SHORT FILMS

"De Plata Lloro" is my final degree project in which I served as a producer and also fulfilled the role for the rest of the department heads. I was involved from the beginning when Maria explained the idea to me and the complex introspective process she had to face in order to bring out Lola, the protagonist.

What caught my attention about the project was that, despite appearances to the contrary, the short film deals with very contemporary issues. Lola is nothing more than an older version of today's young people: she is surrounded by screens through which she perceives herself, which convey external ideals to us, artificial values. These influence our desires and distort them, turning them into things we want to be but with which we have no connection. Desperately, Lola seeks to be seen in order to exist; she must ask permission to be another person, a permission she is not granted.

This is why when she sees her daughter Lucero after so many years, she will realize what she has been ignoring all this time, focused on external satisfaction, and what would have allowed her to be something real: a good mother.

Productor. 2021. Disseny sonor i BSO inacabats.
Direcció: Maria Martos.

"BAUMA" was a complete surprise because I met the director while he was explaining the project to me. The story is surrounded by a fog that hints at the topics being addressed (and what might be being said). I found it very interesting how they dealt with and intertwined themes such as free will, ignorance, and their cycles.

Even though it was a simple idea, it was interesting (and stressful) to see how it became increasingly complicated in terms of production. At the locations (in the Berguedà area), there was no network coverage, which made coordinating the team absolutely essential. I will never understand how producers managed before mobile phones. The weather was against us, as we were searching for fog but trying to avoid snow. The lack of electricity in the middle of the forest meant we depended on generators all day. Lastly, I had a final exam (in person) right in the middle of filming and a work presentation that I did online with Pedra-Forca in the background.

In the end, everything turned out perfectly, and it's one of the projects I'm most proud of.

BAUMA

Productor. 2021. Pendent de post-producció.
Direcció: Gerard Forns.

"QT2020" was born from the quarantine experienced in Vilafranca del Penedès from March to June 2020. It is a sort of parody of the love triangles of the Nouvelle Vague, where I wanted to capture the lack of epicness and mediocrity of the era we live in. Most of the short film takes place on a small rooftop, during the monotonous nights of lockdown, where the two characters "fall in love" out of boredom.

The three teenagers, on the brink of becoming "adults by obligation," represent three different ways of approaching this transition to adulthood, which is nothing more than the search for one's identity. While one begins to face obstacles on their own, the other two let themselves be carried away by immediate and fleeting fantasy, which leads them nowhere. The secrets, shared guilt, the emptiness (or not) of banal conversations, and the uncomfortable silences that speak more than we want are the true protagonists of the short film.

This intimate shoot, limited by the circumstances, challenged me to take on directing, producing, and even some of the art, and to be creative with what I had at hand. Additionally, I also acted with two friends, giving the short film a quality that transcends fiction."

QT2020

Director. 2020.

"Mandronius" is a mockumentary about a retired spy in the Pyrenees. What makes this short film special, apart from its convoluted multi-format that confuses (and distracts) the viewer in portraying this cryptic character, is the person playing the role: Josep Seguí. Convincing him to shoot a no-budget short film was quite a challenge, but after several meetings discussing the script, we managed to find common ground. What I take away from that shoot is the experience of filming such surreal scenes with one of my idols and having the opportunity to learn a lot from his creativity when it comes to improvising and creating humor from everyday and subtle things.

Direcció d'actors i producció. 2020.
Director: Xavi Prim.

You are a child who spends every summer at the farmhouse. Every afternoon, your friends pick you up on their bikes to explore and rediscover the paths you know or have just found. You have all the time in the world ahead of you and vast fields of olive trees and farmhouses that stretch to infinity. But one day, a concrete highway appears, destroying the fields, erasing the paths, and most importantly, running over your farmhouse. This is the story of Nico.

Júlia Coldwell worked on a script as a method of exploring two themes she carries within: the concept of home and the lack of communication. Shot in 16mm, the short film is composed of simple scenes that create a nostalgic atmosphere. Nico and Abril wander through a landscape that psychologically describes the moment the protagonist is experiencing.

As an assistant director, I can say that it has been one of the most internally significant short films I have worked on, from finding melancholic corners during the technical location scouting to the filming, which was very organic. We also worked with two teenagers from Valls who had never acted before, and we established a special connection that was even more evident when directing them.

Ajudant de direcció i direcció d'actors. 2020.
Direcció: Júlia Coldwell.

A short film I shot as a second-year practice on 16mm. In it, I wanted to portray a very simple story that takes place during a dawn.

The shoot was at Calafell beach, where I've spent summers since I was a child, a landscape with which I have a nostalgic connection, a nostalgia I wanted to capture as best as possible. The protagonist, a character inspired by local poet Carlos Barral, plays for the last time with his childhood memories in the salty sea of Calafell.

Despite some overexposure, the light we captured is just as I remembered."

El Nen Vell

Director. 2019.

Co-director. 2019.

Spain, late 2019: a few weeks after imprisoning several members of the Catalan government and other associations, and after the Spanish general elections, a group of young Catalans decides to take a trip to Murcia, where the majority was won by Vox. The goal: to have a conversation with people from Murcia and make them feel comfortable enough to express their true opinions. The strategy: pretend we're from Madrid and making a documentary across several Spanish cities before reaching Barcelona.

But is it right to pretend to be someone else to get an answer? Do we want an answer, or are we looking for a particular answer? What happens if they discover we're Catalans? Should we tell them?

This journey through the towns of deep Spain taught us a lot about the information and misinformation we have about the customs of their inhabitants. Being able to speak with them firsthand was a privilege. Talking with these primary sources, we encountered former Civil Guards who had lived through Franco's regime and never wanted to return, Catalans married to Mexicans who were against immigration, men who claimed to be on the left but were not as left-leaning as they thought, and young people loyal to the far right with no memory of the past. But above all, we found everyday people who were very tired of living in Spain.

Director de casting, ajudant de producció. 2021.
Direcció: Joan Margets.

Alexandra has played tennis for as long as she can remember. After years of training under the guidance of Julio, her father (a retired tennis player who aims to relive his victories through her), she has become one of the most promising junior tennis players on the Spanish circuit. During the celebration of one of the most important tournaments of the 1978 season, the increasing pressure her father puts on her both on and off the court will begin to affect her mental health. As adolescence approaches and the questions it brings, Alex will realize that perhaps this is not the life she desires.

Joan Margets' final degree project encompassed one of the largest productions I have seen. Initially, I was the production director and helped plan all the needs of the short film by consulting with all the departments. Once these needs were assessed (14 locations, 12 actors, extras in several scenes, 70s-era setting, vintage lenses and filters, two tennis matches, and a car accident), it became clear that I couldn't handle it all alone. The addition of Mireia Gelabert and Nora Carbonell helped distribute the workload. Although I would have liked to dedicate more time to the project, other projects required me to focus mainly on the casting, which was not easy. Finally (after more than 80 proposals), we found actors for all the characters, and the shoot went smoothly. The result is one of the best I have seen."