Smoke & Mirrors

After the global success of Marshland (SFF15), writer and director Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos reunite for a large-scale study of institutional corruption in Smoke & Mirrors, the incredible true story of the man who fooled an entire country: Francisco Paesa (Eduard Fernández, The Skin I Live In).

Paesa, the shadowy, swindling real-life anti-hero, spent the 80s secretly purchasing weapons for the Spanish Government in their fight against the terrorist group ETA. When the scandal broke, Paesa was made a scapegoat and forced to leave Spain in fear for his life. In 1994, finally able to return albeit a ruined man, his chance for vengeance arrives on his doorstep in the form of a corrupt Police Chief (Carlos Santos, A Stroke of Luck SFF17) seeking his aid to embezzle a fortune.

Recalling Scorsese and Sorrentino while blazing a trail all of its own, Cobos’ script weaves a dazzling net of crime and duplicity and was awarded Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2017 Goya Awards. Co-starring José Coronado (The Body SFF13) and Marta Etura (Cell 211 SFF11).