EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas is expanding its footprint into Spain in a new production venture with prolific local producer Enrique López Lavigne aimed at producing ambitious projects with Spanish talent with international appeal.
Bannered Goodapatxe – in a nod to Lavigne’s Apache Films company, which he runs alongside El Studio – the venture aims to get two to three productions off the ground a year.
Details of the first projects are under wraps, but the partners have revealed they are in development on a Spanish historic film noir, a western and science fiction picture and four additional genre feature films directed by young Spanish authors.
Lavigne has been a driving force in the Spanish independent cinema scene for more than 30 years.
He started out as a film buyer for Canal Plus, before moving into distribution at Sogecine. He branched into producing in the late 1990s, taking credits on a host of early films by now established filmmakers such as Isabel Coixet’s Those Who Love, Javier Fesser’s The Miracle of P. Tinto, Julio Medem’s Sex and Lucia, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Intact and Daniel Calparsoro’s Warriors.
In the 2000s, he produced three of the 10 highest-grossing films of all time in Spain: Fessier’s Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure, produced under the banner of Sogecine, and J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible and A Monster Calls, produced by his Apaches Entertainment together with Belen Atienza.
Lavigne has also enjoyed success with genre fare such as Paco Plaza’s Verónica and The Grandmother as well as Fresnadillo’s zombie picture 28 Weeks Later, the well-received sequel to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later.
In recent years, he has embraced the arrival of the streamers with productions such as marriage comedy Vergüenza for Movistar+, talent agent comedy Paquita Salas for Netflix and Veneno for Atresplayer, about the late Spanish transgender singer and television personality Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez.
He is currently gearing up for the release of Maria Ripoll’s romantic comedy Yo no soy ésa, made in collaboration with Sony Pictures International, on which he is a co-producer under his El Studio banner.
Lavigne is joined in the venture on his side by longtime associate Pilar Robla, whose recent credits include The Messiah by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Los Javis) for Movistar+.
“We’re thrilled to announce this joint venture with fellow producer Enrique López Lavigne,” said Goodfellas co-founder Vincent Maraval.
“We are convinced that his consummate knowledge of the Spanish industry and successful track record in discovering local talent make him the perfect partner with whom to identify and work with promising directors and projects with a truly international appeal.”
The collaboration was unveiled at the San Sebastian Film Festival where both the new partners are out in force.
Lavigne is at the festival as co-producer of Argentinian director Luis Ortega’s El Jockey in the Latin Horizons line-up, which previously premiered in Venice and has just been announced as Argentina’s Oscar entry for the 97th Academy Awards.
Goodfellas is in San Sebastian as the sales agent on festival titles, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, Laura Carreira’s On Falling, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, Thierry Frémaux’s Lumière, The Adventure Continues, Paco Plaza’s Mugaritz. No Bread, No Dessert and Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April.
“It’s a new and exciting challenge to build a line-up of development and European coproductions of Spanish talents and ambitious projects,” said Lavigne.
“It will enable us to compete with more solid, better financed and more original projects with strong international potential, drawing on the instincts and acumen of a team, led by Vincent Maraval and Brahim Chioua, which I have admired for more than 30 years thanks to its unparalleled festivals and markets experience and expertise.”
He said Goodapatxe’s mission would be to discover and develop new talent capable of overcoming language, genre and format barriers to appeal to international audiences, and adapting to the fresh challenges of the new configuration of the audiovisual industry.
“Nothing could make me happier, after 35 years as a buyer, distributor and producer, than to contribute to the constant reinvention of cinema with the best partners possible,” he added.
Goodapatxe joins a growing network of labels and joint ventures launched by Goodfellas since its creation in 2019.
These include genre-focused Wild West, a joint venture with Capricci which has generated films such as The Swarm and Vincent Must Die, as well as sales labels Gebeka International, focused on animation, and Oui Michel, aimed at sports themed films and series.
