Catalan! films eMagazine
winter 2012 issue 2
Transforming reality: Documentaries produced in Catalonia produced in Catalonia Also:
Catalan premieres FORTHCOMING RELEASES News hightlights
Institut Català de les Indústries Culturals Rambla de Santa Mònica, 8 E-08002 Barcelona Tel.: +34 933 162 700 internacional.icec@gencat.cat www.gencat.cat/cultura/icec/internacional www.catalanarts.cat Catalan Films & TV Mestre Nicolau, 23, entl., 1 E-08021 Barcelona Tel.: +34 935 524 945 www.catalanfilms.cat catalanfilmstv@gencat.cat Edited by: Utopia Global – utopia@utopiaglobal.com Texts: Alba Laguna, Anna Petrus, Francesc Vilallonga Images: Decine Magazine archive Design: Manuel Cuyàs D.L.: B–32543-2011 Barcelona, February 2012 ISSN: 2014-4415 This magazine is published under an AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license, which allows you to download this work and share it with others as long as you credit the author, but you can’t change it in any way or use them commercially. Read the full license at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Catalan! films eMagazine
winter 2012 issue 2
The digital magazine for the international promotion of the Catalan cinema. Available in English, Catalan and Spanish. Published four-monthly.
FOREWORD We are glad to introduce you the second issue of the digital magazine Catalan Films eMagazine devoted to promote the audiovisual from Catalonia worldwide. We begin this 2012 in the best way ever possible. On one hand, tens of Catalan productions have been selected to take part on the official program of several relevant festivals around the world. International Film Festival in Rotterdam, Berlinale, Sundance Film Festival and Festival Internacional de Guadalajara are examples of contests which have supported the Catalan production programming films and shorts from different genres. On the other hand, several movies have been nominated for international awards. We would like to congratulate Midnight in Paris, which has 4 Oscar Academy Awards nominations as best film, best director, best writing (original screenplay) and best art direction, and also Chico & Rita, created by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, nominated as best animated feature film. We are also proud of the effort that the team of Pa Negre (Black Bread), Spanish candidate for best foreign language film category, has made during their career to succeed in the Oscars despite not having the desired results.
In this issue we would like to remark the great moment of the Catalan documentary, especially since the period of the School of Barcelona. Names such as José Luis Guerín, Isaki Lacuesta, Renate Costa, Òscar Pérez, Mia de Ribot or Albert Solé are examples of this brilliant moment of the documentary genre in Catalonia, it has echoed internationally and experts have praised its creativity and depth. That is a beginning full of energy, full of awards and increasing visibility in the international markets. That is so, thanks to the activity and the support of Catalan Films & TV and Media Antena Catalunya, among others. Wishing all the best for the Catalan productions in this 2012, we invite you to read and enjoy the new Catalan Films eMagazine.
Summary
Close up: MARIE PIERRE DUHAMEL HOT: TRANSFORMING REALITY: documentaries produced in C interview: Albert SolĂŠ 24 in the spotlight 34 coming soon 74 news 82 upcoming festivals 90
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Catalonia
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*Tengo ganas de ti
Close up MARIE PIERRE DUHAMEL Programmer at Biennale di Venezia
“When a Catalan film works internationally, it is essential” Anna Petrus
Marie Pierre Duhamel is programmer of the Biennale di Venezia. She was head of documentary for ARTE and was also part of the CNC (Centre national de la Cinématographie). For years she directed the emblematic Cinéma du Réel festival of the Pompidou Center in Paris. Her connection with Catalan cinema goes back to the start of the Creative Documentary Masters course of the Pompeu Fabra University, with which she still keeps a tight bond.
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Close up
It is evident that the Venice Film Festival has believed in Catalan cinema. Filmmakers such as Pere Portabella, José Luis Guerin, Jaume Balagueró, Lluís Galter, Kike Maíllo, Oscar Pérez and Mia de Ribot have had their latest projects premiered there. What is your general opinion on film creation in Catalonia? When I started teaching in Barcelona, at the Creative Documentary Masters course of the Pompeu Fabra University, I already knew people from my time at ARTE, like Paco Poch, José Luis Guerin and other people from the sector. And when I started programming for Venice I came up with the idea of devising a retrospective of non During my time as a programmer fictional Spanish cinema. in Venice I have always tried to look I asked Jordi Balló and for Catalan films to back them at Miguel María for advice the festival on the subject. Both told me that if I went ahead I would encounter very pleasant surprises. That’s when I came here and went to the film library and discovered films that I had read about in books, such as Portabella’s work and that of the Barcelona School of Film. At the same time, I discovered some small pieces that I thought should be seen again because they carried a very obvious modernity, and I realized that this modernity was a very specific Catalan trait. Do you think that this awareness you have of the specificity of Catalan cinema exists in the international festival circuit? I think there is a certain awareness of Catalan cinema worldwide. There are several examples; Eve, by Kike Maíllo, is a film that was screened in Venice. Also Jaume Balagueró’s films have been at our festival. Álex de la Iglesia is yet another case, despite not being Catalan. Back to the international scope of Catalan cinema, I’m thinking for instance of Ventura Pons, who’s very Catalan and makes very Catalan films. But his films don’t travel anymore, although they did in the past. Why can we watch so many American comedies in French cinemas but can’t have
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a Ventura Pons? It’s an example of a filmmaker who was very well known at one stage and who’s disappeared from the international market. It’s the case of so many others. It’s very strange that a certain type of Spanish and Catalan cinema didn’t enter the international circuit until the late eighties. And I don’t really know how to analyze this. But in any case, what I would highlight and defend about Catalan cinema are the radical forms, the essay, the sense of freedom in the process of film creation and the message conveyed in the films, and finally, the young producers and directors that, despite the huge difficulties, feel the necessary passion to get projects off the ground, in whatever way they can, although most of them are not very profitable. I thought that for radical films it would be easier to reach the cinema screens in France... There are some, but they end up canceled among the high number of weekly releases. Do you know how many films are released in Paris every Friday? Seventy. It’s too much. Journalists and reviewers can’t keep up. And neither can the viewers. Films last one or two weeks and then they’re out. It’s a big paradox. On the one hand it’s positive, but on the other hand it just cannot be assimilated. I remember the documentary The Land Inhabited by Anna Sanmartí, produced by Marta Andreu. The film was in the cinema in Gràcia for several weeks. And the same thing happens with Albert Serra’s films. I watched Honour of the Knights (Quixotic) with José Luis Guerin, in a small cinema. In Catalonia there is great enthusiasm towards cinema. In addition, there aren’t many cinemas, but every time I come, I open the newspapers and I see very pleasant surprises. In France, except for Paris, if you look at the cinema listings you realize that most are American movies, a low percentage are French films, and in some arthouse cinemas maybe you’ll find different films in their original versions. Maybe here we have an idealized notion of France... Maybe a little bit. It is true that in Paris you’ve got many film stimuli, but outside the capital, it’s a different story. However, here in Barcelona you’ve
Close up
got a great balance between American productions, national productions and productions from around the world. Also, the international scope of a film like 108 (Cuchillo de palo) is an example of the vitality and energy of the Catalan film sector that needs to be preserved and cultivated. It’s an example of how the more specific the film, the more universal it can become. We also need to bear in mind that artistic cinema cannot live without commercial cinema and vice versa, and so it’s good for a country to look after both ways of conceiving cinema, in order to secure its survival. However, new film policies tend to favour big productions... We all know that there are big productions which are masterpieces. It’s obvious that more money can help. The thing is to know the international market well to be sure about what are the films that best Producers like Paco Poch and represent the country’s Lluís Miñarro do an excellent job creativity. It’s the question of supporting the most radical that public institutions need and artistic film forms to ask themselves when investing in cinema. As I said earlier, nothing needs to be excluded, but a clear idea of how the market works is fundamental, and going for the films that will bring resonance to the country’s own cinematography. If for instance a commercial Catalan film works really well internationally, it will trigger people’s curiosity to discover other films produced here. And this is essential. What do you think should be or will be the role of film festivals in the future, now that the film industry is rapidly changing due to new distribution forms, the democratization of production modes, the huge increase in film productions, etc.? This question is in the minds of all film festivals worldwide and in those of industry professionals. In my position I can tell you that I have always believed that a festival needs
