Portocabo TV, Ficción Producciones and Zenit TV figure among the five companies receiving Galician government moneys to develop audiovisual projects aimed at promoting the cultural values of St. James Way.
Ideas pitched by Agallas Films and Diez Caminos have also made the cut.
The five proposals, four TV series and a feature film, will share a total €75,000 ($86,816) to help finance their respective pre-production.
Set in the north-west of Spain, the region of Galicia channelling the support through the Galician Agency of Cultural Industries (AGADIC), looking for a high-quality production with strong international distribution potential to celebrate Xacobeo 2021, a St. James’ Holy Year.
The companies have four months to develop their proposals. The awarded project will tap $1.64 million in the case of a TV series and $1.16 million if the prize goes to a feature film.
Alfonso Blanco’s Portocabo TV, producer of Movistar + original series “Hierro,” has presented “El Camino,” a mini-series project structured in three stories that addresses global issues such as solidarity, loneliness, inner travel, overcoming challenges and Europe’s reality, with references to Stephen Daldry’s “The Hours” and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy “Three Colours.”
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Romantic comedy series project “100 KM. El Camino,” created by Zaza Ceballos and Rosa Castro at Zenit TV, follows a 50-year-old English woman threatened by a serious illness, taking to the St. James Way by impulse in order to avoid dismissal from the fashion magazine where she works.
Ficción Producciones’ “Tres Caminos” (“Three Roads”), an English-language drama mini-series with a touch of comedy, takes place in three different years, following the friendship of five people from Spain, Germany, France, Brazil and Korea who meet on the St. James Way, and their personal and emotional evolution.
Founded by Mamen Quintas and Julio Casal, Ficción’s credits takes in the production of Mediaset España and Alea Media’s Spanish TV primetime thriller series “Vivir sin permiso.”
Adventure comedy series “The Legacy of Matthew Steward,” presented by Diez Caminos, portrays two families traveling along the St. James Way to decipher a peculiar riddle, offered by an eccentric Californian billionaire. During the trip, they will face their own family life glitches before achieving any kind of happiness.
“My Camino,” the feature film idea pitched by Pancho Casal’s Agallas Films, is an international co-production teaming Canada’s Item 7 (“War Witch”) and Barcelona, Madrid and New York-based Sound and Fury Films.
Directed by Louise Archambault (“Gabrielle”), “My Camino” is inspired by Suey Kenney’s Canadian best-selling book “My Way,” narrating the true story of a divorced, depressed and down-sizing woman who acts on impulse leaving kids and ex-husband behind to walk the Way.
“The main features considered by the jury to evaluate the proposals were their quality, originality and timeless character. The St. James Way should be one of the important elements in their content, but not necessarily the main one, with the project seeking to stand out from further audiovisual works,” Agadic said in a statement.
The grant received by the award winner may be up to 30% of the total production budget. Project’s producers must spend in Galicia the equivalent of 110% of the subsidy.