The new feature film production, a grounded sci-fi set in a near future, is written & directed by María Martínez Bayona
THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO US & Canada and BBC Film have announced the coproduction of the new feature film THE END OF IT and have revealed its cast including BAFTA award-winning Rebecca Hall (The Listeners, Christine, Vicky Christina Barcelona), Golden Globe award-winning Gael GarcÍa Bernal (Mozart In The Jungle, Old, Y Tu Mama Tambien), BAFTA nominated Noomi Rapace (Lamb, Prometheus, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Golden Globe nominated Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart, Lady Bird, How To Build A Girl). THE END OF IT is the feature directorial debut of Maria Martinez Bayona, who also penned the script. Production began in April 2025 on location in the Canary Islands, Spain.
In a near-future world where ageing can be cured and death is now optional, Claire (Rebecca Hall) a former provocative artist approaching her 250th birthday, decides she’s had enough – she wants to die. Her decision stirs conflicts with her husband (Gael García Bernal), daughter (Noomi Rapace) and AI assistant (Beanie Feldstein), revealing the humorous complexity of their relationships. As Claire uses her impending death to reclaim her role as an artist, she is forced to face what it really means to die, to live, and the messy absurdity of it all.
“This film ask a question: what would it mean to go on living forever? But more importantly – what does it mean to feel alive? A question which is profoundly human, contradictory and also absurd. I’m incredibly excited to embark on this journey with such an amazing cast and crew, and supportive partners alongside us”, said Maria Martinez Bayona
THE END OF IT is produced by Emilie Jouffroy and Kamilla Kristiane Hodøl for Elation Pictures (The Damned), Adrià Monés Murlans for Fasten Films (Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell) and Laura Fernández Espeso for THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO. Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and Andrea Ottmar Berentsen co-produce for Eye Eye Pictures (The Worst Person In The World). The film was developed with the support of BBC Film and iFeatures.
Further casting includes Susan Wokoma (Cheaters, Enola Holmes 1 & 2), David Verdaguer (Goya award-winning for Jokes & Cigarettes, and Summer 1993), Pål Sverre Hagen (Kon Tiki, War Sailor) and Kristine Kujath Thorp (Sick of Myself, Ninjababy).
Bankside Films is handling international sales (excluding Latin America which is managed directly by The Mediapro Studio Distribution), while WME Independent is representing North America. Executive producers include JC Acosta and Erika Kennair for THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO, Claudia Yusef for BBC Film and Ford Corbet, Nathan Klingher and Apur Parikh for Barreling Wave Pictures.
Key creatives for THE END OF IT include cinematographer Andres Arochi (Longlegs), production designer Lili Lea Abrahams (assistant art director for Poor Things), costume designer Pau Aulí (Afternoons of Solitude), editor Tania Reddin (Hard Truths) and sound designer Gisle Tveito (Worst Person in the World). The casting directors were Ellen Chenoweth and Susanne Scheel (No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton, Past Lives).
Maria Martinez Bayona is repped by Sayle Screen, Rebecca Hall is repped by WME and Julian Belfrage Associates, Gael Garcia Bernal is repped by WME, Noomi Rapace is repped by Gersh and Luz Eterna, with Kurt Selling negotiating the deal, and Beanie Feldstein is repped by WME, Linden Entertainment and Ocean Avenue.
About Maria Martinez Bayona
Maria Martinez Bayona is a Catalan/Spanish writer and director based in London. She moved to the UK in 2014 to study the MA in Directing Fiction at the National Film and TV School with the support of a “La Caixa” Scholarship. Her graduation film MIA premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, was long-listed for the BIFA Best British Short and won three awards at the RTS Student Awards among other awards. Her short WAKE was commissioned by Film4, released on Channel 4, and selected at festivals like the Encounters Film Festival and the LSFF. Also commissioned by Film4, her short SUCH SMALL HANDS is an adaptation of a novella by Spanish award-winning writer Andrés Barba. The short won Best Short and the Audience Award at the Strasbourg Fantastic Film Festival; Best Director in the Fantastic Fest “Short Fuse” strand; and Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Thriller at the Aesthetica Film Festival. THE END OF IT is Maria’s debut feature.