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a point of view in its selection and the way it programs. It doesn’t have to represent but present a certain trend, which can be personal. At least I think good festivals are built like this. In this sense, I think festivals will stay more or less the way they are now. In terms of programming and selecting, it is true that it’s getting more difficult all the time. The fact that some festivals like Rotterdam or the Orizzonti section in Venice are showing sensitivity towards more marginal forms, confirms somehow the opening towards transformations taking place in the medium. I don’t believe, though, in specialized festivals but festivals that conceive cinema from a global perspective. Festivals that ignore videoart or documentary, for example, that’s not good. Cinema needs to be viewed as a whole. And this takes us to the origins of cinema when there was no difference between documentary, experimental, fiction, etc. It needs to be clear that festivals do not replace the distribution of a film. This situation is currently very common, and should be corrected. There are many films that are screened in festivals but don’t get distributed. Cinema has an economic logic that festivals don’t have. ■
HOT
TRANSFO REALIT documentaries produced in
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ORMING EALITY: mentaries in Catalonia *The Double Steps
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*Cuchillo de palo
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It is evident that documentary is one of the most blooming film forms in terms of production happening in Catalonia. For over a decade now the genre has been reinventing itself thanks to the emergence of new filmmakers who have chosen it for their experimentation as film authors. However, the wish and need to find new film horizons by taking reality as a starting point goes back to the Barcelona School of Film. Anna Petrus
2011 has been an important year for Catalan documentary. Not only because of the ascending chart regarding both the number of documentaries produced and their diversity, but also because two events have confirmed so. On the one hand, the first ever Catalan documentary producers’ association, Pro-Docs, has been created, and so far it has twenty-five documentary production companies attached to it, amongst which are renowned ones such as Paral¡lel40, Bausan Films and Nanouk
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Films. In addition, the documentary film festival DocsBarcelona has become the main festival of this genre in our territory and for its 2012 edition it moves right to the heart of Barcelona to present 26 films from around the world and to maintain the centrality of the Pitching Forum as the driving force of the documentary industry both inside and outside Catalonia. As usual since En construcción (2001) by José Luis Guerin, in the last year Catalonia has produced documentaries that have traveled beyond our borders and have become a focal point of national and international film creation. We are talking about both documentaries seeking formal risk, with a clear auteur vocation and in most cases, selected for first class festivals, and more introspective films that have achieved a wide resonance in our country because of the topics they deal with or their global dimension. Within the first group, probably the most emblematic case is that of Isaki Lacuesta, who has had no less than three documentaries in the last year: All Night Long, a film which explores the biography of Ava Gardner and her relationship with Spain; The Double Steps, Golden Shell award at the San Sebastian Film Festival, a mutant film which combines Miquel Barceló’s creative process with the search for François Augiéras; and El cuaderno de barro, a logbook about the creative process of The Double Steps. But there are other productions that have also been around the world, like 108 (Cuchillo de
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*Bicycle, Spoon, Apple
palo) by Renate Costa, documentary which premiered at the Berlinale, or Hollywood Talkies by Òscar Pérez and Mia de Ribot, and Guest by José Luis Guerin, both of which premiered at the last edition of the Venice Film Festival. While in 108 (Cuchillo de palo), Renate Costa investigates the tortures that the Paraguayan dictator Stroessner inflicted upon his country’s homosexuals, Hollywood Talkies reveals the story of the Spanish actors who emigrated to Hollywood during the thirties to star in the Latino versions of the big films produced by the dream factory. In Guest, José Luis Guerin shows himself for the
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*Cuchillo de palo
first time in an intimate diary trough this film made with the simplicity of a small camera, and where he films the people he meets in his travels around the globe. And along the same line, the film Futures Market, Mercedes Álvarez’ second, has also got in motion during 2011. It’s a film about the progressive devaluation of memory in a world swallowed by the forces that control the global economy. We also need to mention the documentary Bicycle, Spoon, Apple by Carles Bosch, a film about
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Pasqual Maragall and Alzheimer’s disease, which has been shown around the world and which won the Gaudí and Goya awards for best documentary. Within the group of more introspective documentaries which have had their greatest resonance in our territory, we need to mention Barcelona, abans que el temps ho esborri by Mireia Ros, a film that shows the splendour of the Catalan bourgeoisie at the beginning of the twentieth century, the one that triggered the industrial revolution in Catalonia. The film has been in the cinemas for almost a full year. Of a different nature we find Morir de dia by Laia Manresa and Sergi Dies, a documentary conceived by Joaquim Jordà, member of Barcelona School of Film whom we should consider one of the fathers of contemporary Catalan documentary, and which shows the history of the democratic transition through heroine and how it was introduced in Barcelona during the seventies. The film La puerta de no retorno by Santiago Zannou also deserves a mention, as well as Al final de la escapada by Albert Solé, director of the celebrated Bucarest, la memòria perduda (2008). While in La puerta de no retorno, Zannou takes his father back to Benin, his country of origin, forty years after leaving, in Al final de la escapada, Solé dissects the life of Miguel Núñez, a revolutionary who fought against Franco’s dictatorship and other Central-American ones until the last days of his life.
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*Guest
But 2011 has also seen radical projects, far from the classical canons. Films like Colour Runaway Dog by Andrés Duque are a display of visual virtuosity which we have also experienced in films produced on the fringes of the industry, such as 7 días sin voz by Ona Planas and Kike Barberà or Emilio, el eco de otros pasos by Enric Miró, a visual symphony, almost in requiem form, about the last stage in the life of an anarchist from Falset exiled in France. And on top of this, this year, new documentary projects have been brewing and some have already raised interest, for example Volar, Carla Subirana’s
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new film, an essay about women’s roles in quintessentially male environments; 138 segons by Joan López Lloret, a documentary about a boxer from the Gràcia district in Barcelona who fled to Mexico and was accused of being torturer; or El Foso by Ricardo Íscar, a film about the lives of the musicians that make up the opera orchestra in the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona’s Opera House). And this is only a small sample of what’s being produced at the moment. Long live Catalan documentary! ■
hot TRANSFORMING REALITY Albert Solé Director of the documentary ‘Al final de l’escapada’
“Documentary is an essential tool to recover historical memory” Francesc Vilallonga
Catalan director Albert Solé, winner of the Goya and Gaudí awards for best documentary with Bucarest, la memòria perduda, continues his work on historical memory with Al final de l’escapada, a film centered around the figure of Miguel Núñez, well-known for his anti-Franco struggle and head of the PSUC (Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia), driving force behind cooperation projects in Nicaragua and clear vindicator of the right to die with dignity. Recently awarded at the Malaga Film Festival and at the Guadalajara Film Festival in Mexico, the film claims the ability of documentary as a research tool to fill certain gaps of our most recent historical past.
