ASTEROIDS. While waiting for his brother’s crowd-funding to be done; a KID (Harrison Watson) bonds with an Asteroid. /////
Sound Recordist: Alex Barrett / Production Designer: Kieran Thomas / Assistant Director: Damian Thomas / Composer: Papu Sebastian / Producer: Adriel Thomas. Writer, Editor and Director: Guido Benedicto
‘Unpredictable’ is a feature film that evaluates the work of groundbreaking musician and artist Terry Day, bringing together some of the founding members of the UK free improvised music scene like Steve Beresford, Evan Parker, David Toop, Charlie Hart, George Khan and Mike Figgis. The film reflects on their lasting influence and uncovers previously unknown aspects of Terry Day ́s artistic output.
The following list is not a top 5, but merely a list of five Spanish films, in no particular order, which British viewers might not be familiar with. You may have noticed that I have left out filmmakers such as Almodóvar and Amenábar, and films such as El Orfanato and Mar Adentro. This was done deliberately, since those directors and films are already quite well known by the average film goer. So, on to the list!
Guido Benedicto’s (Brussels, 1983) story shares many elements with so many other up-and-coming creative figures, who come to the British capital in search of the opportunity that will put their career definitively on the right track. Guido is part of that generation that grew up in the global age, with the possibilities offered by the Internet, a firm grasp of foreign languages and expertise in technology, but with few (if any) professional openings in their own country. He was born in Belgium to Spanish parents, and until the age of twelve he studied at an international school in Strasbourg, later studying Audio-visual Communication at the University of Valencia, before leaving the country once again, this time to learn how to be a film director.
“You know that this cameraman job isn’t going to last forever. It’s more of a vagabond’s job — it may last six months or a year, maybe more, maybe less”. Louis didn’t want to encourage his cousin, because he knew that he was a passionate young man. He didn’t want him to get his hopes up, and he reminded himself, in passing, that many had previously attempted similar ventures, without much success. They had to be realistic.
Brit Es couldn’t pass up the opportunity to chat to one of our most restless and creative actors. Punctual, good-natured and always charming, we took the opportunity to show our readers some of the keys to his interesting path.
Leonor Watling, the Spanish actress and singer (who has an English mother and a Spanish father) is without a doubt one of our most multitalented and driven actresses, creatively speaking. She jumps from one discipline to another as naturally as she does between her two mother tongues. Not only does she sing in the band Marlango, she has also brought us such characters as Elvira in “My Mother Likes Women” and that neighbour who S. Polley chooses to replace her after her death in Isabel Coixet’s moving “My Life Without Me”.
In a tourist-packed Puerta Del Sol, Madrid, a silver painted Jesus Christ (with his 8-year-old son, since it’s Dad’s custody time, of course), a green army man, SpongeBob Squarepants, an Invisible Man and Minnie Mouse, perform a heist on a pawn shop. The police arrive, capture the invisible man and Minnie Mouse, and gun down poor old SpongeBob. José (the silver Christ, played by Hugo Silva) and Tony (green army man, played by Mario Casas) hijack a taxi, driver and passenger included, and drive away, intending to escape to France. Before they can get there, though, they get stuck in a small border town called Zugarramurdi, home to a coven of evil witches led by Graciana (the always welcome Carmen Maura).
La Gran Familia Española (Family United) tries really hard to please everyone. With its pastel and gold palette, handsome cast in suspenders and Converse, a painful wedding entrance music montage to the sound of Calvin Harris’ Feel So Close and, of course, the backdrop of the almighty Spanish national team beating Holland at the South Africa 2010 World Cup Final, the film is really desperate to have in its poster one of those laurel encircled quotes saying something like “…feel-good movie of the year!”.
They met in London. Perhaps in Spain it would not have been possible. But they felt the sort of connection that is only possible when you are removed from the familiar and open yourself up to the world.