• The director and screenwriter of “20,000 especies de abejas,” Estíbaliz Urresola, will mentor the process, supported by three other instructors.

BUEU. 16.10.2024. Starting today and continuing until next Tuesday, five emerging filmmakers will work on developing their next film projects on the Island of Ons (Bueu, Pontevedra), under the guidance of established experts in the audiovisual industry. The screenwriter and director of the award-winning film 20,000 especies de abejas, Estíbaliz Urresola, will lead the training sessions. The participants, four women and one man, presented four short film projects during the selection process to take part in the II FICBUEU Residency, organized by the Bueu International Film Festival.

The FICBUEU Residency is a training program dedicated to the comprehensive development of short films at their early stages. The filmmakers will receive both individual and group training to enhance their skills in various aspects of filmmaking, production, and distribution. These skills will aid them in the development of the short films for which they were selected to participate in the six-day II FICBUEU Residency. Additionally, each project will receive €2,000 to support its funding. One of the short films will also win the RC Service Prize, which includes a €1,500 discount on equipment rental and purchase for the film’s production.

Diverse Projects

On the Island of Ons, the participants will improve their skills and collaborate on the development of their films. Catalan filmmakers Anna Calderón Dilmé and Anna Llargués will participate with Cotorra and Àvia Peix respectively; Galician-Argentine filmmaker Camila Mailén will work on her short film Área Central; and Clara Coira and Miguel Casaseca, from Lugo, will develop their project From NASA to Merceditas.

Among the selected projects, there is one mockumentary and three dramas. From NASA to Merceditas, by Coira and Casaseca, recreates a “surreal but true” event: the story of Merceditas, a woman from Terra Chá in Lugo, who received a letter from NASA inviting her to visit its headquarters after she became the only person in the world to witness a particular comet in the sky.

With Cotorra, Anna Calderón revisits a childhood experience, the moment she had to face the death of her friend Alicia. Calderón aims to create a short film that addresses “childhood death, mourning among children, and the fear of forgetting.”

Regarding Àvia Peix, Anna Llargués describes it as “a personal story that moves me, and one I want to tell.” In the plot, also closely related to Llargués’ life story, the young protagonist witnesses the final hours of her grandmother’s life without fully understanding what is happening, while recording everything around her with a video camera given to her by her uncle—a kind of documentary of those hours filled with goodbyes, formalities, and family tensions.

Camila Mailén, director of Área Central, explains that her short film is a coming-of-age story with dramatic overtones, reflecting a different kind of childhood. It portrays a young girl who spends much of her time at her mother’s family business, located inside a well-known shopping mall in Santiago de Compostela. The story is also drawn from Mailén’s personal life experience.

Team of Instructors

During the Residency on the Island of Ons, participants will have individual mentoring sessions and group discussions with Estíbaliz Urresola. Additionally, they will attend three specialized training workshops to strengthen their projects: Screenwriting with a Gender Perspective by Carmen Ávalos; The Importance of Intimacy Coordination on Set by Tábata Cerezo and Lucía Delgado, founders of the specialized company IntimAct; and First Steps After Completing a Screenplay, taught by Beli Martínez.

The FICBUEU Residency is supported by the Xunta de Galicia’s Department of Social Policy and Equality and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), with additional collaboration from the companies Nabia and Simei.