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We could say that Al final de l’escapada creates a diptych with Bucarest, la memòria perduda. To which extent is this new film an extension of the previous one? Do you think you’ve said all you wanted to say about historical memory? Yes, I say it’s a “spin-off ”. When I was making Bucarest I came across Miguel Núñez, with whom I had had a sporadic personal relationship, and that’s when I realized that Miguel’s life was first class material for an audiovisual project of its own, which would allow me to underpin some elements that were already in Bucarest, but at the same time develop When I was making Bucarest, new ones. I do think one can la memòria perduda I realized talk about a diptych because that Miguel’s life was first class there are elements in one material for a peculiar project documentary that refer to the other one and vice-versa, however I’m not sure I’ve said all I wanted to say about historical memory. I have always believed that there aren’t individual stories, but basically one collective story made up of a bunch of individual interwoven micro-stories. In this sense, we could keep navigating through other individual stories that appear in Al final de l’escapada, and in this way interweave this historical heritage which has made society as it is today. So I think it’s an endless topic, and I can tell you that I’m already thinking about a third project that I would like to take to the realm of fiction, an area that I haven’t done a lot of work in, but that I am really looking forward to trying. Both in Bucarest and in this new film, you have been personally involved in what you were telling. Was this an incentive or a constraint? Was the fact that you narrate the voice over a personal choice? Without a doubt everything you mention has been the great challenge of both Bucarest and this project: how to achieve this balance, a very difficult one, which makes you constantly question your work, between the personal and the strictly professional parts which come together in every project. This has generated discussion and debate within the team. I would have
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The director finds essential a pleasant working environment liked Miguel Núñez’ daughter to be the voice over of the film, which would have given us the link with Bucarest, but this was a really complicated option, from both a technical and an emotional point of view. And that’s when I finally decided to do it myself, although it wasn’t only about doing it or not, but about deciding what tone to use and what degree of involvement. I am more convinced all the time that people want subjective, personal stories, a unique approach, with an emotional involvement from the author if possible. And from here, a series of ethical questions arise, like what right you have to become the protagonist of a story of which you’ve never been more than a secondary witness.
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In some parts of the film you use a visual device with very good results: the animation of a cartoon that already existed about Miguel Núñez himself. How did you work with this material? Frankly, it was a great device in order to visually reconstruct the part of Miguel’s life which was the hardest due to lack of archive images. If you look for images of the Spanish Civil War of the post-war period, you end up with the same fill-in images that appear in most historical documentaries on the subject. That’s when we thought we could work Miguel Núñez didn’t leave anyone on the cartoon and develop indifferent, he was always willing it in an animated form as to debate ideas, and he had a strong a visual device. We joint and spirited personality efforts with the team that were working on the cartoon, and we used a great deal of what was already there but also asked them to add new sequences that we needed. It was a real experience because it allowed me to work with a new type of material which I had never used before in any other project, and I think it gives the film a really special tone. Aside from the voice over, I guess there must have been intense debates over how to visually approach the last months and weeks of Miguel’s life: where to place the camera, the limits in regards to filming the last moments of someone’s life, managing everything with his family... For me, this was the most complicated part of the project. We’ve only been able to deal with all this with the family’s direct and enthusiastic collaboration and especially with the belief that we were directly following Miguel’s will and wishes, as he had asked for it to be like this to the last consequences. Without all this, it would have been totally impossible. In fact, Miguel had left in writing that he wanted to give his body to science, and we sum this up in one last shot where we see his body being taken away on a trolley. At this point we didn’t want any kind of metaphor, but to face the reality of death directly, just like Miguel had wanted and expressed we
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Albert Solé receiving the Goya prize for Bucarest, la memòria perduda do. This shot was perfect in order to show the more rational and scientific side of a human being’s death. But actually, the film is one of great vitality, showing a character who lived very intensely and who never conformed... I think this is perceived through the testimonies of those who knew him. Miguel Núñez was someone who didn’t leave people indifferent, always willing to debate ideas, with a strong and spirited personality, who fought for ideals he truly believed in, and who in the last stage of his life connected really well with the new generations. I have tried to reflect this intense and fascinating life in the film.
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The documentary relates Miguel Núñez’s last moments As a documentary maker, which part of the process of making a film do you feel most comfortable with? I think the key is to have a good project in your hands, but especially to get valuable and interesting material which you will finally shape in the editing room. For me it is essential to create a good atmosphere during the shooting to allow the characters to open up, to be themselves and forget about the camera. In Miguel’s case, the fact that I knew him already was important, along with his wish and predisposition, but also to work with a very small crew with whom he could establish certain familiarity, and mostly, many hours of filming and great doses of patience. As a director, I try to think less about what I’m leaving out and more about what elements I think are essential to tell the story I’m interested in.
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The Goya and Gaudí awards you got with Bucarest, la memòria perduda gave you great recognition. To which extent has this been important in order to get this new project off the ground? How do you see the current documentary scene in Catalonia? The documentary world has great financing problems: in general markets are not interested and so it needs a firm institutional support in order to make it viable. In this sense, in Catalonia we need to feel privileged because despite the inherent difficulties of the sector, a constant Documentary has great financing financing channel has been problems: markets are not established, basically from interested, and so it needs a firm TV3. I think documentary institutional support is vital because it might not be industry, but it is identity, reflection, a factory for new talent, a lab to experiment with languages and merging of languages. But also, in a country that hasn’t dealt with historical memory properly, I think it’s an essential tool to fill all the gaps that are still there. What’s the value of the awards in this context? Well, they do have some value, I won’t deny that; any recognition is welcome because it gives you resonance, it puts you on the map, it makes you known in the environment where you’re working, and this in turn increases your chances of making new projects. ■
eMEDIAcat, the new magazine from MEDIA Antena Catalunya The eMEDIAcat is one of the new developments from MEDIA Antena Catalunya for 2012. The traditional newsletter sent on paper has given way to a new magazine that is available through three channels: digital e-book reader, a downloadable PDF file and a version to print at home or at the office. It is issued quarterly, and back issues will always be available for consultation. The eMEDIAcat aims to be a tool for dissemination and promotion of Catalan projects with MEDIA’s support, offering news and views on them, as well as MEDIA initiatives from a Catalan standpoint. All the MEDIA news is also complemented daily on Facebook, Twitter and the blog. In this first issue the aim is to show examples of beneficiaries of MEDIA development, i2i and distribution using the experiences of Stork Fisk, Brutal Media, Oberon and Filmax, among others. You can consult issue 01 of eMEDIAcat at: http://www.antenamediacat.eu/eMEDIAcat01
The MEDIA Films Database, a database of audiovisual productions supported by MEDIA This is an online database designed to increase access to the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, offering information about the films that have received funds from MEDIA and relating it to their associated talent, their presence at prominent festivals, the awards received and their international distribution. It currently contains over 800 titles, it covers more than 40 festivals and markets, 35 awards and offers over 500 trailers and 2,500 photographs. Conceived and managed by MEDIA Antena Catalunya, with the help of our partner, the ICEC, the MFDB places a special emphasis on the internationalisation of Catalan MEDIA projects. You can consult the MFDB at http://www.mfdb.eu
