Funicular Films Advances on ‘God’s Favorite Girl,’ Set for Ventana Sur 

Barcelona’s Funicular Films, a key producer on Canneseries winner “This Is Not Sweden,” is in advanced negotiations with “a highly prestigious Latin American production company whose work we deeply admire” for it to board feature film “God’s Favorite Girl,” Funicular Films Marta Baldó, the film’s executive producer, told Variety. 

The move comes as multilateral co-production becomes the default option for arthouse or upscale Spanish-language films of artistic ambition.

Described as a dark comedy, “God’s Favorite Girl” has just been announced as part of the Proyecta project platform at this upcoming December’s Ventana Sur. Proyecta is jointly organized by the Cannes’ Marché du Film and the San Sebastián Film Festival. 

At Ventana Sur, co-production looks likely to be one of Ventana Sur’s main market trends as well as straight sales bringing valuable dollars or Euros to completed titles.   

In development, “God’s Favorite Girl” will hit Ventana Sur with the added momentum of having won First Prize at the ESCAC Opera Prima Lab, a development initiative of the celebrated Barcelona film school, plus this year a BDC Producciones Award at Guadalajara Festival’s 2025 Co-Production Meetings in Mexico. 

What Is ‘God’s Favorite Girl’ About?   

Based on true events and marking the feature debut of Diego Ulloa Alevar, “God’s Favorite Daughter” is set in Ecuador. When her parents tell her they’re getting a divorce, Moni does what any 16-year-old girl would do: she claims that the Virgin Mary speaks to her,  the logline runs. “What she doesn’t imagine is that her little lie will turn into one of the greatest religious frauds of the 20th century.”

“God’s Favorite Daughter” is co-written by Ulloa and Marina Parés, who won a 2021 best adapted screenplay Spanish Academy Goya for “Ane is Missing,” another debut, of Basque director David Pérez Sañudo and another mother-daughter relationship tale which talks about fractured relationships.

Ulloa studied at Barcelona’s Escac film school and has carved out a career creating video and titles which stand out for their sense of humor. His feature film “Dedicada a Mi Ex” premiered on Netflix Latin America and became a major audience success. 

“One of the most special aspects of this project is our desire to delve deeply into the characters’ motivations, especially through the mother-daughter dynamic,” said Baldó. “That’s why Diego Ulloa and I spent a long time considering who could co-write the script, and we were lucky to connect with Marina Parés, a Goya Award winner for ‘Ane Is Missing,’ where she explored the same theme. Our goal is to take the audience on a wild journey to discover how the biggest religious scam of the 1990s in Latin America came to be.”

Elsewhere Baldó has called the project a “satire about faith, fame and the absurdity of modern belief.”

Co-Production: The Way To Go

“God’s Favorite Girl” is executive produced by Funicular Films’ Marta Baldó, Marc Clotet, Aina Clotet, Jan Andreu, with Baldó also serving as producer. The film project is already co-produced by Ecuador’s Abaca Film, whose credits include “Los Ahogados,” from Juan Sebastián Jácome and Victor Mares, which won four industry prizes at 2023’s Ventana Sur. 

It also produced 2018 FiGa Films sold “Cenizas,” Jácome’s first feature and Diego Araujo’s 2014 debut “Holiday” (“Feriado”), which Variety called a “gentle, attractive coming-out story.”

A Nanouk Films, Funicular and Anagram Sweden production, co-produced by RTVE, 3Cat and Sweden’s SVT, in co-production with NDR and YLE, “This Is Not Sweden” is a pioneering Spain-Scandinavian TV series co-production.

“Our production model is strongly based on co-production, collaborating with companies that can bring creative and cultural richness as well as valuable know-how to each project,” said Baldó. “We believe that co-producing not only strengthens the artistic scope of a film or series but also expands its international potential and market reach.”

More on Funicular Films

The. Barcelona-based production house was launched in Spring 2021 by “This is Not Sweden” creator Aina Clotet, entrepreneur Andreu, actor Marc Clotet (“Último primer día”) and Baldó (“This Is Not Sweden”).

“Funicular was created primarily to support Aina Clotet in developing her first ideas as a creator,” said Baldó. “With ‘This Is Not Sweden’ and ‘Oh Nora,’ we realized that the time and energy invested in the projects made it very worthwhile to establish our own production company. Being surrounded by talent connected to Aina allowed us to meet new directors with fresh ideas, which has led us to build a strong and exciting slate of projects.

At the same time, we are actively exploring partnerships with investors who are interested in entering the audiovisual sector, building long-term relationships that go beyond a single project,” Baldó added. “Our goal is to create a sustainable production ecosystem where creative ambition and solid financial strategy go hand in hand, ensuring both artistic integrity and commercial viability.”