The film director Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta (Zero and El Lodo) is preparing for the first summer campus of the Film Academy that begins this Sunday in Valencia. A two-week program aimed at directors who will work on the inclusion of diversity in their projects.
During the work days, organized by the Film Academy with the collaboration of Netflix and the support of the Valencia City Council, the authors of the eight selected projects will receive training, advice and practices so that their works reflect diversity in the best possible way. .
As explained by Sánchez Arrieta, whose script has been selected from among the more than 100 proposals received, the opta campus has an original initiative since, in addition to working on the scripts, it proposes a practical week in which "professional actors will stage scenes of the film” that is proposed and that is “quite differentiating” with respect to other workshops and courses.
Although this director has worked with performers of the stature of Raúl Arévalo, Paz Vega or Roberto Álamo, he admits that “there is no specific training in terms of directing actors”.
The person in charge of the Campus and coordinator of the Development and Research area of the Film Academy, Inés Enciso, details to La Vanguardia that, for two weeks, the directors or aspiring directors will work with mentors and professionals from the most diverse fields, they will be will review the script, but they will also have a visit from a director of photography, art or casting to give them other points of view that help shape the overall picture of the film. "I think it is very timely that experts from each field give us their opinion," underlines Sánchez Arrieta.
Along these lines, Enciso highlights the participation as mentors on the campus of filmmakers and Goya winners such as Valerie Delpierre, Santiago Zannou, Belén Funes and Montxo Armendáriz. In addition, Neus Ballús and Fernando Franco will work with actors and actresses to stage their sequences.
This practical part of being able to see how the words of his scripts are transformed into scenes excites Marc Ortiz Prades who has not yet been able to put together his first feature film. For now, shorts and video clips. This director, screenwriter and advertising director applauds the opportunity of "receiving feedback from people with a great professional career" like those mentioned.
Enciso says that at the Academy they have been "reflecting on how our audiovisual reflects minority groups" for some time. And from this debate comes the idea of promoting projects that talk about less common topics and that break stereotypes and taboos.
For this reason, one of the conditions to participate was, in addition to presenting a complete script, that they be reflected -either in the plots, or in the protagonists- that diversity or even that the author was part of these groups continue to be invisible. or still stereotyped in Spanish cinema.
As expressed on the day of its presentation in its presentation, the objective of the campus is to focus on diversity and inclusion, understood in its entirety, "to generate a space for reflection on how our cinematography should reflect the diverse society in where we live and be a space where equal opportunities are the norm”.
Thus, the script by Sánchez Arrieta, Karen and Julia recounts the coexistence of an older woman (Julia) who, after an event, intends to escape to the Basque Country to regain control of her life with Karen, her Latin caregiver. "It's a road movie in a comedy key, but also with a dramatic part," she explains. A bet, Sánchez Arrieta continues, "to look at ourselves from their point of view, the Latinos who have come to work and did not find what was promised."
A friendly look at the Latino community and "a defense of those women who have done that, stop caring for their people and take care of ours," details the director.
Meanwhile, Marc Ortiz in L'aguait chooses to tell a story that his grandmother told him when he visited her in town. Her iaia, like many other women from La Pobla de Benifassà, was a dressmaker and made the dresses for La Pastora, a former maqui turned bandit who was used by the Civil Guard to discredit the anti-Franco resistance.
A story that Ortiz heard from the mouths of his ancestors and that he now intends to turn into a feature film.
The first sketches (sequences) of these projects can be viewed in a final act at L'Oceanogràfic de València. The choice of the city for this first summer campus of the Film Academy has not been by chance. As the coordinator of the Development and Research area of the Film Academy explains, the harmony with the capital of Túria has been total this year with the celebration of the Los Goya Gala or the commemoration of the Berlanga Year.