in the spo
Wrinkles 36 Snowflake 40 THE MONK 44 XP3D 46 Open 24h 50 The Waves 52 Catalunya Ăœber Alles 54 Red Lights 56 [REC]3 Genesis 60 Year of Grace 62 Kathmandu, a Mirror in the Childish Games 66 Ghosts Graduate 70 Sidewalls 72
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*Kathmandu, a Mirror in the Sky
in the spotlight
Wrinkles
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The friendship between two old men living in a nursing home, one of them suffering from Alzheimer’s, is at the core of this adaptation of the homonymous comic book by Paco Roca. A 2D animated feature directed by Ignacio Ferreras, which was presented at the last edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival and which has been presented to take part in the Oscars 2012. Director Ignacio Ferreras Genre Animation Production Cromosoma , Perro Verde Films, Televisión de Galicia
website + trailer
in the spotlight
Paco Roca, an illustrator from Valencia, is the creator of an unconventional comic book set in an old people’s home, with which he was awarded the National Comic Prize in 2008. Wrinkles is the story of Emilio and Miguel, two old men who start a friendship at the end of their lives. Emilio has just arrived at the old people’s home with his son. He’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and he meets Miguel, who alongside other residents, will help him so that he doesn’t get transferred to the upper floor of the home, the feared floor for the “assisted”. His crazy plan brings comedy and tenderness to the old people’s home’s monotonous day to day. In a way, they’ve just started a new life. The person behind this risky adaptation of the comic book for the big screen is Ignacio Ferreras, who recently took part as an animator in the film The Illusionist, by Sylvain Chomet. Ferreras goes for a very simple yet
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effective animation style, very loyal to the original graphic novel. “There is an increasingly solid trend in animation worldwide to make films like Persepolis or Waltz with Bashir. Animation frontiers have been pulled down”, says Manuel Cristóbal, one of the film’s producers. Wrinkles is a Galician-Catalan production which fits into this new minority, high quality animated cinema for adults. ■
in the spotlight
Snowflake Director Andrés G. Schaer Genre Adventure Production Filmax , Utopia Global , Muf Animation Cast Clàudia Abate, Joan Sullà , Pere Ponce, Elsa Pataky, Fèlix Pons Ferrer , Rosa Boladeras Shot in Catalonia (See next page)
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It’s already been eight years since he’s gone, but Snowflake is still very alive as a symbol of Barcelona. The only albino gorilla ever known, renowned worldwide since 1967 after he appeared on the cover of National Geographic, has now become an animated fiction character. And he is ready to conquer the hearts of the youngest ones, those who due to their age didn’t have the chance to meet him in person. The project, a joint effort between Catalan production companies Filmax, Utopia Global and Muf Animation, which started four years ago, has come to fruition as a children’s film that combines life action and 3D animation and whose director is Andrés G. Schaer. Making use of real events like the finding of the little gorilla in Equatorial Guinea in the sixties, the subsequent
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fostering in Barcelona by Catalan scientist Jordi Sabater Pi and his arrival at the zoo, the film evolves towards a thrilling adventure. Snowflake and his friends, two kids (played by Clàudia Abate and Joan Sullà) and a red panda, will have to face the jinx Luc de Sac (Pere Ponce), with the help of the Witch of the North (Elsa Pataky), in a path towards self-acceptance and the discovery of friendship. The film is about acceptance of difference. It’s not an easy task and in Snowflake’s case it’s a conflict that needs the whole film to be resolved. The characters and adventures are childlike but not the emotions conveyed in them, which are for all ages. Recreating the Barcelona of the sixties and the work with young actors who interact with animated characters were challenges that the film has successfully overcome. ■
in the spotlight
Snowflake Locations Barcelona
with the support of Barcelona/Catalunya film comission
Barcelona-Catalunya Film Commission / Joan Perramon
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Shot in catalonia
in the spotlight
THE MONK Original title Le Moine Director Dominik Moll Genre Thriller Production Estrategia Audiovisual , Diaphana Films, Morena Films Cast Vincent Cassel , Déborah François, Joséphine Japy, Sergi López Shot in Catalonia Locations Monestir de Santes Creus and Girona
website + trailer At the end of the 18th century, in the context of a tumultuous Europe, a transgressive novel is published, condemned by the Church, and it revolutionizes European society. Now, the French-German director Dominik Moll takes it to big screen, in a Catalan co-production starring Vincent Cassel and Sergi López. After birth, Ambrosio (Vincent Cassel) is abandoned at the gates of a Capuchin convent in 18th century’s Catholic Spain. The pre-romantic revolution is pulsating throughout Europe; humans repudiate canons, liberate themselves. But that monarchy is one step behind from the rest. The baby is taken in by Franciscan monks who bring him up according to the strict Christian dogmas of the Inquisition. As an adult, Ambrosio becomes a preacher admired by his fervor and feared by his intransigence; he considers himself free from any temptation and from men’s sins. But his speech and his beliefs are disturbed by the arrival of a young novice at the convent. The monk, written by Matthew G. Lewis, was published in 1796 in England.
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The story of a Capuchin brother who gives in to his sexual impulses, the direct intervention of the devil and the intrusion of something supernatural in the real world, made the critics furious. Years later, Lewis was forced to “clean” the most polemic chapters of his novel. It was the readers that turned The monk into a cult phenomenon. It was published in various editions and was translated into French and German, inspiring writers like Hoffmann, Hugo and Balzac. “The film talks about those people who, by means of their credibility, play against their colleagues and against themselves”, said Sergi López (Vilanova i la Geltrú, 1965) in an interview with Decine. He also believes that the only devil exists within the human being, and with The Monk he materializes these words. Sergi López’s participation in this French-Spanish production is his thirteenth in an acting career that started in 1992 and has found recognition with titles such as Harry, He’s Here to Help (2000), Mine Alone (2001), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and Black Bread (2010). ■
in the spotlight
XP3D Director Sergi Vizcaíno Genre Horror Production Rodar y Rodar , Chromosome 22 and Antena 3 Films Cast Amaia Salamanca , Maxi Iglesias, Úrsula Corberó, Luis Fernández, Óscar Sinela , Alba Ribas Shot in Catalonia (See next page)
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XP3D will be the first Spanish 3D horror film. It is produced by the Catalan company Rodar y Rodar (The Orphanage, Julia’s Eyes) with locations in Barcelona, Cardona, Caldes de Montbui and el Garraf. The film tells the story of Angela, a psychiatry student who is sceptical about the existence of a paranormal world. The toughest and most eccentric lecturer in Angela’s college suggests that Angela proves or refutes the existence of the afterlife by investigating a mining town with a history filled with urban legends. Along with four other classmates, she takes a trip to Susurro with Diana, her younger sister. The relationship between the two sisters has been a cold one since their childhood, when tragic events inevitably separated them. All of them together scour the town and the old salt mines. Ignoring the warnings, they open up a door to the unknown, with unforeseen consequences. The actors who play the characters in this film are young actors known for their roles
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in Spanish TV series, like Amaia Salamanca, Maxi Iglesias, Úrsula Corberó and Luis Fernández. Sergi Vizcaíno explains that “XP3D, as my first feature film, is a challenge. It’s a horror film from within, a trip to the dark side that we all have in us”. The film presents physical horror devoid of digital effects that shift the viewer’s attention, and uses the 3D technique as a narrative form. “When a director is offered a 3D shooting he can have two possible reactions: one of rejection and fear, or one of motivation and thrill. In my case it was the second one. How could someone say no to the challenge of being one of the pioneers of this new film language that is invading us?” The producers, Mar Targarona and Joaquim Padró, chose this project without hesitation. “In Spain there is talent, but we have to compete with countries that have a lot of money to make films. We know our audience and we get on really well with directors that have the same vision”. ■
in the spotlight
XP3D Locations Barcelona Cardona Garraf Can Bros (Martorell) Sant Feliu de Codines with the support of Barcelona/Catalunya film comission
Barcelona-Catalunya Film Commission / Joan Perramon
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in the spotlight
Open 24h Director Carles Torras Genre Drama Production Zabriskie Films Cast Amadís de Murga , Judit Uriach, Fina Rius, José María Blanco Shot in Catalonia Locations Barcelona , Badalona , Cornellà , L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, El Prat de Llobregat, Sitges, Martorelles