About Elation Pictures
Elation Pictures is a production outfit based across the UK and Norway, set up by Emilie Jouffroy and Kamilla Kristiane Hodol, and selected by the British Film Institute as one of the foremost new production companies in the UK in the context of their 2016 Vision Awards.
Emilie and Kamilla produced The Damned, directed by Thordur Palsson and written by Jamie Hannigan, which premiered at Tribeca 2024 and was released in the USA by Vertical in January 2025. Others credits include Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures which premiered in Competition at San Sebastian, and award-winning shorts such as Edmond (dir. Nina Gantz, Winner BAFTA Best Animation, BIFA Best Short Film, and Sundance Best Animation), Manoman (dir. Simon Cartwright, BAFTA and BIFA nominated, Official Selection at Cannes Cinefondation, Sundance and SXSW) and Diagnosis (dir. Eva Riley, Short of the Week and Vimeo Staff Pick). In 2017, their feature film Tides premiered at the BFI London Film Festival.
About Fasten Films
Fasten Films is a film and television production company based in Barcelona and the Canary Islands. Fasten Films’ productions include Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Phạm Thiên Ân, 2023), winner of the Caméra d’Or for Best First Feature at its premiere in Cannes; Mediterráneo (Marcel Barrena, 2021), a Spain-Greece co-production that won three Goya Awards as well as Gaudí, Feroz, and Forqué awards; The Permanent Picture (Laura Ferrés, 2023), which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and won the Seminci Grand Award (Espiga de Oro); On the Edge (Giordano Gederlini, 2022), a Spain-Belgium-France co-production starring Antonio de la Torre; and Centauro (Daniel Calparsoro, 2022), a Netflix original thriller — among other titles.
Fasten is currently in the production and post-production phases of several projects, including The Birthday Party (Miguel Ángel Jiménez, 2024, starring Willem Dafoe and Emma Suárez); Hermanos (Carol and Marina Rodríguez Colás, 2024); Bajo el mismo sol (Ulises Porra, 2024); El Puma (Marcela Said, starring Luis Tosar and Antonia Zegers 2025); La más dulce (Laïla Marrakchi, starring Itsaso Arana 2025); Las vidas posibles de Luisa Dorado (Jorge Dorado, 2026); Alea Aquarius (Maria von Heland), a TV series financed by ZDF and RTVE; and Frauds, a TV series produced by Monumental TV Studios and ITV.
About THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO
THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO is the content creation, production and distribution factory of GRUP MEDIAPRO, and which integrates well-established production houses such as Globomedia, 100 Balas, El Terrat, Big Bang Media, K2000, Hostoil, Oficina Burman, Cimarrón, and Fresco Films producing content of every genres worldwide, including scripted content such as series, films, entertainment programs, short-formats and documentaries. THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO promotes high quality projects worldwide, developed in association with renowned talent of national and international prestige, including Paolo Sorrentino, Woody Allen, Isabel Coixet, Ran Tellem, Oliver Stone, Daniel Burman, Fernando León de Aranoa, Iván Escobar, Borja Cobeaga, Diego San José, Fernando González Molina, Berto Romero, Andreu Buenafuente, Clara Roquet, Coral Cruz, Marc Cistaré, Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn, Juan Carlos Aparicio and Lluís Arcarazo, among others. THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO partners with many of the industry’s key operators, including Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, ViX, Paramount+, SkyShowtime, Movistar Plus+, Atresmedia and Mediaset, and its productions have achieved several international awards, including 2 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Daytime Emmy Awards and multiple Goya awards.
About Bankside Films
Founded in London in 2007, Bankside Films is a leading international sales company providing worldwide distribution, executive producing and financing services to independent producers globally. The company also manages an in-house development and production slate, originating its own projects as well as partnering with filmmakers to commission and develop new material. Bankside Films also enjoys a close relationship with its sister company, Head Gear Films, a leading financier of global content whilst maintaining relationships with a broad range of international financiers. The company is driven by a passion for storytelling which challenges the status quo.
Bankside Films prides itself on working with unique and distinctive cinematic voices capable of delivering exciting new stories for worldwide audiences. Emerging filmmakers are intrinsic to the company’s ethos and we continue to champion them whilst remaining a key partner for more established directors and producers.
