Spain’s ISII Group, flexing its muscles as one of the film industry’s biggest upstarts, has begun production on “Amor de Dios,” headlined by “Orphanage” star Belén Rueda and produced by ISII’s banner label Inefable Productions.
The news comes as Deep Comm Roots, ISII Group’s distribution and sales company, has sold Summer Days in half of the world’s major markets, and cameras are rolling on Infable’s first fully English-language film, La Catedral, starring One Piece icon Taz Skyler.
As a sign of its growing scale, ISII Group currently has four films in production for 2026, with another quartet either released or awaiting release, including the Spanish Western “Trinidad,” a Spanish family story set in an ambitious Wild West led by “The Fault”‘s Gabriela Andrada, Paz Vega and Carla Sofia Gascón. All ISII Group titles are sold and distributed in Spain by our strategic partner Deep Com Roots.
“Summer Days” closes half of the world
“Summer Days” is significant as a sun-drenched erotic drama with elements of a thriller.
“Summer Days,” the first international breakout from “Money Heist” creator Alex Pina, led by “Locked Up” star Maggie Sivantos, closed Latin America after being acquired by Brazil’s Sofa Digital, as well as Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Busch Media Group) and CIS (Kinologica). Aya Pro of Tokyo acquired the license in Japan, PictureWorks India of Mumbai, the distributor of Anatomy of a Fall and Flow, acquired the rights in India, and Scene & Sound acquired the rights in South Korea.
“Summer Days” (“Díaz de Agosto”) begins with college students Juan (Peau Simon, “Nude”) and Gabriela (Berta Gallo, “La Moderna”) escaping to their parents’ seaside chalet to spend an idyllic summer.
The film has been described as a romantic drama. But the appearance and conversation of Juan’s father, Fernando (Roberto Alamo, “Riot Police”), and his much younger girlfriend, Monica (Sivantos), almost immediately spark erotic accusations. Juan and Monica develop feelings for each other as Juan’s resentment towards his father, who left his mother, mixes with a physical attraction that cannot be ignored.
“Deep.com Roots is participating in Cannes Market for the first time and has received strong interest from the international market. Among our shortlisted films, ‘Summer Days’ was one of the films that received the most attention from buyers,” Emile Duzel, head of international sales at Deep.com Roots, told Variety. “We believe that the strong story and strong tension made this film particularly appealing. We are currently negotiating distribution deals in several additional territories.”
An early result of ISII Group’s support of newcomers, “Summer Days” is based on a screenplay by David Sueiro, one of seven winners of ISII Group’s inaugural Break on Time ’59 National Screenplay Competition in 2024. It also marks a return to fiction for the versatile director Chema del Prado, director of the classic film Isidisi, which was a box office hit in Spain.
Maggie Sivantos in “Summer Days”
Production begins on “Amor de Dios” directed by Red Belen Rueda
In Amor de Dios, Rueda, the female lead in Alejandro Amenábar’s Academy Award-winning film The Sea Inside and star of upscale genre hits Julia’s Eyes and The Body, plays Sara Lanez, a famous dancer and choreographer currently living in Paris. When Amor de Dios, once considered the best flamenco school in the world, announces its closure, Sara returns to Madrid with her student Ángela, hoping to save the place where her career began.
“At school, Sarah re-encounters the past she was never able to leave behind. That, and her own physical decline, make her return a deeply personal journey in which she must decide what she will sacrifice to protect her legacy.”
Amor de Dios, inspired by the original ideas of Spanish film giant Carlos Saura, is also produced by Inefable Productions.
The main cast also includes Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory co-star Asier Echeandía, renowned French dancer Soleira Chau, Spanish National Ballet principal dancer Irene Tena, and Tania Santana (Tightrope of Love).
Scheduled for release in 2027, “Amor de Dios” will be Paula Palacios’ long-awaited feature debut. She is the recipient of the IDA Netflix 2022 Global Emerging Filmmaker Award and a double Goya nominee for Best Documentary Film for her two evocative and influential films set against the backdrop of African migration to Europe, The Drowning Letter (Cultas Mohadas, 2020) and My Brother Ali. (2024).
“La Cathédrale” headlined by Will Keene and Taz Schuyler
The organization points out that the double-redemption thriller “La Cathédrale” focuses on Thomas (Keene), a famous violinist who struggles to rebuild his life after the murder of his teenage daughter, as “a new thrust for ISII Group’s fiction division,” the group said. He agrees to participate in the restorative justice process for the man (Skyler) convicted of her murder, and when he discovers a mysterious violin among her belongings, he begins what the synopsis calls a “relentless search for the truth.”
In addition to Slyer, La Catedral also stars Keene, a well-known British theater actor and private secretary to The Crown’s Michael Adeen, Venice Horizons Best Actress winner Marta Nieto (The Mother), and Ronald Gutman, who had a long and prolific career in The Hunt for Red October, Lost, and Mad Men. and Catalan actor and pianist Peter Vives (“The Time in Between”).
Deep.com Roots stated that the film stands out for its “narrative tension, powerful soundtrack, and immersive atmosphere.”
Currently filming in the Canary Islands of Tenerife and Las Palmas, “La Catedral” reflects director Eduardo Cubillo’s fascination with restorative justice. Two people, filled with hatred and myriad grievances, seemingly irreconcilable, Through simple conversations, it may or may not be difficult, but in the end it can feel liberating in a way you won’t believe until you see it. Extraordinary Tale”) is writing the screenplay.
Taz Schuyler “La Catedral”
deep com roots slate
“At ISII Group, we conceive each project not only with our creative ambitions, but also with our commercial career in Spain and abroad in mind,” said Silvia Carvalho, president of ISII Group.
“So we developed a structure that integrates development, financing, production, service, distribution and sales, and hired Deep.com Roots as the sales agent for all catalogues,” she added. “The pre-sales for “Summer Days” and the interest generated by “La Catedral,” “Amor de Dios,” and “Trinidad” confirm that this model allows us to create value and market opportunity for any film from the very beginning.”
Trinidad, directed by Laura Alvear and Jose Ortuño, will close in November 2026.
Beginning in 1969, when Spain was still under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, the acclaimed “Tal Bes” depicts the perhaps unrequited love between Canary Islander poet Natalia Sosa Ayala (“Hierro”) and trapeze artist Pinito del Oro (Adriana Ugarte, “Juireta”), star of New York’s Ringling Brothers. The film, which bowed on July 10, was directed by Alima Leon and depicts the pair’s meeting and subsequent correspondence.
The winner of the 2025 Break on Time contest, “Des de Arriba,” a drama about a father-son relationship, is currently in post-production. Directed by Martin Cuervo from a screenplay by Arturo Luis Serrano and Jose Manuel Carrasco.
My Zone, a realist survival thriller starring Milena Smit (Parallel Mothers) and Irene Escorral (Tell Me Who I Am), has been filming in the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura since May. This is the feature-length debut of Goya Short Story Award winner Cristian Beta (‘Ángulo muerto’). The comedy “Auli,” directed by Violeta Salama (“Alegría”) and starring Cristina Marcos (“Maravillas,” “Locked Up”), depicts the late-life revolution of a housewife, and was released in Spain in April.
“Trinidad” (LR) Gabriela Andrada, Paz Vega, Carla Sofia Gascon
Gabriela Andrada, Paz Vega and Carla Sofia Gascón of “Trinidad”. Provided by Deep Com Roots
