitalize the essence of this type of cinema, while seeking to differentiate itself. The director explains: ”If quinqui cinema is upfront, explicit, and talks about things in an obvious and stark way, Golpes is a subtle fable that aims to talk about a country in transition, contradictory, disoriented, and unable to come to terms with its past; a heist thriller about blood ties and memory.”
Award-winning career in film and television
In 2023, Rafael Cobos made the leap to directing with the series The Left-Handed Son, starring María León and awarded at Canneseries, balancing his work as a screenwriter and director. The filmmaker has a solid and renowned career as a screenwriter, closely linked to director Alberto Rodríguez. Together they have created stories that combine narrative depth with a keen sense of Spanish social and cultural reality, such as Unit 7, Marshland, The Man with a Thousand Faces, Prison 77 and, most recently, Los Tigres, which premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
In television, Cobos has participated in writing an episode of the series Offworld and as co-creator and showrunner of The Plague. In his latest work in this field, he has adapted Javier Cercas’ book The Anatomy of a Moment, together with Fran Araújo and Alberto Rodríguez, which will be released soon.
Luis Tosar and Jesús Carroza play cops and robbers
The film stars Luis Tosar (Goya winner for Mondays in the Sun, Take My Eyes, and Cell 211), who plays Sabino, the police officer brother; and Jesús Carroza (Goya for Best New Actor for 7 Virgins), who plays Migueli, the other brother. The cast is rounded out by Teresa Garzón (Nights in Tefía), Cristina Alcázar, Carlos Bernardino, Antonio Estrada, Mafo, and Cristalino.
In addition to taking the reins as director, Rafael Cobos wrote the script alongside Fernando Navarro (Saturn Return , Veronica), twice nominated for a Goya. Among the technical team, Sergi Vilanova Claudín stands out as director of photography, Gigia Pellegrini as art director, and Bronquio as original music composer.
Golpes is produced by Borja Pena and Emma Lustres for Vaca Films, and Daniel Pérez Astiárraga for Grupo Tranquilo, in co-production with Playtime (France), with the participation of Movistar Plus+, RTVE, Canal Sur, and Canal + France, and the support of the ICAA-Ministry of Culture, the Regional Government of Andalusia, and the European Union’s Creative Europe Program.
With this production, Vaca Films adds a new thriller to its extensive catalog in the genre, which includes notable films such as Cell 211, El niño, Retribution, To Steal From a Thief, Eye for an Eye, and Sky High.
The film, which was shot over seven weeks on location in Seville and Huelva, is distributed in theaters by A Contracorriente Films.