19/03/2013 - Spanish director to shoot Irish feature in Jordan

Ireland-based Spanish director Paco Torres (photo - The Magic Of Hope) has revealed further details of his upcoming production Blue Guitar. The film’s budget is in the €1.5 – 2 million range. Jordan’s Lemon Tree Productions (Not Another World) has come on board as co-producer alongside Ireland’s Epos Films (television’s Titanic: Blood And Steel) and Grand Pictures (Death Of A Superhero [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Written by Torres and Johnny Ferguson (Pimpernel sa Vatican), Blue Guitar is about Elias, a Palestinian man crippled by grief and tortured by guilt following the crash that claimed the lives of his wife and baby. Then into his life comes a Jewish boy seeking atonement and a woman looking for a new life of her own. Palestinian actor Kais Nashif (Last Days In Jerusalem [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) is attached to play Elias and Torres is in the process of casting the other principal roles.

Torres said, “As an outsider who has made his life in Ireland, my sensibilities will help me imbue this story with an objective grounding but yet a subjective eye when it comes to the emotions of characters and the vibrant melting pot of people and music I intend this film to be. Blue Guitar is a slice of life so raw that you can feel the pain and fear. Like real life, it mixes passion, tragedy, religion, violence, redemption and desire.”

Principal photography is set to commence September 2 for three weeks in Ireland, followed by a two-week shoot in Jordan. Post will be in Ireland.