website + trailer Film director Carles Torras (Youth, Trash) presents a disturbing black and white film which slowly introduces the viewer into a terrifyingly real nightmare. The protagonist is Héctor, a night watchman living in an emotional lethargy from which it might be dangerous to wake. Héctor struggles daily to get on with life. At night, he works as a watchman. During the day he looks after his brother, who’s mentally and physically disabled. Héctor is eager and hardworking but his troubles are never ending: he’s got a pending court case, his job is increasingly consuming, he has an abusive father…. Open 24h is so far Carles Torras’ riskiest film, and the first one he has also produced. The short repetitive scenes try to show the protagonist’s monotonous and oppressive world while exploring the darkest side of urban society. With a suggestive staging and a convincing performance
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from the lead actor, Amadís de Murga, Open 24h depicts the daily life of a character trapped in a suffocating reality. “Anyone can identify with what’s being told, but there’s nothing autobiographical in the film”, says the director. Carles Torras, from Barcelona, made his feature debut with Youth (2004), codirected with Ramon Térmens, which seduced audience and critics, screened in over 30 international festivals, and got several awards for best direction. His second film, Trash (2009), played by Óscar Jaenada, Assumpta Serna and Judit Uriach, was in competition, just like Open 24h, at the official section of the Malaga Film Festival, and got 13 nominations for the Gaudí Awards. His third feature film, Open 24h, directed and produced by himself, is his most personal project so far. “I have risked a lot with this project; it’s a much more handcrafted way of making films, with a much tighter budget”, Torras explains. ■
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The Waves Director Alberto Morais Genre Drama Production Olivo Films, Promarfi Futuro 2010 Cast Carlos Álvarez-Nóvoa , Laia Marull , Armando Aguirre Bertolín Shot in Catalonia Locations Lleida , Barcelona , Portbou
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After winning three awards at the last edition of the Moscow International Film Festival, amongst them the best film award, and having been screened at the official sections of film festivals in Gijón, Seville, London and India, this atypical road movie reaches our screens. An intimate story directed by Alberto Morais, with an octogenarian lead who takes a journey into his past in the company of Laia Marull. Miguel starts a journey which he’s been awaiting for sixty years, from Valencia to a small village in the south of France called Argelès-sur-Mer, the last stop for thousands of refugees not that long ago. Travelling with his old car through an uncertain present and a shelved past, he goes in search of a certain personal reconciliation, but also a historical one. The director, Alberto Morais, explains how five years ago during an interview with the Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos, one of his answers contained the seed of what would later become The Waves: “Conversing with History is the same
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as conversing with oneself ”. Carlos Álvarez-Nóvoa, winner of a Goya award for best new actor for Solas (1999) plays Miguel, an old man who suffers from narcolepsy. After his wife’s funeral, he plans a trip he’s been awaiting for a long time. He wishes to return to a place where he lost too many things, most of which are unrecoverable. “The film deals with a very unknown story, that of the concentration camps built in the south of France before World War II”, Morais explains. The main character interacts with the ghosts of his past and finds an accidental travel companion, Blanca (Laia Marull), with whom he shares a part of his journey back to Argelès, and who eases Miguel’s loneliness. He also finds his old friend Fernando, who despite having shared his past, has nothing to do with him anymore. These are two old men who dealt with horror in totally different ways. The Waves is Morais’ second feature film and his first fiction after his documentary film Un lugar en el cine. ■
in the spotlight
Catalunya Über Alles! Director Ramon Térmens Genre Drama Production Segarra Films, Televisió de Catalunya Cast Joel Joan, Jordi Dauder , Babou Cham, Vicky Peña , Gonzalo Cunill , Belén Fabra
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A former inmate, an unemployed immigrant and a successful businessman are the three main characters in this depiction of inland Catalonia which shows the integration challenge that newcomers face, and the tolerance challenge of the locals under the menacing shadow of demagogic extremists. A film by Ramon Térmens which won an award in San Sebastian and three in Malaga. Catalunya Über Alles! reaches the screens this month after parading national and international festivals with very good reception. This Segarra Films production in collaboration with Televisió de Catalunya depicts Catalan society through the stories of three very different characters played by Joel Joan, the recently deceased Jordi Dauder, and Babou Cham. The film also features Vicky Peña, Gonzalo Cunill, Belén Fabra, Àngels Bassas, Boris Ruiz, Diana Iuliana and David Arribas. The first story is about a former
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inmate who returns home after serving 19 years for rape. Through his eyes we observe the new reality of a town full of immigrants. The second story is that of a Sub-Saharan immigrant affected by the economic crisis. He needs a job -any job- to support his family. The third set of characters are the members of a well off family who go back to their holiday home and find a Kosovar Albanian burglar robbing. The owner of the house and the burglar get into a fight which ends with the robber’s death. Its director, Ramon Térmens (Youth, Black Buenos Aires) highlights that the film, although set in Catalonia, “talks about universal themes and the warm reception at festivals shows that it reaches the audience”. Térmens says that the film’s aim is to ring alarm bells and get the viewers to question what is happening in an increasingly intolerant Europe. The film could have been set in an Andalusian, French or Arizonian town. ■
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Red Lights Director Rodrigo Cortés Genre Thriller Production Nostromo Pictures, Televisió de Catalunya , Cindy Cowan Entertainment Cast Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver , Robert DeNiro, Elizabeth Olsen, Leonardo Sbaraglia Shot in Catalonia (See next page)
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After being presented at the Sundance Film Festival where it seduced critics and audience, Rodrigo Cortés’ new film after Buried is being released. It’s a thriller with Hollywood stars such as Cillian Murphy, Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver in the main roles. The film, just like Buried, has been produced and shot in Catalonia. Rodrigo Cortés surprised everybody with the claustrophobic Buried, where Ryan Reynolds suffered for ninety minutes trapped inside a coffin buried in the middle of nowhere. He now explores the terrain of the supernatural with the story of a paranormal fraud investigation team led by Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her assistants Tom (Cillian Murphy) and Sally (Elizabeth Olsen), who work defending rationalist science.
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Their path is crossed by Simon Silver (Robert De Niro), a blind clairvoyant, regarded as the most important psychic of all times, who had been disappeared for thirty years. Tom starts developing a morbid obsession with Silver, who possesses a magnetism dangerously reinforced every time there is a new sign of unexplainable events. The shooting took place between Catalonia and Toronto, and the direction of photography is by Xavi Giménez, who has worked in films like Darkness by Jaume Balagueró or The Machinist by Brad Anderson. Cortés explained that the film screenings at Sundance have helped him “assess the viewers’ reactions”, and he will use this to make “small adjustments that will get the film to an ideal stage”. There is already a distribution deal with Millennium Entertainment for its release in the United States. According to the distribution company, they are enthusiastic about Cortés’ new film. ■
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Red Lights Locations Barcelona Badalona Cornellà Sant Andreu de Llavaneres El Prat de Llobregat Sant Vicenç de Montalt with the support of Barcelona/Catalunya film comission
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[REC]3 GEnesis Director Paco Plaza Genre Terror Production Castelao Productions Cast Leticia Dolera , Diego Martín, Àlex Monner , Mireia Ros Shot in Catalonia Locations Sant Pere de Ribes, Sant Pere de Vilamajor , Sant Pere de Clarà (Orrius), Santa Coloma de Cervelló
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The most successful Catalan horror saga continues with a third film, directed solo by one of the two creators of the saga, Paco Plaza. This time the action takes place in broad daylight and there’s more humor in it. The starting point is the wedding of Clara and Koldo (played by Leticia Dolera and Diego Martín), which will become the most terrifying day of their lives. If [REC] and [REC]2 took place in an apartment block in Barcelona, this third part moves to the halls and gardens where the two protagonists are celebrating their wedding. The zombies or “infected” will soon appear and will turn this special day for the bride and groom into a chaotic and delirious blood feast. The film will explain the origin of the famous virus that created chaos amongst the residents of the apartment block in Barcelona.
