Close to the Sultan (; ) is a 2024 comedy-drama film directed by starring Félix Moati, Pilar López de Ayala, Ilies Kadri, Jan Budař, and Farouk Saïdi. It is a French-Spanish co-production.
Plot The plot follows Lumière Brothers collaborator Gabriel Veyre as he ventures into the land of Nour in 1901 in order to introduce the cinematograph to the sultan.
Cast
Production Close to the Sultan is a French-Spanish co-production by Paraíso Production, , Eddie Saeta and Noodles Productions and it had the collaboration of CNC, ICAA, ICEC, Eurimages and the backing of Creative Europe MEDIA.
Release The film premiered at the Toulouse Spanish Film Festival (Cinespaña) on 7 October 2024. It also made it to the main competition of the 69th Valladolid International Film Festival (for its Spanish premiere). Distributed by , it was released theatrically in Spain on 15 November 2024.
Reception Elsa Fernández-Santos of El País deemed the film to be "a delicate and stimulating oddity within the Spanish film scene".
Rubén Romero Santos of Cinemanía rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, declaring Rebollo's return "a celebration of the joy of storytelling, in any format and in any situation".
Eulàlia Iglesias of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, singling out the recovery for cinema of López de Ayala as the best thing about the film.
Accolades
| || 12th Feroz Awards || colspan = "2" | 'Arrebato' Special Award (Fiction) || ||
See also List of Spanish films of 2024
References