Birds Flying East

Birds Flying East (Pájaros) is a 2024 Spanish-Romanian comedy-drama road movie directed by Pau Durà and starring Luis Zahera, Javier Gutiérrez, and Teresa Saponangelo.

Plot
Stuttering lawyer and birdwatcher Mario obtains support from upbeat garage worker and weed dealer Colombo to travel east from Valencia to Constanța to follow migratory birds.

Production
The film was produced by Fosca Films, Icónica Producciones, and Tandem Films alongside Birds Film AIE and Motion Pictures Management, with the participation of RTVE, Amazon Prime Video, and 3CAT. It was shot in between Spain, Italy, and Romania. It was shot in eight languages, including Spanish, Italian, Yiddish, Romanian, Arabic, and Hungarian.

Release
Birds Flying East was presented at the 27th Málaga Film Festival on 2 March 2024. It is scheduled to be released theatrically in Spain on 5 April 2024 by Filmax.

Reception
Jonathan Holland of ScreenDaily underscored the film to be "an engaging and energetic tragi-comic take on the multiple insecurities of masculinity in middle age".

Javier Ocaña of El País deemed the film to be "a worthy story of friendship among peers" and, drawing a comparison to 1960s and 1970s Italian cinema, wrote that "Gutiérrez and Zahera could perfectly be Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi in search of themselves".

Accolades

 * 2024 || 27th Málaga Film Festival || Silver Biznaga for Best Actor || Luis Zahera || Won ||
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