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“It’s difficult to explain things about the film without revealing anything. I’d rather hold the interest until the film reaches the cinemas, as this was the key to the previous [REC] films”, says the director Paco Plaza. It all seems to indicate that [REC], which received numerous international awards and was a box office hit, will keep up its success with this new film, which has already been sold to over a dozen countries worldwide. Hollywood already shot its own version of the story, Quarantine, which was also a box office success, and they’re already working on the second film. Leticia Dolera (Imago Mortis, Spanish Movie) and Diego Martín (Three Steps Above Heaven, Amigos) play the married couple. Paco Plaza, who co-wrote the script with Luiso Berdejo (The New Daughter) is directing solo, and this year Jaume Balagueró will do the same with [REC]4 Apocalypse, which will be the last of the saga. ■
in the spotlight
Year of Grace Director Ventura Pons Genre Comedy Production Els Films de la Rambla Cast Rosa Maria Sardà , Oriol Pla , Santi Millan, Amparo Moreno, Diana Gómez Shot in Catalonia Locations Dosrius, La Garriga , Barcelona
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David is twenty and he arrives in Barcelona full of hope. Grace is over sixty and offers him a room in exchange for company and attention. Their co-habiting becomes explosive from the start. Ventura Pons releases a film set in the Gràcia district in Barcelona, leaning on the veteran Rosa Maria Sardà and the young Oriol Pla. Although not so long ago he announced his temporary withdrawal from cinema, Ventura Pons proves to be in top form with the release of Year of Grace, his latest title, for which he cast well-known names such as Rosa Maria Sardà, Santi Millán, Amparo Moreno or Roser Feliu. But the protagonist is the young Oriol Pla, a country boy who starts a new life in Barcelona: “This film is my return to comedy, a genre which I hadn’t worked on in over a decade”, the filmmaker explains. Grace is sixty plus and she was hoping to lodge a girl for a bit of company. Aside from being a boy,
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David is unattractive and slightly dumb. Grace is not sure about it, but she changes her mind when the boy tells her he can play “brisca”, a Spanish card game. The first evening, after stating the rules of the house (“no women, no drugs”), Grace teaches him how to play properly. After reading his tarot, she is impressed. The cards say, clearly, that the boy is onto a stroke of luck. “We have tried to reveal the sense and the message that I think the film will convey: despite everything, life is better if we help one another”, Pons states. In its soundtrack the film includes songs by Catalan bands like Mishima, Manel or El Petit de Cal Eril. After directing twenty or so theatre plays, Pons shot his first film in 1977, Ocaña, an Intermittent Portrait, officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival. With twenty-three feature films, twenty-one of which have been produced by his company Els Films de la Rambla, he’s become one of the best known Catalan directors. ■
in the spotlight
Kathmandu, a Mirror in the Sky Director Icíar Bollaín Genre Biopic/Drama Production Media Films, Es.Docu Cast Verónica Echegui, Sumyata Battarai, Norbu Tsering Gurung Shot in Catalonia Locations Barcelona , Manlleu, Puig-Reig, Sabadell
website + trailer Based on the real life story of the Catalan teacher Victòria Subirana (Vicky Sherpa), who has devoted her life to fighting against social disparity in Nepal, Icíar Bollaín constructs a life-affirming film with Verónica Echegui in the lead role. A Catalan production (Media Films) shot in mainly Kathmandu and the Nepalese mountains, about solidarity and the search for a place in the world. During the early nineties, Laia, a young teacher moves to Kathmandu to work in a small school. She soon discovers extreme poverty and a very bleak educational prospect which excludes those in most need. After a marriage of convenience to legalize her situation, Laia embarks on an ambitious educational project. She soon realizes she cannot do it on her own. But she also finds an unexpected gift: she falls in love with the stranger she married. Always backed by the young teacher Sharmila, Laia starts a personal journey
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through the deepest side of Nepalese society and herself. The director, Icíar Bollaín (Even the Rain, Take My Eyes) has given her vision of this selfimprovement story and she has had the Catalan producer Luis de Val (Herois, The One-handed Trick) to carry it out. “The idea of shooting in Kathmandu and the Mustang mountains, in English and Nepali, with a majority of non professional actors and a large number of kids, was a challenge for me. Laia’s character has to get the viewer to discover other landscapes, another culture and a different way of relating to each other and to nature” Bollaín explains. The lead actress, Verónica Echegui, made her film debut with Yo soy la Juani, and she’s been in films like El patio de mi cárcel or the more recent Verbo, presented in Sitges. The director of photography Antonio Riestra (Black Bread) manages to transfer to the big screen all the beauty of Nepal, the last of the lost Tibetan kingdoms in the Himalayas. ■
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Childish Games Director Antonio Chavarrías Genre Thriller Production Oberon Cinematogràfica Cast Juan Diego Botto, Bárbara Lennie, Mágica Pérez, Marc Rodríguez, Ágata Roca , Nora Navas Shot in Catalonia (See next page)
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The 62th edition of the Berlinale has programmed in its official section the latest film by Catalan director and producer Antonio Chavarrías, Childish Games, a psychological thriller about evil, child innocence, guilt and fear. A journey from light to darkness from Oberon Cinematogràfica, producers of the 2009 Golden Bear winner, The Milk of Sorrow. Daniel and Laura are a young married couple who haven’t had children yet and decide to temporarily take in the daughter of one of Daniel’s childhood friends who’s just committed suicide. While Laura slowly manages to get the girl to find the will to live again, Daniel starts feeling threatened by some of the child’s behavior, which arise fear and feelings from a past he had decided to bury. The film stars Juan Diego Botto (Martín (H), The Anarchist’s Wife) and Bárbara
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Lennie (The Damned, The Skin I Live in) along with the child actress Mágica Pérez and the Catalan actors Marc Rodríguez, Àgata Roca and Nora Navas. It was shot mainly in Barcelona and its province, and although the script is from Chavarrías himself, it’s based on an original idea by playwright Sergi Belbel. “With Childish Games I wanted to construct a story that grew like a threat. An uncertain threat that would take hold of all the characters little by little until they’d become victims of an increasingly pressing danger” the director explains. It’s a film dominated by evil but without evil characters. “Fear and guilt can be destructive, can annihilate anyone’s will and drag them to irrationality” Chavarrías continues. The filmmaker, who directed socialthemed films like Susanna, Volverás and Las vidas de Celia, makes his thriller debut with Childish Games. ■
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Childish Games Locations Barcelona El Masnou with the support of Barcelona/Catalunya film comission
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Ghosts Graduate Director Javier Ruiz Caldera Genre Comedy Production Ciudadano Ciskul , Mod Producciones, Think Studio, Ikiru Films Cast Raúl Arévalo, Alexandra Jiménez, Andrea Duro, Àlex Maruny, Sílvia Abril
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After Spanish Movie, one of the biggest box office hits of 2009, the second feature film by ESCAC’s former student Javier Ruiz Caldera is a comedy with fantasy elements set in a high school, the Monforte, where a teacher named Modesto occasionally sees dead people. This hasn’t only cost him a fortune in psychiatrists but has also got him fired from all the schools where he’s worked. However, his luck changes when he gets a job at the Monforte teaching five students that have turned a prestigious school into a house of horrors. Modesto must get the five students to pass the last year so that they leave at last. But this is not going to be an easy task: the five students have been dead for twenty years. “This film will offer a great twist to the high school movie genre and a hilarious approach to ghost stories”, the director explains.
