Ibai Abad shoots the western 'L'Escanyapobres'

Coproduced from Television of Catalonia, Abacus SCCL, Nakamura Films y May Productions, the director from Lleida Ibai Abad films the western in the landscapes of inland Catalonia and the Valencian Community L'Escanyapobres, a free adaptation of the novel of the same name by Narcís Oller.

This new TV3 co-production stars Àlex Brendemühl and Mireia Vilapuig, and also has Quim Àvila and Laura Conejero in the cast.

The director's second film, after The girl from the song, is set at the end of the 19th century, when Europe is experiencing a moment of transformation and capitalism disturbs the tranquility of rural Catalonia with the arrival of the first train, a symbol of the Industrial Revolution.

L'Escanyapobres remembers the validity of the message of this classic about the gray beginnings of progress: the shadows of savage capitalism continue today. "The first time I read Narcís Oller's novel was in high school, as required high school reading. It wasn't until a few years ago, with the whole financial crisis and with the banks appropriating thousands of houses, that I realized that the theme of that novel, today, was more relevant than ever, I was fascinated by the idea of capitalism arriving in the form of a train for the first time to a remote town in Catalonia, just like in the great westerns of John Ford or Sergio Leone," he points out. the director.

This production is filmed in Mutxamel (Alacantí) and Crevillent (Baix Vinalopó), Salàs de Pallars (Pallars Jussà), Saira (Segrià), Calaf (Anoia) and Móra la Nova (Ribera d'Ebre) until April 12, with iconic elements of our collective imagination associated with Westerns, such as the infinite images of wheat fields, the long lines of railway tracks towards wild lands or the caves and mines.

Maria Codina is in front of the photograph L'Escanyapobres, while Andres Mellinas directs production with Julia Camarasa as Art Director. Jorge Alvarez is responsible for the direct sound, and Laia Casanovas y Oriol Donat sound design and mixing. The assembly will be the work of Gerard Vila y Ona Bartrolí.

As for the director, Ibai Abad (Lleida, 1985), after graduating from the ESCAC, he directed the internationally award-winning short films Historia de un Burial, Tahití and The Other Life, the latter shot in 360º VR and premiered in the Official Section of the Sitges Festival.

Until 2012, he combined his studies in Art History at the University of Barcelona with the filming of some documentaries in Bolivia, Peru and Senegal with the organization Audiovisuales Sin Fronteras. His passion for theater has also led him to write and direct some works premiered with the Sognatore company of Barcelona.

In 2016 he directed the feature film The girl from the song, a revision of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice filmed between Barcelona, London and the Burning Man festival, in the Nevada desert of the United States, within the framework of the Official Master of Cinematography of the ESCAC. When it premiered worldwide on Netflix in November 2017, it was among the five most viewed films in several countries.