A museum curator faces all aspects of mourning in Spanish director Sergi Pérez’s upcoming function “Memorial,” chosen to take part at Madrid’s seventh Annual ECAM Incubator, amongst Spain’s most prestigious worldwide co-production boards.
Written by Pérez and Anna Cammany, the mission is produced by EAVE and Berlinale Skills Alum Carla Sospedra Salvadó and her manufacturing outfit Edna Cinema (“Mamífera”). Different producers embrace Jofre Ferré and Ander Sagardoy at Barcelona’s Sumendi Filmak (“Betiko Gaua”), Alex Lafuente at Madrid’s B Crew Photos (“Reinas”) and Jerome Vidal at Paris-based Noodles Manufacturing (“Robotic Desires”).
Having contributed to the pre-production of Carla Simon’s Golden Bear-winning Berlinale title “Alcarràs,” Sospedra has additionally produced Isabel Coixet and Laura Ferrés’ 2022 San Sebastian stunner “El techo amarillo,” Bélen Funes’ “Sara a la Fuga” and Simon’s 2020 quick “Correspondencias,” co-directed with Dominga Sotomayor. She’s additionally labored with Elena Trapé (“Palabras, mapas, secretos y otras cosas”), Liliana Torres (“Mamífera”) and Alba Cros (“Otherness”).
Widespread on Selection
“Memorial” explores profound grief via its protagonist, Manel, who’s charged with transferring a bit he’s grown keen on to a group overseas after shedding his accomplice. From innocuous despair to rage and confusion, no feelings are blunted for the sake of consolation or motive.
“The mission proposes an analogy between how we protect artwork and the way we protect the reminiscence of our family members once they’re gone. The primary character of the movie tries to fill the void of this absence with objects as a method to deliver that individual again to actuality,” Sospedra informed Selection. “I like producing movies that deliver silenced matters to the desk, that open new dialogues and assist to interrupt stigmas-reconstructing the illustration and the view we have now of the world, doubtlessly therapeutic a part of the viewers.”
Pérez, whose 2015 debut function “El camino más largo para volver a casa” scooped a Gaudi plaudit for finest movie – which coincided with a rapturous pageant run – has crafted a love notice to impermanence and the insurmountable toll that loss has the potential to inflict on the delicate psyche.
“On this story, we concentrate on reminiscence and the trouble it takes to maintain it current, an virtually reckless have to try to not neglect, in order to not lose that presence that- even when it’s an absence- occupies a really highly effective house. Absence as presence,” Pérez relayed. “The selection of a personality who’s a curator of a museum makes it notable and completely different, not solely due to the immersion within the artwork world however as a result of he’s the clearest metaphor for the preservation of collective reminiscence.”
He went on, “Jacques Derrida stated that the custodian is in control of preserving artwork, however he’s additionally in control of selecting what stays and what doesn’t as a result of not every little thing suits within the archive; not directly, the custodian is the one who should protect but additionally neglect. That’s the place the paradox and singularity of our story lies: how can this determine who has completely executed this motto proceed to keep up it with regards to his private reminiscence?”
“Memorial” additionally touches on honoring current relationships that try to endure trauma, as Manel’s daughter Laia makes an attempt to console and accompany him via the bereavement to combined success. Secrets and techniques emerge, and the plot takes jarring, incoherent steps ahead.
“There’s a narrative of care and paternal-filial love that may deliver us nearer to these extra erratic and dysfunctional facets of our protagonist’s grief,” Pérez mused. “In the long run, although the protagonist’s complete journey may be very irrational, our prime precedence is for the viewer to grasp Manel and see what he does as a really profound act of affection, therefore the dramatic operate of the daughter, of household. We’re speaking about an antagonist who slowly begins to acknowledge and perceive – in all its magnitude – her father’s actions.”
The mission – which took half in 2023’s Mallorca Expertise Lab, Atlantida Movie Fest, Abycine Lanza and Impulso CMM Abycine Lanza Proyectos – is slated to shoot autumn 2025. Vicky Luengo, who stars in Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” and “The Large” standout Eneko Sagardoy are confirmed to star.