EFM: Juan Antonio Bayona's THE ORPHANAGE (EL ORFANATO)

From The Hollywood Reporter article "Picturehouse set to adopt 'Orphanage'": "Picturehouse, the joint venture between HBO and New Line Cinema, obtained the keys to hot Spanish thriller 'The Orphanage' on Monday, taking U.S. rights in one of the highest-profile acquisitions of this year's EFM."

The screenplay for Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (El orfanato) was written by Sergio G. Sánchez. The movie apparently stars Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Geraldine Chaplin, Montserrat Carulla, Mabel Rivera, Andrés Gertrúdix, and Roger Príncep. Guillermo del Toro was one of its producers.

Here's a synopsis for The Orphanage from the production: "Laura spent the happiest years of her childhood growing up in an orphanage by the seaside, cared for by the staff and fellow orphans whom she loved as brothers and sisters. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and Simon, their 7-year-old son, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. The new home and mysterious surroundings awaken Simon's imagination, and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales and not-so-innocent games... a troubling web that begins to disturb Laura, drawing her into the child's strange universe which resonates with echoes of long-forgotten, deeply troubling memories of her own childhood. As the opening day draws near, tension builds within the family. Carlos remains sceptical, believing that Simon is making everything up in a desperate bid for attention. But Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family."

The Orphanage teaser trailer (downloadable 1.5 MB MOV file)

The Orphanage still #1 (36 KB JPEG)

The Orphanage still #2 (44 KB JPEG)

The Orphanage still #3 (see above left - 24 KB JPEG version)