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GIJÓN 2018 Industry

The SGAE Foundation highlights six projects at screenplay stage in Gijón

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- New scripts by Lara Izagirre, Omar A Razzak and Max Lemcke are among those presented at the SGAE Foundation’s sixth Screen Writing Lab

The SGAE Foundation highlights six projects at screenplay stage in Gijón
Director Lara Izagirre and moderator Mercedes Martinez-Abarca during the script pitching session (© FICX)

This year, the Gijón International Film Festival has once again joined forces with Spain’s SGAE Foundation (General Society of Authors and Publishers) to promote the work of screenwriters, with the aim of improving their working conditions and helping them get the recognition they deserve from the film industry and society, both in Spain and elsewhere. The foundation placed a special focus on its objectives in awarding the 2018 Julio Alejandro Screenplay award to Amílcar Salatti for AM-PM during the festival’s opening gala, and in its presentation of the selected scripts in its sixth Screen Writing Lab, overseen by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, a veteran of Spanish cinema.

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The SGAE’s audiovisual coordinator, Ignacio Armada, presented the selected projects, commenting that “we are delighted that our labs attract a huge number of participants, with submissions including 170 full-length screenplays, 90 written for television and over 100 for the theatre. The labs are becoming more and more necessary; it is essential that we highlight the work of screenwriters and let people see their photos.”

Basque director Lara Izagirre (An Autumn Without Berlin [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) presented the screenplay on which she is currently working, entitled Ane y Peio, una historia de amor entre pimientos. A comedic road movie, it follows Ana on her travels through the Basque country in search of Peio, her first great love, so she can give him the peppers she has owed him for years. The film will be produced by the director herself for Gariza Films, in co-production with French company La Fidèle Production, and has already secured institutional support following trips to events such as San Sebastián’s Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum. Izagirre is currently focused on internationalising the project, with filming to be carried out between May and June 2019.

Directors Max Lemcke (Cinco metros cuadrados [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Max Lemcke
film profile
]
) and Omar A Razzak (Paradiso) also took part in the lab with their screenplays for Billy and Matar cangrejos respectively. Billy, written in partnership with Antonio Rojano, is a thriller about a former police officer during the Spanish transition to democracy who is keen to escape the past. A production company is already on board, as is the cast (featuring Malena Alterio, Chino Darín and José Luis Gómez), and Lemcke is now seeking to complete its funding with a view to commencing filming towards the end of 2019. Matar cangrejos is the tale of two elderly inhabitants of a coastal community in Gran Canaria, forced into a dispute over the apparent illegality of their homes. A production company (Tourmalet Films) is attached and Razzak is on the lookout for new partners and public funding to support filming, anticipated to take place between 2019 and 2020.

Three other screenplays rounded out the selection. Director Francisco Melenchón is currently working on La quinta del naranjito, a script that developed out of his viral short film, El calipo, exploring sexual dilemmas from a humorous (and very macho) point of view. With this original production by Fitzcarraldo Films, Melenchón hopes to establish strong ties with major television companies and premium streaming platforms. La mudanza, written by Pablo Valiente, follows a woman and a man enduring the worst day of their lives, soon being drawn into a race against time. The script is currently being finalised while Valiente scouts for a production company to bring the project to life. Last but not least, Dos días de septiembre, written by Sara Cano Escudero, is the story of a young woman in a battle with her family over the sale of the family home (and with it her past); Escudero is actively seeking funding.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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