Babieka, Viewfinder Co-Produce DGA Winner Carol Polakoff’s ‘Speak Sunlight’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Spanish production house Babieka Films is teaming with L.A.-based Viewfinder Pictures to co-produce a feature adaptation of Alan Jolis’ book “Speak Sunlight” (“La voz del sol”), the directorial debut of journalist-screenwriter-producer Carol Polakoff.

A coming-of-age story set in Paris and Pamplona during the Franco regime, the Spanish-language “Speak Sunlight” will begin production next spring in Navarre.

Polakoff, winner of two Directors Guild of America awards, has a producer’s credit on Dani Rosemberg’s Cannes Official Selection title “The Death of Cinema and My Father Too,” featuring in Thierry Frémaux’s First Features category.

Top Spanish TV scribe Natxo López, author of recent TV dramas “Perdida,” “Caronte” and “Unauthorized Living,” has adapted “Sunlight’s” Spanish-language version from Polakoff’s English script.

Babieka’s Denise O’Dell and Polakoff at Viewfinder are producing the film, with Orlando and Denis Pedregosa as executive producers, and Marta Ferrer García as associate producer.

“The project is currently in the casting stage. We are looking for two Spanish and an American actor for the key roles,” Denis Pedregosa said.

“From the moment I heard Alan Jolis read his own words at a book signing, the movie started playing out in my head. He has delivered unforgettable moments of a fateful summer and his coming of age in a sun drenched summer on the page and I can’t wait to bring them to life on the screen,” Polakoff said.

In a parallel move, Babieka has just inked film adaptation rights to Spanish writer Jesús Cañadas’ best-selling apocalyptic novel “Pronto será la noche.”

“One of the reasons we were drawn by this project is its similarity to current circumstances, dealing with both the end of a stage and a collective hysteria,” Pedregosa said.

Babieka is currently working on attaching a writer and director to the project.