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Loris Omedes • Producer

Producer on the move 2006 - Spain

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With a background in the field of special effects, Loris Omedes decided - in the late 1980s - to take the adventure of entering the world of film and TV production. Barcelona-based Bausan Films first produced short films but its reputation was mainly set up thanks to its Goya winner and Oscar-nominated documentaries. Chosen by the ICAA to represent Spain in the Producers on the Move Cannes initiative, Loris tells Cineuropa about Bausan's latest projects.

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Cineuropa: When did you create Bausan Films and what changes have taken place throughout the years?
Loris Omedes: Bausan Films was created in 1989 and in the early years it was like a university for us. We produced a lot of short films in 16 and 35mm, we were eager to shoot in different ways and to try different styles. In the beginning of one's career, it is easier to produce a short film with 30 or 40 thousand euros rather and a feature with 30 or 40 million euros. As short films don’t meet industry requirements, we were free to experiment, to innovate. Then we grew as a production company. We produced TV films, feature films and documentaries, among then Goya winners Virgen de la alegría (1996) and Lalia (1999). Our most successful title, however, is Balseros by Carles Bosch, which received an Academy Award nomination in 2004.

What are your criteria when you choose a project?
Our criteria in Bausan is to produce films which brings something to the world, and above all, films we fall in love with. We don't have strictly industrial or strictly artistic criteria. We try to combine art and industry, but it is extremely important to feel seduced by the projects. If you keep a rigorous and professional attitude in everything you do, films might or might not be a hit – but they will always be seen as quality products. In doing this you create a reputation which allows you to work on more ambitious projects. Feature films are more ambitious and have a bigger budget. But documentaries can be ambitious too – telling real stories can be very seductive.

So I presume you are not the type of producer looking for a box office hit at any price…
No, but I don't think one should produce only artistic projects neither. In Bausan we try to conciliate industry and art. The bills have to be paid! (laughs)

What are Bausan's current projects?
We are editing a documentary called Radio La Colifata, about a psychiatric hospital in Buenos Aires, which has a radio station. We finished shooting it in November 2005, when all the patients from that hospital participated in a Manu Chao concert. We are also shooting the new film by Carles Bosch. It's a documentary called Septiembre es en el mar de la China, about love stories in Spanish prisons. We are also preparing Cenizas del cielo, a fiction film directed by José Antonio Quirós about a man from Asturias who is fighting against the construction of a hydroelectric power station and a final one, with a much higher budget, about a family who managed to win in several casinos in Spain and Europe. It's called Los Pelayo, and we are currently preparing the script with director Eduard Cortés. On June 20 we will release Sin tí [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a film directed by Raimond Masllonrens about a upper-class lady who goes blind in the third page of the script. Though it does not seem like it, the film is an optimistic story.

What do you expect from the selection for the EFP programme "Producers on the Move"?
Basically two things: to meet foreigner producers and their projects and to introduce myself and my own projects to them. The most interesting thing when you travel, and is this case in Cannes, is exchanging experiences. I am expecting the unexpected.

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