Brussels-based sales agent Be For Films has acquired international rights to Sisters (Hermanas), the debut fiction feature from Spanish writer-director Ione Hernández Sáenz, ahead of its world premiere in the Toronto Film Festival's Discovery section. The Discovery programme spotlights first or second features — a launching pad for emerging directors to reach international distributors. Sisters follows Chelo and Marta, two sisters whose family is upended by an unexpected event that drags ghosts from the past into the present. Variety reported the acquisition on 6 August 2026.

The cast pairs Elena Anaya and Emma Suárez — two of Spanish cinema's most recognisable screen actors — alongside Carlota Keiko, León Martínez, Josean Bengoetxea, Aritz Kortabarria and Nora Otxoteko. Producing are Lara Izagirre, Garazi Elorza, María Zamora, Jose E. Alenda and César E. Alenda, through their companies Solita Films, Gariza Films and Elastica Films, with ISB as co-production partner. The film's financing draws on a mix of public and private backers: ICAA (Spain's national film institute), Madrid City Hall, Eitb, HBO Max and the Bizkaia Provincial Council.

For Hernández Sáenz, Toronto marks the culmination of a path that began on the festival circuit several years ago. Her short film El Palacio de la Luna was named Best Short Film of the Year by Cahiers du Cinéma (Spain), and her feature documentary 1% Schizophrenia, produced by Julio Medem, received a theatrical release. She has spent the past five years as coordinator and mentor of the Film Directing Master's programme at EFTI — the International Center of Photography and Film in Madrid. Sisters itself won the Ventana CineMad First Prize in 2021, an early signal of the project's promise before cameras rolled.

International sales rights — the mechanism by which a sales agent licenses a film to distributors territory by territory — are the connective tissue between a festival premiere and audiences in cinemas around the world. Be For Films, which operates out of Brussels, will introduce the film to buyers at Toronto's market, where acquisition executives from independent distributors across Europe, Latin America, Asia and beyond scout the Discovery slate for titles to pick up for their home territories.

For audiences in Spain, the wait will be shorter than for most. The film's official account has indicated a domestic theatrical release on 27 November, per an announcement posted on social media. That gives the film roughly two months between its Toronto premiere and its arrival in Spanish cinemas — a window in which positive festival buzz can build word of mouth before the local opening.