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The actors that will bring the characters of Ghosts Graduate to life are Raúl Arévalo (Cousinhood) and Alexandra Jiménez (Spanish Movie, La pecera de Eva), along with Andrea Duro (Física o química), Jaime Olías (Ángel o demonio), Àlex Maruny (3MSC), Anna Castillo (Doctor Mateo), Aura Garrido (Ángel o demonio) and Javier Bódalo (Pelotas). The cast is completed with Joaquín Reyes (Spanish Movie), Carlos Areces (The Last Circus), Sílvia Abril (Spanish Movie), and Luis Varela (Cámera café). In this film, Javier Ruiz Caldera works with scriptwriters Cristóbal Garrido and Adolfo Valor, Arnau Valls as director of photography, Javier Alvariño as art director, Sergio Burmann is in charge of sound, and Lluís Castells and Jordi San Agustín are responsible for the special and digital effects. Ghosts Graduate is a Ciudadano Ciskul, Mod Producciones, Think Studio and Ikiru Films production. ■
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Sidewalls Director: Gustavo Taretto Genre: Romantic drama Production: Rizoma Films, Eddie Saeta S.A ., Pandora Filmproduktion, Zarlek Producciones Cast: Pilar López de Ayala , Javier Drolas, Inés Efron, Carla Peterson, Rafael Ferro
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Two people living next to each other in a big city like Buenos Aires can spend years without ever bumping into each other, and therefore never meeting. With this premise, the Argentinean Gustavo Taretto constructs an urban fable, modern and intimate, produced by the Catalan Lluís Miñarro. Martín is a recovering phobic. Slowly, he manages to come out of his shell and his addiction to the virtual world. Mariana is an architect working as a shop window designer, she has just separated, and her head is as messy as the apartment where she takes refuge. Apart from recent disappointments, they both have things in common. They should meet; they seem made for each other, but Buenos Aires is an overpopulated and chaotic city. How could they meet? This is a love story without the main couple being aware
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of it. Pilar López de Ayala and Javier Drolas play the two souls lost in an urban landscape, guided always by the voice over of the male character. Sidewalls stems from the homonymous short film by Taretto (2004), that has been at festivals in all continents, and has gathered 40 awards. “The film is an artificial and amusing interpretation of modern life in big cities”, the director explains. The film received a warm welcome at the Berlinale 2011, where it won the second audience award. Characters and situations are, in some cases, reminiscent of the best Woody Allen, with their pittances and paranoia. If the New York director made his city universal with Manhattan, Taretto does something similar with Buenos Aires. A life-affirming, gentle and witty film, that has seduced critics and audiences worldwide. ■
coming so Tengo ganas de ti 76 Fènix 11 ·23 77 Una pistola a cada mà 78 The Body 79 Collateral Love 80 Painless 81
Barcelona-Catalunya Film Commission / Joan Perramon
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*Tengo ganas de ti
coming soon
Tengo ganas de ti Teenage love
The biggest box office hit of 2010 in Spain, Three Steps above Heaven, has its sequel already in the works. Shooting finished in December in various locations around Barcelona and Girona. Fernando González Molina, director of the first part and of Brain Drain, is again in charge of the love and heartache of the youths in this saga based on the successful novels by Federico Moccia. Hache, the rebel protagonist played by Mario Casas, returns after some time spent in New York and Rome, and decides to rebuild his life. However, sooner or later he will reencounter Babi (María Valverde). At the same time, he will meet Gin, a girl who will make him regain the hope of falling in love. The main characters in Three Steps above Heaven, Mario Casas, María Valverde, Álvaro Cervantes, Marina Salas and Nerea Camacho, star again in Tengo ganas de ti, but they are joined here by Clara Lago, Antonio Velázquez and Carme Elías, amongst others. The film is a co-production between Zeta Cinema, Antena 3 Films, Cangrejo Films and Globomedia Cine. ■
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Fènix 11 ·23 A true story
Joel Joan and Sergi Lara started in November the shooting of Fènix 11·23, a film about the real life story of Èric Bertran. In the autumn of 2004, Èric, a fourteen-year-old boy, creates a website inspired by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, to defend the Catalan language. One night, thirty paramilitary policemen from the antiterrorist brigade in Madrid break into his house and accuse him of computer terrorism. His crime: sending an email to several supermarkets asking for labeling in Catalan. From a script by Albert Plans and Hèctor Hernández Vicens, the film talks about a person’s fragility in the face of power abuse, and how in the name of security the most basic rights can be taken away. The film tries to show what happens when the rejection caused by terrorism is used to stigmatize or destroy those who think differently. As Noam Chomsky expressed when he found out about the story: “The world should know about Èric’s story”. ■
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Una pistola a cada mà Midlife crisis
Cesc Gay started filming Una pistola a cada mà in December, with a first class cast including Ricardo Darín, Eduard Fernández, Javier Cámara, Clara Segura, Eduardo Noriega, Candela Peña, Luis Tosar, Leonor Watling, Alberto Sanjuan and Ernest Villegas, amongst others. It’s a multiple character story, which talks about men today, in an ironic and emotional depiction of deficiencies, weaknesses and other “virtues”. Stories told with no compassion about the bewilderment of today’s men: lost, displaced, confused, and in search of a new identity. The shooting will happen in sections in order to match the various actors’ schedules, and it is anticipated to last until the end of spring. This will be Cesc Gay’s sixth film after V.O.S., Fiction, In the City, Nico and Dani and Hotel Room. The film is produced again by Imposible Films (Marta Esteban) with the participation of Televisió de Catalunya and Televisión Española and the support of the Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies. ■
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The Body Hitchcock’s shadow
Catalan production company Rodar y Rodar joins efforts again with Antena 3 Films in a new thriller project, The Body. The film is the debut as a director of Oriol Paulo, scriptwriter of Julia’s Eyes, who in this case will come closer to “the universe of Hitchcock’s dark, psychological intrigue”, as explained by one of his producers, Joaquín Padró. The director adds that there are influences from Misery by Rob Reiner. The filming started in January starring José Coronado, Belén Rueda and Hugo Silva. The Body tells the story of a policeman, Jaime Peña, sent to investigate the disappearance of a woman’s body in a morgue. His main help will come from the dead woman’s husband, but clues point at him as the possible killer. Along with Rodar y Rodar and Antena 3, the L.A. based company Chromosome 22 Films is also taking part in the production. ■
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Collateral Love A social tragicomedy
A judge trapped by debt, alienating TV shows, a racist agression, a finantial world that acts to its limit in order to continue obtaining profit. This is Collateral Love. Amongst this jungle, the love that develops between a girl that’s been assaulted and her assailant will be the only road to redeem a world that is going adrift. The actors that bring to life these two characters are Joan Carles Suau (Pa negre, Águila Roja, la película) and Juliana Sanpedro (Ventdelplà). Collateral Love is a comedy inspired by a real racist agression that took place some years ago in the public transport in Barcelona. A true story that has allowed its writer and director, Jordi Roigé, to suggest a cinematographic fiction. The filming of this production by Utopia Global took place in various locations in Barcelona and the Berguedà region. In addition to the two leading characters, the cast is completed with other Catalan TV and film celebrities such as Roger Pera or Andreu Rifé. ■
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Painless There’s no pain
The French-Spanish short film director Juan Carlos Medina shooted his first feature film last summer. Painless is the title of this thriller with historical undertones, which took seven weeks to shoot. The film has developed from a script written by Medina himself and Luiso Berdejo, scriptwriter of [REC] amongst other films, and has been shot in various locations in Catalonia and Huesca. Painless tells the story of a brilliant brain surgeon who needs a bonemarrow transplant. That’s why if he wants to survive he will need to find his biological parents, who are part of a silenced and mysterious past which may contain the answers to questions in the present. During his search period, the protagonist will discover that during the Spanish Civil War a group of children were born with a strange condition: they didn’t feel physical pain. ■
News
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*Mágica Pérez and Antonio Chavarrías
News
