The new directors candidates for the Goya, at the Academy

This Tuesday, the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain organized a colloquium in which the four directors who are competing for the Goya for best new director participated: David Pinillos, Emilio Aragón, Juana Macías and Jonás Trueba. Unlike other years, the Academy has nominated four new directors with a lot of cinema behind them, although in different facets.

This Tuesday, the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain organized a colloquium in which the four directors who are competing for the Goya for best new director with feature films participated: David Pinillos, Emilio Aragón, Juana Macías and Jonás Trueba.

Unlike other years, the Academy has nominated four new directors with a lot of cinema behind them, whether from editing, production, directing or script, who have now made the leap to directing with four love stories.

David Pinillos, editor of films such as Gordos or Primos, has tackled his first project as a director with Enjoy your food. Morena Films trusted Pinillos and a film not typical of Spanish cinema shot in English and with a very different scenic approach. Pinillos has commented that from the beginning it was planned as an international project, "which took three or four years to seek financing. A challenge for a novice like me in directing, since I only had a short film and my work as an editor."

The director admitted his doubts that he is now more related to directing than editing. “I hope they keep calling me to ride,” he joked. Pinillos recalled that “the conditions of a first film force you to listen a lot and be alert during filming to all the production conditions.”

Emilio Aragón, after a long career as a musician, actor and television producer, decided to direct his first film with paper birds. "I had had the story in my head for about ten years. I couldn't find the time, and on the other hand, I believed that I had to mature the project even more. It all started one day filming a sequence of family doctor, listening to the anecdotes that Pedro Peña and Luis Barbero always told. I realized that they all had dressing rooms, rehearsals, backstage situations in common. I wanted to pay tribute to an entire generation of comedy comedians.” Aragón admitted that this project “was a triple somersault without a net, although with a lot of passion.”

Aragón is already working on the script for his second feature film project… and “it is never too late for anything if it is done with honesty and dedication.”

The director of Plans for tomorrow, and winner of a Goya for her first short film Seven coffees a week (2000), Juana Macías, has commented that "the short film genre is very powerful, in fact I have shot one after the film. However, I wanted to make a feature film and I had a couple of very difficult projects to produce, and after reflecting, I chose to talk about topics and close people. That's where it came from Plans for tomorrow, which tells the story of four women who face the situation of making a decision that will change their lives." The film came out with "three small production companies, with a low budget, "but with a lot of freedom," said the director and now also director and editor.

Macías has admitted that the production conditions greatly influenced the speed of filming and editing: "I always had the feeling that I was going too fast and that I lacked resources. But in the end things work out and without much margin for error." Juana Macías filmed with more than one camera, in an innovative approach that represented a real planning challenge.

Jonás Trueba, son of the Oscar-winning Fernando Trueba, has made his debut in large-format feature films with All the Songs Speak of Me, a different romantic comedy. Trueba, who has extensive experience as a short film director and screenwriter, has admitted that "this project did not start from a plot or an idea, but from certain states of mind with a script very far from the final result. Despite not having a clear goal from the beginning, I got carried away writing a film while it was being carried out, including even the experiences of the team."

Regarding production, Trueba has commented that "cinema is the art of permanent renunciation and the interesting thing is to turn those defects into virtues and incorporate them into your film. Sometimes an excess budget is bad, and sometimes filming with less money allows you to come up with inventions that you had never anticipated. In my case, you see yourself making the same film in very different ways with a high budget, a medium budget or with a mobile phone, as I came to even consider before the producer decided on the project."

At the end of the colloquium, the short film was screened Goodbye dad, goodbye mom, by Luis Soravilla, and the long Enjoy your food, by David Pinillos.

On January 26, the short will be screened The order of things, by César Esteban Alenda and José Esteban Alenda; and the feature film directed by Emilio Aragón, Paper Birds. On the 27th, the Academy screen will be occupied a box of chocolates, short film directed by María Reyes Arias González, and Plans for tomorrow, Juana Macías' debut feature directorial debut. On January 28, this cycle dedicated to finalist films with novel direction will close, with the screening of the short Lemon juice, by Jorge Muriel and Miguel Romero, and the feature by Jonás Trueba, All the songs talk about me. These screenings take place at the Academy headquarters (Zurbano, 3 Madrid) at 8:00 p.m. with free entry until capacity is reached.