Past successes include BELLE sold globally to Searchlight Pictures, CARGO sold globally to Netflix, Sundance title THE HOLE IN THE GROUND which was acquired by A24 in the US, ORDINARY LOVE sold internationally to Focus Features and domestically to Bleecker Street, IN FABRIC sold domestically to A24, ETERNAL BEAUTY sold to Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions for international and Samuel Goldwyn Films for North America and WOLF which sold to Focus Features globally.
More recently, BRIAN AND CHARLES and YOU WON’T BE ALONE both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022, and both sold internationally to Focus. In 2023, Bankside Films took Danny & Michael Philippou’s smash hit TALK TO MEto the Sundance Film Festival where it was picked up by A24 for North America and went on to take over $95m at the global box office. The film went on to play in the Berlinale Special section in Berlin and SXSW 2023. Vasilis Katsoupis’ INSIDE starring Willem Dafoe also premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023 and sold globally to Focus Features. 2023 also saw the release of THE QUIET GIRL (An Cailín Ciúin) which was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards®, having premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
Bankside Films has started 2025 with three films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND starring Carey Mulligan (which has sold globally to Focus Features), Nadia Fall’s feature debut BRIDES and Bryn Chainey’s feature debut RABBIT TRAP starring Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen. Ido Fluk’s KÖLN 75 starring John Magaro and Mala Emde also premiered as a Special Gala at the Berlinale.
About BBC Film
Firmly established at the forefront of UK film, BBC Film has an ambitious slate featuring many of the most exciting filmmakers working today. BBC Film’s recent cinema releases include: THE OUTRUN directed by Nora Fingscheidt, based on Amy Liptrot’s best-selling memoir and starring Saoirse Ronan and Paapa Essiedu; BIRD, from award-winning writer-director Andrea Arnold (Cow, Fish Tank); Rungano Nyoni’s (I am Not a Witch) BIFA-winning second feature ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL; Daniel Kokotajlo’s second film, STARVE ACRE starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark; Naqqash Khalid’s IN CAMERA, starring Nabhaan Rizwan, Amir El-Masry and Rory Fleck Byrne; ONE LIFE directed by James Hawes starring Anthony Hopkins; HOARD from Luna Carmoon, starring Saura Lightfoot Leon and Joseph Quinn which took three prizes at Venice Critics’ Week 2023; THE IRON CLAW from Sean Durkin (The Nest) starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson; Mahalia Belo’s THE END WE START FROM, written by Alice Birch and based on the novel by Megan Hunter, starring Jodie Comer; Martin Scorsese narrated documentary MADE IN ENGLAND: THE FILMS OF POWELL AND PRESSBURGER directed by David Hinton; and 2023’s top grossing UK independent film THE GREAT ESCAPER from Oliver Parker, starring Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson.
Upcoming BBC Film cinema releases include: SEPTEMBER SAYS, the feature directorial debut from Ariane Labed based on the novel ‘Sisters’ by Daisy Johnson; SANTOSH, the narrative feature debut from writer-director Sandhya Suri (I For India) which won two BIFA awards; Laura Carreira’s debut ON FALLING starring Joana Santos which won Best Director at San Sebastian and the Sutherland Award at the BFI London Film Festival; Athina Rachel Tsangari’s HARVEST starring Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling and Rosy McEwen premiered In Competition at Venice Film Festival, and THE SALT PATH based on the best-selling novel by Raynor Winn, directed by Marianne Elliott and starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs screened at Toronto International Film Festival.
Upcoming BBC Film premieres include: Harry Lighton’s debut PILLION starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard; Joachim Trier’s SENTIMENTAL VALUE starring Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Cory Michael Smith and Elle Fanning; Brendan Canty’s debut feature CHRISTY, written by Alan O’Gorman and starring Daniel Power; the directorial debut of actor Harris Dickinson, produced by Archie Peach and Scott O’Donnell; Aneil Karia’s HAMLET starring Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark and Joe Alywn; and THE CHORAL written by Alan Bennett, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Ralph Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale, Nathan Hall and Amara Okereke.