Mare Nostrum, the next feature from Argentinian writer-directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, has cast Antonio Banderas as Captain Álvaro Salcedo and locked HanWay Films for world sales into the American Film Market, Deadline and Screen Daily reported on 5 November 2026. Screen dates principal photography to March 2027 in Spain; Deadline places the shoot “early next year” in Spain. Jose Luis Escolar (Kill Jackie) produces.
Key facts
- Lead: Antonio Banderas as Captain Álvaro Salcedo
- Directors and writers: Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat with longtime co-writer Andrés Duprat (Screen)
- Sales: HanWay Films world sales launch at AFM; HanWay CEO Gabrielle Stewart quoted by Screen
- Shoot: Spain, March 2027 (Screen); producer Jose Luis Escolar
- Crew named by Deadline: cinematographer Xavi Giménez; VFX supervisor Arturo López Iriarte (Wonka); production designer Alain Bainée (Official Competition); executive producers include Cohn, Duprat, Banderas and Alejandro Roemmers
Plot and packaging
Both trades describe a commercial container ship moving a €1bn ($1.12bn) cargo from Istanbul to Cape Town. In a storm the captain finds a small boat of African migrants near sinking, brings them aboard, and sparks a political crisis when no European country will let them land. Deadline and Screen both print the directors’ line that the film looks at migration, borders and “the contradictions of human nature,” and that they treat it as their biggest film to date, mixing tension, drama and uncomfortable humour.
Cohn and Duprat’s recent credits include Official Competition and The Distinguished Citizen, which is the festival and specialty track buyers already know. Screen quotes Stewart calling the pair “Latin American superstars” and framing HanWay’s attachment as a borderless entertainment play on a “hypocritical and baffling world.” Budget, financing partners beyond Escolar’s production credit, co-production countries and casting beyond Banderas were not disclosed by either trade.
AFM timing
AFM runs 10–15 November 2026. A HanWay launch with a named star and a March 2027 start gives buyers a dated production rather than a vague development pitch. What is still missing for a finance plan is the budget band, any European public-fund or rebate attachment for the Spain shoot, and whether HanWay is also packaging North America or holding that territory out. Those gaps are normal at announcement; they become material once AFM booth meetings start.
Why it matters
For market buyers, star plus sales agent plus a locked start date is the package that moves from a one-pager into a territory conversation. Related FilmBunch market pieces include Imposters’ AFM US and international slate, Tristes Tropiques territory sales into the same market week and Marvelous–Kapa’s France–Greece pact. More under Festivals & Markets.
Our reading
The commercial hook is star, sales agent and a dated start, not a disclosed MG or co-finance map. The next evidence is which territories HanWay books at AFM and whether a European co-producer is named before cameras roll in March.