The projects that will participate in the 2nd edition of the Film Academy Residencies have been selected

Among the 931 proposals, ten women and ten men have been chosen in this initiative developed by the Academy with the support of the Madrid City Council.

Film Academy Residences, the aid program for film creators developed by the Film Academy with the support of Madrid City Council, you have selected the 20 winning projects of its second edition.

After evaluating the 931 applications submitted to participate in this initiative, professionals in the sector constituted by two evaluation committees have chosen Jiajie Yu Yan (San Dai Shi Guang [three generations]), Pilar Palomero (The maternal), Tina Olivares (Celestina 2020), Lola Mayo (Liberty, equality, fraternity), Gabriel Azorín Belda (Last night I conquered Thebes), César Esteban Alenda (Car Parking), Teresa Bellón Sánchez de la Blanca (Honey, I've fucked Bunbury), Jorge Cantos (The vagabonds), Marta Matute García (I will not die of love), Ion de Sosa (Balearic), Léster Álvarez Meno (Salazar's journey), Irene Moray (The beauty), Edgar Burgos (The crystal ball), Guillermo Chapa (Viridian Operation), Eduardo Fuembuena Loscertales (Far from here. The true story by Eloy de la Iglesia and José Manzano), Iker Azkoitia (The sleep watchers), Celia de Molina Díaz (It is not universal), Maite Vitoria Daeneris (The memory of trees), Bárbara Mateos García (And yet I love you) and Patricia Pérez Fernández (The foreigner).

“The Residency Program had from the first moment the enthusiastic collaboration of the Madrid City Council, aware of the importance of the audiovisual sector in general, and its impact on Madrid in particular, as it generates wealth for the city and the Community,” he stated. Miguel Angel Redondo, Delegate of Economy, Innovation and Employment of the Madrid council, who highlighted the “very high level of quality” of the first edition, whose results he defined as “spectacular, and even more so taking into account that it has been carried out in its entirety, despite the impact of the pandemic.”

The program coordinator, Ines Enciso, stressed the importance of this initiative for the Academy and thanked the City Council, the Madrid Film Office already Film library “for helping us turn that dream we had two years ago into reality and giving us the opportunity to continue growing with a second edition”; to the Presidency and the Board of Directors of the Academy “for promoting this program”; to the mentors “who have accompanied the creative process of the residents making their projects become what they are today”; to the pre-committee and selection committee; and especially to the first-year residents, "for the effort they have made in this extraordinary situation. I hope that they always feel like residents of the Academy and maintain their connection with the institution."

Among the future residents is Pilar Palomero, who presented her first feature film at the last Berlinale The girls, which is part of the Official Section of the Malaga Festival; Lola Mayo, screenwriter of the films The dead and being happy, The woman without a piano y What I know about Lola; César Esteban Alenda, who signed together with his brother José Endless, a story nominated for the Goya for Best New Director that won the Award for Best First Film at the 2018 Malaga Festival; Gabriel Azorín, founder of the artistic research collective lacasinegra; Irene Moray, author of Watermelon juice, Goya Award for Best Fiction Short Film, a category in which Jiajie Yu Yan was nominated with his latest work, Xiao Xian.

All the chosen proposals have a special connection with the city of Madrid, and are twelve feature-length fiction projects, four feature-length documentaries and four television series projects (three fiction and one animation). The majority of the selected residents are of Spanish nationality, only two of them come from Cuba. Three of the creators are academics.

In order of score, José Martret Homar (Saturn), Christian Santiago Rojas (Ñst), Carles Harillo Magnet (Donya Enriqueta), Andrea Gutiérrez Bermejo (Who is afraid of Cecilia Bartolomé?), Mamen Díaz (Ultraviolet), Marieta Caballero Baeza (Extinction Rebellion) and Remedios Crespo Casado (Lyceum Club).

The 20 filmmakers will begin their artistic residency next September and, until June 2021, they will enjoy the means and aid necessary for the development of their audiovisual projects. The institution's headquarters in Madrid will be the space in which this program will be carried out, which will offer a monthly financial contribution to the creators; support for travel expenses for those residents who live outside the Community of Madrid; advice from mentors, physical work space, immersion in the Academy's activities and permanent meeting with the industry.

The selected projects were announced at the meeting organized by the Academy, the Veranos de la Villa and the City of Madrid Film Office, Madrid Camera in hand, an event presented by the journalist Pepa Blanes, attended by residents –Andrea Jaurrieta and Pedro Collantes– and mentors –Fernando Colomo and Anna R. Costa– from the first cycle and future participants from the second edition.