''Marco, the Invented Truth'' (), or simply ''Marco'', is a 2024 Spanish

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

thriller

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño starring Eduard Fernández as Enric Marco alongside

Nathalie Poza Nathalie Poza Maupain (born 7 March 1972) is a Spanish film, stage, and television actress. She is the recipient of several accolades including two Goya Awards, one Platino Awards, Platino Award, and five Actors and Actresses Union Awards. In ...

Plot

Primarily set in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, the plot follows the life of CNT secretary general and imposter Enric Marco, who built himself a fake past as a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

survivor, gaining public recognition and sympathy.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was written by Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño, Jorge Gil, and Jose Mari Goenaga. The film is an Irusoin, Moriarti, La verdad inventada AIE,

Atresmedia Cine Atresmedia Cine (formerly Ensueño Films and Antena 3 Films) is the studio belonging to Grupo Atresmedia responsible for producing films. It was created in 2000. History The film production company was created after the enacting of the Spanish ...

and Bteam Prods production, with participation and backing from ICAA, the

Basque Government The Basque Government (, ; ) is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the '' Lehendakari''. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque Parliament every four years, after a re ...

Atresmedia Atresmedia Corporación de Medios de Comunicación, S.A., previously Grupo Antena 3, is a Spanish media group, present in the television, radio and filmmaking industries. Significant shareholders include Grupo Planeta and Bertelsmann. On 6 Marc ...

Movistar Plus+ Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by , which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL as well as with satellites such as Astra. The pl ...

, and

EiTB Euskal Irrati Telebista (; ; acronym EITB, branded eitb) is the Basque Autonomous Community's public broadcast service, which broadcasts throughout the Basque Country. Its main brand is Euskal Telebista (ETB, Basque Television). EITB is the l ...

. It was lensed by Javier Agirre. Shooting locations included the Basque Country (

Zarautz Zarautz (, ) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Release

''Marco'' had its world premiere in the

Orizzonti ''Orizzonti'' ( 'Horizons') is a section of the Venice Film Festival's official selection. It runs as a parallel section to the main competition for the Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Fe ...

section of the

81st Venice International Film Festival The 81st annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2024, at Venice Lido in Italy. French actress Isabelle Huppert served as Jury President for the main competition. Italian actress an ...

on 30 August 2024. Its festival run also included screenings at the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival, the

2024 BFI London Film Festival The 68th BFI London Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 9–20 October 2024. The competition films were announced on 29 August 2024 while the films for the galas and the strands were revealed on 4 September 2024. Steve McQueen ...

, and the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival (for its North-American premiere). The film was released theatrically in Spain by BTeam Pictures on 8 November 2024. Film Factory acquired international sales rights. Epicentre Films scheduled a 14 May 2025 rollout in French theatres.

Reception

Marta Balaga of ''

Cineuropa Cineuropa is an online information portal dedicated to the promotion of European cinema. It publishes daily news, reviews, interviews, and industry reports and maintains a database of information. It is available in four languages: English, Fre ...

'' declared ''Marco'' to potentially be "one of the most watchable films at the Venice Film Festival this year" eing"dynamic, twisted and blessed with the kind of performance by Eduard Fernández that should get him all the awards out there". Andrea G. Bermejo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' (also niece of Benito Bermejo) rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that Eduard Fernández nails his performance. In September 2024, the

Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain () is a professional organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of Cinema of Spain, Spanish cinema. Founded in 1986, it is responsible for the annual Goya Awards, Spain's princ ...

selected ''Marco'' for a shortlist of 3 films to determine their final submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

Accolades

, - , , 30th Forqué Awards , , Best Actor in a Film , , Eduard Fernández , , , , , - , rowspan = "12" , , rowspan = "2" , 12th Feroz Awards , , Best Main Actor in a Film , , Eduard Fernández , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Trailer , , Omar Bermúdez, Carlos Berot , , , - , 4th Carmen Awards , , colspan = "2" , Best Non-Andalusian Produced Film , , , , , - , rowspan = "2" , 79th CEC Medals , , Best Actor , , Eduard Fernández , , , , rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Editing , , Maialen Sarasua Oliden , , , - , rowspan = "5" , 39th Goya Awards , ,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

, , Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño , , , , rowspan = "5" , , - ,

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...

, , Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño, Jorge Gil Munarriz, Jose Mari Goenaga , , , - , Best Actor , , Eduard Fernández , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , Karmele Soler, Sergio Pérez Berbel & Nacho Díaz , , , - , Best Special Effects , , Jon Serrano, Mariano García Marty, David Heras , , , - , 33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards , , Best Film Actor in a Leading Role , , Eduard Fernández , , , , , - ,

12th Platino Awards The 12th Platino Awards, presented by the Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) and the Federación Iberoamericana de Productores Cinematográficos y Audiovisuales (FIPCA), took place on April 27, 2025, at IFEMA ...

, , Best Actor , , Eduard Fernández , , , , rowspan = "11" ,

References

External links

* {{authority control 2024 biographical drama films 2024 thriller films Spanish biographical drama films Spanish thriller films Films shot in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Atresmedia Cine films Films set in Barcelona 2020s Spanish-language films 2020s Catalan-language films Films about lying 2020s Spanish films