20/07/2022 - In two weeks, scripts based around diversity have been developed, such as, among others, El shomes i els diez, by Arnau Vilaró Moncasí (co-screenwriter of Alcarràs)

Spanish Film Academy First Vice-President Rafael Portela (third from the left) and actress Daniela Vega (next to him), godmother of the Summer Campus, with the participants and mentors

They were two "intense and productive" weeks, according to  Inés Enciso, coordinator of the first Spanish Film Academy Summer Campus, which ended on Saturday 16 July in Valencia. Minority and under-represented groups are the focus of their eight projects, which have been mentored by Montxo Armendáriz, Belén Funes, Valérie Delpierre, Santiago A. Zannou, Fernando Franco and Neus Ballús.

Participants included: Ana Angono (author of the book Mujeres guerreras a las que rezo), with the screenplay titled 88, about a neo-Nazi girl who starts to question her actions; Arnau Vilaró Moncasí (co-screenwriter of Alcarràs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carla Simón
interview: Carla Simón
interview: Giovanni Pompili
film profile]), with Els homes i els dies, telling the story of a gay man in his native Barcelona, in 1992; Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta (director of Wetland [+see also:
trailer
interview: Iñaki Sánchez Arrieta
film profile]), with Karen y Julia, the runaway of an elderly Basque woman and her Bolivian carer; the advertising director and short filmmaker Marc Ortiz Paredes, with El acecho, and the search in 1950 for a hermaphrodite bandit; Sandra Romero, with Por donde pasa el silencio, with the same title as her second short film, which discusses family conflicts; Tania González García, with Resiliente, starring a girl who is the daughter of HIV-positive parents; Jiajie Yu Yan (Goya 2019 nominee with her short film Xiao Xian), with Tres edades, centred on a young boy’s disconnection with his mother; and Marina Rodríguez Colás (screenwriter of Chavalas [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), with The Gang, starring a group of boys who travel across the city to a party in an affluent neighbourhood.

At the closing ceremony, the First Vice-President of the Spanish Film Academy, producer Rafael Portela (who will present the series Apagón [+see also:
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Isabe…
series profile] at the upcoming San Sebastian Film Festival), thanked the city "where we have felt loved and welcomed, and from where all the participants take with them experiences and knowledge that will be reflected in their work and in their lives".

The eight filmmakers involved in the first edition of the Spanish Film Academy Summer Campus, whose godmother was Chilean actress Daniela Vega (A Fantastic Woman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), leave Valencia with "a great shared experience" and the certainty that they will be "aware of how we reflect people in our work", in the words of Jiajie Yu Yan. For Marina Rodríguez Colás, the initiative has meant "an incredible change in conceiving the creation of stories and characters. This process of constant revision is positive because, with these projects, we are going to take some responsibility for reflecting invisible realities.” And finally, Ana Angono recalled "watching films and series when she was little" and wondering where people like her were: "I hope that one day black girls will aspire to make films after seeing mine," she concluded.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)