Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra and Juan Sola have formed Ombra Films. Funded by StudioCanal, Ombra will generate low-budget English-language horror, thriller and fantasy films made by emerging Spanish filmmakers. They’ve also got their first project. Mindscape is a psychological thriller scripted by Guy Holmes about a man with the ability to enter people’s memories. His assignment: to figure out if a 16-year-old girl is a psychopath or a victim of trauma, or both. The pic will be directed by Jorge Dorado, a successful commercials director in Spain. Ombra will produce with StudioCanal and Peter Safran (Buried). The Barcelona-born Collet-Serra, who got his break after moving to Los Angeles at 18 and first found success shooting commercials, wants to help others make the transition and take advantage of an opportunity.

“We’ve seen how many talented directors are coming out of Spain, but there hasn’t really been a platform for them to find work in films,” Sola told me. “They look up to Jaume as a guy they want to become and we thought, how about a company that creates a bridge between Spain and the U.S., similar to what Luc Besson provided in France? Already, we are being bombarded, and we feel directors will find Ombra a fantastic platform. Jaume loves mentoring new talent.”

Ombra might get involved in projects for Collet-Serra to direct, but that’s not the priority. Collett-Sera is currently in preproduction on Red Circle for Arthur Sarkissian Productions, Working Title and StudioCanal, and he’s developing the vampire tale Harker with Appian Way at Warner Bros. He’s repped by CAA and attorney Gretchen Rush.