Alberto Gastesi completes filming on new series Argi Gorriak
- The Spanish director has enlisted Itziar Ituño to star in a sharp family comedy of eight half-hour episodes, produced by Vidania Films
Itziar Ituño (seen in series such as Money Heist and Intimacy [+see also:
trailer
series profile]) plays Elena Múgica, a dubbing actress whose more vibrant years are now behind her, living an ordinary life until her ex-husband unexpectedly returns, with the threat of death hanging over him. This is the premise for Argi Gorriak, a series of eight 30-minute episodes directed by Alberto Gastesi (Stillness in the Storm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Gastesi
film profile]), filmed over the past eight weeks in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia.
The cast also includes Nerea Sanz (Zeru Ahoak), Arnatz Puertas (Itoiz udako sesionak), Iñigo Gastesi (Marco [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño
film profile]), Iñigo Rodríguez (Best Leading Actor at the Max Awards for Todo el tiempo del mundo), Klara Badiola (Nora [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Miren Gaztañaga (The Last Romantics [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Sara Cózar (20,000 Species of Bees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Estíbaliz Urresola
film profile]), Guiomar Puerta (May I Speak With the Enemy? [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Aitor Beltrán, Yangxi Chen and Jon Lukas Puertas (Desaparecido).
According to the production team, the series – written by Álex Merino in collaboration with Gemma Urraka, Kepa Errasti and Alejandra Arróspide – tackles subjects such as chosen family, identity, culture shock, job insecurity and LGBT+ visibility with an irreverent, agile and deeply emotional tone; its creative references include titles such as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Paquita Salas and Arrested Development.
The series synopsis reads as follows: if there is anything worse than abandonment by a father, it is his return five years later having suffered a stroke that prevents him from speaking or even moving much. The already strange situation becomes even more disturbing when his return coincides with a death threat hidden in a dish of sweet and sour pork. The Múgica family has never been good at being a family, but if there is one thing they do value, it is their own lives. To save themselves, they will have to work as a team and find out what trouble the father has got into over the past five years. The sooner they solve the case, the sooner they can return to being a happily disunited family.
Alberto Gastesi (who has yet to release Singular, his second feature film) says that this shoot "went like a dream, with a technical and artistic team that seemed more like a family or a group of friends, moments when laughter almost ruined some of the shots, a cast that has squeezed all the possibilities out of a script with a humour that carried us all with it..." He concludes, "Now we start the post-production stage to finish putting together the pieces of a puzzle that we are looking forward to sharing with the public."
Argi Gorriak is a production by Alejandra Arróspide for Vidania Films in partnership with EITB.
(Translated from Spanish)
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