BUEU. 09.10.23. Four young filmmakers are working from today until next Saturday on the Island of Ons to develop their next film projects. They do it under the tutelage of one of the most awarded screenwriters in Spanish cinema in recent times, Isabel Peña. She is the author of the librettos for films such as As bestas or El reino – with which she won individual Goya Awards -, Stockholm, Que Dios nos perdone, or series such as Antidisturbios.

From the Island of Ons, one of the most unique and paradisiacal places in the municipality of Bueu and in all of Galicia, the foundations will be laid for the production of four new short films by young authors who went through a selection process with 120 aspiring projects. In the I FICBUEU Residency, four projects will be developed by two directors, Alicia Úbeda and Ángela Andrada, both from A Coruña, and two directors: Jordi Sanz, from Barcelona, and Pablo Vilas, from Tenerife.

The FICBUEU organizes cultural dissemination activities and the new languages of auroral cinema throughout the year. He works with cultural groups, local training centers or different social groups. With the Residencia, an annual program, he also wants to collaborate with the development of new cinematographic projects. 

At the end of the Residency, one of the four script projects will choose to be produced by the Galician production company Nortecatro Cinema. The co-director of FICBUEU, Manuel Pena, explained during the presentation of the project in the course of the Festival: “For some time we have been doing script classes and small filming courses, but we wanted to have a great professional and complete program of support for ideas from its beginning, with which results are seen. That’s why we’re going to try to make one of the projects a reality and close the circle”.

The program, which the Festival started working on two years ago, has the support of the General Secretariat of Equality and the Galician Agency for Cultural Industries (AGADIC).

Personalized tutoring

The first FICBUEU Residency will allow the four finalists to improve the quality and viability of their ideas, providing their vision, language and personal tone, as well as acquiring the necessary resources to obtain a multidisciplinary perspective of the production process. The methodology they will use will be based on personalized tutoring, specific training and joint practical activities (round tables and one-to-one meetings) that will promote cooperation and value different perspectives.

In addition to Isabel Peña, doctor, screenwriter and anthropologist Carmen Ávalos will also work with the residents, who will approach the script from a gender perspective; Pablo Lamosa, director of Cormorán VFX, who will delve into the resources aimed at improving the visual aspects of the projects; and professor and researcher Elena Neira, who will introduce the new distribution channels for cinema.

Quality and variety of projects

In the 1st Residency, four projects will be developed that each stand out for their quality and that start from very different perspectives and goals.

Alicia Úbeda will participate with Garabato, an autobiographical short film project about two sisters aged 14 and 7 who take care of an alcoholic mother.

Avisa cuando llegues is the proposal of screenwriter Ángela Andrade, the story of a 21-year-old girl who wants to recover her life, overcome her fear and go out again to have fun six months after suffering a sexual assault.

Jordi Sanz was chosen for Sismes, a piece with which he will explore memory and memories through a divorced woman who returns ten years later to the volcanic island where she spent her honeymoon and is obsessed with recording herself on video to recreate the images in which only her ex-husband appeared.

Barranco sin fondo is the proposal that Pablo Vilas wants to develop to tell the story of a teenager who travels with a drone through the ravines near her house and finds a kid that she wants to adopt.

The I FICBUEU Residency has a grant from Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte and the sponsorship of Xunta de Galicia through the Consellería de Promoción do Emprego e Igualdade and the Consellería de Cultura, Educación, Formación Profesional e Universidades.