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The inaugural edition of the Film Academy Residencies Programme has come to a close after unveiling its 16 selected projects

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- The teams behind two documentaries, two fictional series and eleven feature films courted the favour of production executives, streaming platforms and TV networks on the programme’s final day

The inaugural edition of the Film Academy Residencies Programme has come to a close after unveiling its 16 selected projects
(© Alberto Ortega)

It was a little over a year ago that we announced the beginning of the Film Academy Residences Programme (read more here), launched in collaboration with the City of Madrid Film Office and set to showcase 15 exciting new projects. The programme has now run its course, bowing out just a few days ago with a special presentation and pitch event. It was a chance for production companies, streaming platforms and TV networks to get a first look at the documentaries, feature films and TV series supported over the course of the year — some now retitled — including a new project to join the programme in recent months, Diego Pinillos Fernández’s El valor se le supone.

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Mariano Barroso, president of the Film AcademyPedro González Torroba, Madrid City Council’s lead coordinator on the economy, commerce, consumption and partnerships; and Inés Enciso, coordinator of the Film Academy Residences Programme, teamed up to introduce the event, which followed a hybrid format with in-person and online components. González Torroba remarked: “We have very high hopes for these projects. The council was keen to support this programme from the outset, since so many participating films and series feature our own city, Madrid, reaffirming our unique identity.”

The sixteen projects to participate in this round were: Alumbramiento, the second full-length feature by Pau Teixidor following PurgatorioApuntes para una ficción consentida, by Ana Serret Ituarte (La fiesta de otros), starring Isabelle Stoffel; Ciudad sin sueño, by Guillermo García López (Delicate Balance [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), set in the Madrid neighbourhood of La Cañada Real; the documentary Contigo, contigo y sin mí, directed by erstwhile editor Amaya Villar NavascuésDía de caza, a reimagining of Carlos Saura’s The Hunt, directed by Pedro Aguilera (Sister of Mine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Aguilera
film profile
]
), featuring Carmen Machi, Rossy de Palma and Blanca Portillo and produced by Gonita; El cielo en la Tierra, by María Antón Cabot (<3 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
); El valor se le supone, a miniseries on the dawn of the Spanish LGBTI movement directed by Diego Pinillos Fernández (co-writer of Veneno); Esperando a Ajo, a documentary on social media star Ajo Micropoetisa by Txema TørresFosfeno, by Pedro Collantes, whose The Art of Return [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Collantes
film profile
]
was selected for the 2020 Venice International Film Festival; La figura negra, a horror film by Mónica Demes; La hierba es negra, a series of eight 50-minute episodes tackling the theme of gender identity, directed by Beatriz Herzog Ruiz de Alegría, content coordinator for hit series including La casa de papel and Sin identidadLa mitad de Ana, an exploration of actress Marta Nieto’s childhood transsexuality (you may recall that Nieto recently received a gong at the European Film Academy Awards for her performance in Madre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
film profile
]
); the small-screen series Millennial mal, by Lorena Iglesias (co-director, along with Julián Génisson and Velasco Broca, of Ayudar al ojo humano [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
); Moderación, by Víctor Alonso-Berbel (Clase valiente); Nina [+see also:
film review
interview: Andrea Jaurrieta
film profile
]
, by Andrea Jaurrieta (Ana by Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), to be produced by BTeam Pros, Icónica and Lasai Producciones; and Una vez fue fuego, by directing duo Óscar Vicentelli and Gabriel Azorín.

This event marked the final day of the programme’s 2019–2020 session; the next, which began in October 2020, will run until July 2021 and welcome 20 filmmakers — including Pilar Palomero (Schoolgirls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pilar Palomero
film profile
]
), Patricia Pérez (who recently released the acclaimed documentary In a Whisper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patricia Pérez and Heidi Ha…
film profile
]
), Ión de Sosa (Androids Dream [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and César Esteban Alenda (Not the End [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) — as they knuckle down to their latest projects (find out more here).

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(Translated from Spanish)

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