12/10/2022 - The Catalan filmmaker is shooting her feature debut, a “depressing comedy” that she wrote together with Ulises Porra and Carlos Vermut, starring first-timers María Luengo and Rosario Ortega

Actresses María Luengo and Rosario Ortega and director Laura Ferrés (sitting down) on the set of The Permanent Picture (© Agnès Piqué)

In mid-September, Laura Ferrés started shooting her feature debut, The Permanent Picture [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Ferrés
film profile], in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona). After having won awards in the Cannes Critics’ Week, as well as at the Goyas and the Gaudís, for her documentary short The Disinherited, the director wrote the screenplay for her feature debut in conjunction with Ulises Porra (Tigre, Carajita) and Carlos Vermut (Magical Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile], Quién te cantará [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile] and Manticore [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carlos Vermut
film profile], a film that was recently screened at the Toronto and Sitges Film Festivals ahead of its theatrical release in Spain, slated for 9 December).

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Starring two first-time actresses, María Luengo and Rosario Ortega, The Permanent Picture tells the story of Carmen, a casting director who takes on the mission of finding a “normal” person to take part in a political campaign. During her search, she meets Antonia, a door-to-door saleswoman, with whom she shares much more than it would appear at first glance.

The director describes the film as “a tale that reveals the analogies between past and present. It’s a story about ordinary lives turned upside down by the sudden arrival of absurdity and melancholy. It’s a drama interspersed with dry humour – a depressing comedy.”

The shoot will last five weeks and will take place chiefly in El Prat de Llobregat, with the support of its town council, via the El Prat Film Office. In Ferrés’ own words: “This town boasts the ideal locations. To me, it seems especially cinematic, given that the buildings aren’t as tall as they are in other cities nearby, such as Barcelona. In addition, it’s also ended up being a quieter place to film in. I’m interested in capturing a familiar place over time – I lived here until the age of 27 – and it was in these streets that I also shot The Disinherited.”

In 2014, Laura Ferrés (Barcelona, 1989) directed the short In the Doghouse, and three years later, she premiered The Disinherited, a portrait of her father as he is forced to deal with the folding of the family business. This was the only Spanish production selected for that season’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival, as it took part in the Critics’ Week. Furthermore, the title was nominated for the European Film Awards, also getting an airing at more than 70 festivals, film gatherings and cultural centres/universities all over the world.

The Permanent Picture, which has dialogue in Catalan with the occasional line in Spanish, is a production by Spanish firms Fasten Films (Adrià Monés) and Volta (Nadine Rothschild), in conjunction with France’s Le Bureau (Gabrielle Dumon). It boasts the involvement of the ICAA (Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute), ICEC (Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries) and TV3. It has also received support from the Next Step of the Cannes Critics’ Week, TorinoFilmLab and the Moulin d'Andé Screenwriting Centre. It will be distributed in Spain by La Aventura.

(Translated from Spanish)