The Red Band Society in the hands of Steven Spielberg Filmax, TV3 and the North American TV station ABC have closed a deal by which the series The Red Band Society, produced by Filmax for TV3 will be adapted and broadcast on the American channel. The series, created by Albert Espinosa and directed by Pau Freixas, will be produced by ABC. Dreamworks TV will provide the creativity, led by Steven Spielberg, and Marta Kauffman, co-creator and executive producer of Friends, will be the writer of the American version of the series. More than one North American TV station has shown an interest in the Catalan series. ABC is one of the four most important stations in the country, property of The Walt Disney Company. In terms of the deal, Filmax’ CEO, Julio Fernández, has said: “We are very happy about this success, which is shared with TV3 because without the support from Mònica Terribas and Televisió de Catalunya, who went for the series from the beginning, we couldn’t have got to where we are now. For us, the fact that the United States has shown an interest in The Red Band Society is a historical event from a business point of view. From day one we believed in this project because it’s different from anything that’s been done so far, and we’re proud of beign appreciated in the States. And if behind this project there are names like Steven Spielberg and Marta Kauffman, the pride is even greater”. Additionally, TV3’s director Mònica Terribas has said that “for a public TV station like ours, to be able to make a series that highlights the struggle for life from the perspective of children dealing with their limitations, has been a dream. And for this to go beyond our borders and reach the wider
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world is the fulfillment of our role: to universalize constructive contents”. Albert Espinosa, creator and writer of the series, adds: “My happiness is complete; I think that when one can work with the great freedom that TV3 and Filmax offer, wonderful things end up happening. In one of my years in hospital I met a 90 year old man who said to me: “If you believe in dreams, they will come true. Believing and creating are just one step apart”. Working with dreamers like Mònica Terribas, Julio Férnandez, Carlos Fernández, Pau Freixas and all the actors and crew of this series prove that this is possible”. The Red Band Society, which is getting ready for its second season in Catalonia, became a huge social phenomenon, getting to the top of the audience charts in almost every episode. Antena 3 and TNT will broadcast the series in its Spanish version from January. It will also be broadcasted in its dubbed version in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the USA. ■
News
Wrinkles and The Triplets at Cartoon Movie
The Cartoon Movie, the European forum for animation co-production, will take place between the 7th and 9th of March in Lyon. Up to 50 projects have been selected with the objective of speeding up the financing and international distribution of animated features. This year, more than ever, the themes are aimed at a mature audience, and almost half of the projects have been conceived with stereoscopic 3D, the one used by James Cameron in Avatar. The Catalan delegation is led by Wrinkles and The Triplets and the Time Machine. Wrinkles, based in the comic book by Paco Roca (National Comic Award 2008), is directed by Ignacio Ferreras and co-produced by the Catalan company Cromosoma. “It deals with Alzheimer’s in a very honest, sensitive and amusing way”, the director pointed out. The film premiered in San Sebastian Film Festival, it was preselected for the Oscars, and has received nominations for both the Goya and Gaudí awards. The Triplets by Roser Capdevila make their move to 3D under the direction of Cesc Gay and Baltasar Pedrosa. The project, still in development, will try to find a place at the Cartoon Movie. ■
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Eva wins the audience award at the Gérardmer Film Festival
The first ever Catalan film about robots, Eva continues enlarging its curriculum of recognitions received in France. After winning the Grand Jury Prize at the science-fiction film festival in Nantes, Kike Maíllo’s debut film received last Sunday the audience award at the Gérardmer International Fantasy Film Festival. Eva’s commercial release in France is due on the 21stof March. It’s also due to be released in Russia (January 5th) and the United States, where Harvey Weinstein’s production company has bought the rights for its North-American remake. ■
Childish Games by Antonio Chavarrías at the Berlinale The latest film by directorproducer Antonio Chavarrías, Childish Games, has been selected for the Berlin Film Festival. The film tells the story of a girl, Julia, who after becoming an orphan is taken in by Laura and Daniel, her father’s childhood friend. The girl’s presence makes Daniel feel pushed aside. His unease increases when he starts perceiving some of the girl’s actions as threats, and seeing in her the clues to a terrifying past he had decided to bury. The film stars Juan Diego Botto, Bárbara Lennie, Nora Navas, Àgata Roca and the child actress Mágica Pérez. It’s an Oberon Cinematogràfica production, co-produced by Continental Producciones, with the participation of Televisió de Catalunya and TVE, and the support of ICAA and ICEC. ■
News
Catalan productions awarded at FIPA
Daniel Brühl to play f1 driver Niki Lauda
The International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes (FIPA), which was held between the 23rd and 29th of January in France, presented two of the main awards to the films The Clay Diaries by Isaki Lacuesta and The Kingdom of Mr. Edhi by Amélie Saillez, which competed in the Performing Arts and Creative Documentary sections, respectively. Lacuesta’s film received the Golden FIPA in its category and Saillez’s film took second place, the Silver FIPA, in its section, in addition to the Télérama Prize it won at the same festival. The 25th celebration of the FIPA, which is considered one of the most important events for European television production, featured wide Catalan participation in almost all of its sections. Catalan Films & TV has been working for some years now organizing exclusive screenings for the art director and sending out candidates. ■
The 33 year old Catalan-German actor will play the mythical Austrian Formula 1 pilot in the film Rush, directed by NorthAmerican Ron Howard (winner of an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind). Brühl, known for his roles in Salvador (Puig Antich), Eva or the international productions Inglorious Basterds and Goodbye Lenin, will play the lead in a film about the rivalry between Lauda and the British James Junt during the seventies. The film will also include Lauda’s accident in the Nürburgring circuit in August 1976, in which he suffered serious burns to his head. The pilot, now 62, is in favour of the film. ■
89 Catalan productions at Sundance
Ventura Pons in New York Ventura Pons’ latest film, Year of Grace, produced by Els Films de la Rambla with the collaboration of TV3, had its world premiere within the framework of the Spanish Cinema Now. It’s not the first time that the Lincoln Center Film Society programs a film by Pons; in 1999 they held a retrospective of his work, which contributed to its diffusion in the U.S.A, a country where his films have been shown commercially in cinemas and on HBO. ■
Rodrigo Cortés’ new film Red Lights, produced and shot in Catalonia with Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver was presented at the Sundance Film Festival at the end of January. Also shown there, were the short film The Hidden Smile by Catalan Ventura Durall and Odysseus‘ Gambit by a former student of the Blanquerna College of Communications, Àlex Lora, that had already taken part in the 18th Independent Film Festival of Barcelona, L’Alternativa. ■
Albert Serra’s new film The polemic Catalan director Albert Serra has finished shooting in France his fourth feature film, The Story of My Death. It’s a film with amateur actors and media personalities that explains the transition from the rationalism of the 18th century to the romanticism of the 19th century. It’s a Catalan and French co-production with a marquis and a count as the main characters representing the two great views of the world at the time. ■
upcoming festivals 9 - 19 February, Berlin, Germany
Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale European Film Market (EFM) Stand Catalan Films & TV. Films: Dictado and Loxoro.
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27 February – 1 March, Barcelona, Catalunya
Mobile World Congress Catalan Films & TV, thanks to Acc10, leads 16 companies.
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2 – 8 March, Manchester, United Kingdom
¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Film Festival Films: Arrugas, El gran Vázquez, Pa Negre, Pájaros de papel and Terrados.
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2 – 10 March, Guadalajara, Mexico
Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara Films: Any de Gràcia, Los pasos dobles, Mercado de futuros. Curtmetratges: Alto sauce, El somriure amagat, Leyenda and Odysseus’ Gambit.
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91 2 – 11 March, Miami, United States
Miami International Film Festival Films: Lo contrario al amor
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16 – 24 March, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Festival Internacional de Cine Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
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21 March – 5 April, Hong Kong; China
Hong Kong International Film Festival
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1 – 4 April, Cannes, France
MIPDOC – MIPTV Stand Catalan Films & TV.
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11 – 22 April, Buenos Aires, Argentina
BAFICI
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upcoming festivals 13 – 29 April, Barcelona, Catalunya
MECAL Catalan Films & TV collaborates to favour the presence of professionals.
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18 – 29 April, New York, United States
Tribeca Film Festival
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21 – 28 April, Málaga, Spain
Festival de Málaga de Cine Español Films: The official program includes important Catalan releases.
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26 April – 6 May, Toronto, Canada
Hot Docs (Canadian International Documentary Film Festival)
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28 April – 6 May, Jeonju, South Korea
Jeonju International Film Festival
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84th Academy Awards Oscar速 Nominees