Zoe Bonafonte to Star as Spain's First Female Footballer in 'Veleta'
Zoe Bonafonte will play Ana "Nita" Carmona Ruiz, widely regarded as Spain's first female footballer, in the Spain-Argentina co-production Veleta, according to Variety.
Bonafonte earned a best new actress Goya nomination — Spain's top film prize — for Marcel Barrena's five-time Goya-winning El 47. She now takes on a role rooted in early 20th-century Málaga, where Carmona, nicknamed both Nita and Veleta, bound her chest, hid her hair and played under a male identity to join a sport entirely closed to women. Her teammates kept the secret for decades.
The film is directed and co-written by Paco Torres, a Seville-based film-maker and CEO of Blend Studios. Veleta is his second feature. Torres co-wrote the screenplay with Amaya Muruzábal, creator of the series Hernán and showrunner of Prime Video's Red Queen, who also produces. The story opens in Málaga in 1917, as the city's faeneras — fisherwomen — take to the streets and young men from working-class families are drawn into the Rif War in northern Morocco.
The cast brings together names from across Spanish and international screens. Goya winner Dani Rovira, who took the 2015 best new actor prize for Spanish Affair, plays Carmona's father. Moe Dunford, known to audiences from Vikings, also stars. The ensemble extends to Javier Morgade, Martin Urrutia, Blanca Fernández in her screen debut, Adelfa Calvo, Mariola Fuentes and Eric Masip.
Shooting began in July across Málaga, Torrox, Antequera and Motril — all in Andalusia, southern Spain — and was due to wrap in mid-August. The production pairs Spanish and Argentine companies: Blend Studios, Muruzábal's M Content, Nephilim Producciones (run by Luis Collar and Jorge Moreno, with credits including A Loose End and Invisibles), and Buenos Aires-based Lahaye Media, whose post-production arm has worked on close to 300 titles for Disney+, Prime Video and HBO Max.
Institutional support comes from Spain's ICAA (the national film institute), the Málaga Provincial Council, and Andalusia's public broadcaster RTVA. Málaga CF, the city's football club, has been involved since the first day of filming and agreed to take part in promotional activities around the release.
Veleta is slated to reach cinemas in 2027.
The project was first announced on Banijay's official site in December 2024. Torres confirmed his attachment as director in an Instagram post in August 2025. The film is now in the final stretch of principal photography.
For a story about a woman who had to disappear in order to compete, the production behind Veleta is doing the opposite — pulling together four companies, two countries and a regional broadcaster to bring a forgotten chapter of Spanish sport to the screen.
