The ECAM Incubator opens a call for feature film projects for its 4th edition

Each project will receive an allocation of 10,000 euros as development aid and the teams (producer, director and scriptwriter) will have help for travel to Madrid.

The Incubator of the Film School of the Community of Madrid (ECAM), launches its fourth edition and opens a call to emerging producers residing in Spain. Projects must already have a confirmed producer and a director of the first, second or third feature film, of any genre and with a first version of the script with dialogues.

Each project will receive an allocation of 10,000 euros as development aid and the teams (producer, director and scriptwriter) will have help for travel to Madrid if they reside in other autonomous communities.

Some of the mentors of this edition will be Arantxa Echevarría, director of Carmen and Lola; Sandra Hermida, executive producer, Impossible; Rodrigo Sorogoyen, director of Madre; y Marisa Fernández Armenteros, producer of Agent Mole.

Gemma Vidal, project manager of La Incubadora looks ahead to a new edition hoping "that despite the difficulties in film financing derived from COVID-19, La Incubadora will be a boost for cinema and a unique opportunity for filmmakers. That is why this edition makes more sense than ever in its support for new generations of producers and the care we give to the development and international reach of each project that is selected."

Sandra Hermida points out that "as a producer I consider a project like La Incubadora essential to encourage new creators and revitalize our industry. I feel lucky to be able to become a mentor and accompany some of these new authors in the creation process."

Arantxa Echevarría, for her part, points out that for her “being a mentor is an opportunity to “give back everything that key people helped me with my first film, Carmen y Lola, teach what they taught me and accompany a project along the way so that it becomes a reality.”

Rodrigo Sorogoyen states that “it is an honor to be part of a project as stimulating as La Incubadora and to be able to contribute a grain of sand to some of the most relevant film projects of the coming years.”

Marisa Fernández Armenteros, who has been present in all previous editions, comments that "in each edition the Incubator has allowed me to work with a new generation in direction and production that is committed to cinema with tremendous rigor and effort so that their films come true, reach the public and the most important festivals and awards. With windows like the Incubator, this new generation has a voice and, therefore, Spanish cinema is better."

Previous editions

The 2020 Incubator, which began in March, adapted to the exceptional situation of the pandemic and maintained the online sessions between mentors and projects until May, resuming the in-person ones in June.

Two projects from previous editions have already been released in theaters, after their premiere at the San Sebastián Festival, The innocence, debut feature by Lucía Alemany and ANE, by David Pérez Sañudo.

As for the projects that are in production, Sacred Spirit, Chema Garcia Ibarra's first feature film, has just finished filming, while La mala familia is awaiting a final phase of filming, in anticipation of concluding it at the end of this year

The Beast, by David Casademunt, will be a Netflix Original, produced by Rodar y Rodar; Josefina, by Javier Marco, produced by Sergy Moreno; Cinco Lobitos, directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa and produced by Manuel Calvo (Encanta Films) and Matar Cangrejos, by Omar Razzak (Tourmalet Films), will be filmed in 2021.

International agreements

La Incubadora's projects have been selected in forums and markets such as Les Ateliers d'Angers, Crossroads Co-production Forum of Thessaloniki, Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM), MAFIZ (Festival de Málaga), Ventana Sur (Buenos Aires), Focus CoPro' (Cannes), Cima Mentoring or the SGAE Writing Laboratory, among others.

La Incubadora is the Spanish antenna of Rotterdam Lab (IFFR) together with Catalan Films. It also has the collaboration of Focus CoPro', an initiative promoted in 2018 by the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Festival, Torino Film Lab through Meeting Event, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), San Sebastián Festival, the Spanish-French co-production forum Espagnolas in Paris and EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs).

In past editions, the selected projects received advice from international funds and programs such as MEDIA, Eurimages and Ibermedia, markets such as London Production Finance Market, Rome MIA Market, FIDLAB, festival directors such as Eva Sangiorgi (Viennale), programmers such as Paz Lázaro (Berlinale). Heidi Zwicker (Sundance), Diana Sánchez (Toronto) or Anne Delseth (Cannes Directors' Fortnight), international distributors such as Visit Films, New Europe Film Sales, Films Boutique, Coproduction Office and Rise and Shine World Sales or buyers of content from companies such as Movistar+, Netflix, Amazon, TVE, Atresmedia and Telemadrid.

The Incubator is part of the program The Screen, which hosts initiatives aimed at promoting the Spanish audiovisual fabric, aimed at the ECAM Community (students, Alumni and teachers), such as OpenECAM, and also, as is the case of La Incubadora, open to professionals from the entire sector, such as international seminars (Robert Mckee, Albert Serra, Walter Murch...). The Screen has the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) through its Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) in the Visitor Modality.