The second edition of the Film Academy Residencies Programme is under way

by Alfonso Rivera

12/10/2020 - Twenty projects by the likes of Pilar Palomero, Gabriel Azorín and Ion de Sosa will benefit from the wisdom and experience of directors including Isabel Coixet, Juan Cavestany and Manuel Martín Cuenca

The second edition of the Film Academy Residencies Programme is under way

Director Pilar Palomero, who is working on her new project La maternal

Following the success of last year’s inaugural edition (read more here), the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — led by Mariano Barroso — launched the second edition of its Residences programme on Monday, 5 October. The initiative, coordinated by Inés Enciso, is designed to offer intensive coaching to a talented cohort of creative filmmakers. Due to the current public health situation, this year’s edition will adopt a hybrid format, with some aspects moved online. The programme will continue until July 2021, during which time the selected participants will work on their projects with support and guidance from some of Spain’s most illustrious directors, including Isabel Coixet, Juan Cavestany, Belén Funes, Manuel Martín Cuenca, Víctor García León, Montxo Armendáriz, Carla Simón and Anna R. Costa.

A total of 931 entries were received for this year’s competition, both from Spain and from all over the world. Just 20 filmmakers were selected for the programme: ten women and ten men, eighteen from Spain and two from Cuba. Among the selected projects are the second feature by Pilar Palomero, entitled La maternal (Palermo is already an award-winning director, having scooped the Best Spanish Film award for Schoolgirls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pilar Palomero
film profile] in Malaga); a new film by Gabriel Azorín — Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes — following his début documentary, Los mutantes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; screenwriter Lola Mayo (a frequent collaborator of Javier Rebollo, having written the screenplays for The Dead Man and Being Happy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Woman Without Piano [+see also:
trailer
interview: Javier Rebollo, director of…
film profile]), who submitted Libertad, igualdad, fraternidad; César Esteban Alenda, who will be working on Waka Waka after teaming up with his brother José on Sin fin [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; the peerless Ion de Sosa with Balearic, the successor to his genre-defying first film Androids Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; Patricia Pérez (co-director of the documentary In a Whisper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patricia Pérez and Heidi Ha…
film profile]), with La extranjera; actress Celia de Molina with No es universal; and Irene Moray, whose short film Watermelon Juice was selected for various festivals (from Berlin to Malaga, plus a nomination for the European Film Academy Awards), and is now hard at work on La belleza.

At the opening ceremony on Monday 5 October, the Academy’s president, Mariano Barroso, extended his thanks to the Ayuntamiento de Madrid for its support of this second edition, “born of the need that all film makers feel to carve out a special place in which to realise our projects and our dreams.” This year, the programme has devised a hybrid format combining online activities and mentoring with in-person events, in order to ensure everyone’s safety in light of the current pandemic.

The full list of selected projects is as follows:

San Dai Shi Guang (Three Generations) – Jiajie Yu Yan

La maternal – Pilar Palomero

Celestina 2020 – Tina Olivares

Libertad, igualdad, fraternidad – Lola Mayo

Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes – Gabriel Azorín Belda

Waka Waka – César Esteban Alenda

Cariño, me he follado a Bunbury – Teresa Bellón Sánchez de la Blanca

Los vagabundos – Jorge Cantos

Yo no moriré de amor – Marta Matute García

Balearic – Ion de Sosa

El viaje de Salazar – Léster Álvarez Meno (Cuba)