Pedro Almodóvar’s new film “Parallel Mothers,” starring Penelope Cruz, will open the upcoming Venice Film Festival in September. Almodóvar’s film, which was shot during the pandemic, will world premiere in competition on September 1st and the festival will run until September 11th.
The Spanish-Language “Madres Paralelas” (Parallel Mothers), which will be the legendary director’s 23rd feature-length film, wrapped production this past April and is now set for a September 2021 release in Spain.
The director wrote the script during COVID-19 quarantine in Spain, and Penelope Cruz's role was written specifically for her. According to Almodóvar, it is a drama about “two women who give birth on the same day and who have parallel trajectories”. He went on to add that “It will be a story about the feminist world of recent mothers, of mothers who are raising children during their first and second year, and the many things that happen during that time.”
The 70-year-old Spanish filmmaker is coming off the uber-meta and autobiographical “Pain and Glory,” which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was one of the best films of his entire career. Almodóvar is known for his melodrama classics, which include “Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown,” “Talk to Her,” “All About My Mother,” and “Law of Desire.”