“The dream has come true. We started the project almost 8 years ago with the idea of telling stories and the illusion of doing it in our land. The challenge was double and we have achieved it. With these words the director Joaquín Carmona Hidalgo started the press conference to present his debut feature film, ‘Últimas voluntades’, at the Real Casino in Murcia. The film, which officially premieres on June 30, has a preview today at the Murcia Regional Film Library. During the day, Carmona Hidalgo was supported by part of the cast of the feature film: the actors Fernando Tejero, Nerea Camacho, Carlos Santos and Salvador Serrano, who is also the screenwriter, as well as the producers Alejandro Rius (Maskeline), Daniel E. Moncho (Biopic Films) and Juan María Prieto (executive producer).
«Seven and a half years ago I had a script that I had just written, I presented it to Joaquín and little by little people joined. Who would have told us that we were going to be here today with these comrades…”, said Salvador Serrano, also from Murcia, about the long process of creating this film that stars, in addition to the aforementioned artists, Óscar Casas and Adriana Azores. “The result is better than I expected,” explained its director. “Everything imaginable happened to us. during filming [tuvo que parar debido a las restricciones del covid y se realizó un cambio de reparto debido a otros compromisos profesionales de los actores para las fechas señaladas], in the financing phase… there have been several moments in which the project has been seen to be in jeopardy,” the filmmaker confessed. “The actors are brilliant and we have a very nice film, like the one we wanted to make, which delves into issues with which we feel very identified,” said the director about ‘Last Wills’, a story of self-improvement and second chances about a father who wants to recover the love of his son whom he abandoned when he was a baby.
“This film has been my life for the last 8 years,” said the filmmaker who told during the press conference, as an anecdote, how since I was a child “I recorded shorts with my father’s homemade camera,” without even even truly aware of what you are doing. Now, he sees his first feature film come true, a film made “to entertain and evade the public from his thoughts for two hours.”
«From this experience I take the love, effort and passion of a team of people who have worked for years and have told a beautiful story with a beautiful character. The team that surrounds me is very important to me. I try to be with people who make it easy for me and it was fascinating to see the desire and respect for his film despite the stones that the road has thrown us. The result is going to be wonderful,” said the protagonist, Fernando Tejero, about the film, and took the opportunity to ask “that people go to the movies.”
«The most important thing about this project is to shoot a production that was born here on my land. Pride is indescribable”, said the Murcian actor Carlos Santos about this feature film shot in Molina de Segura, Fuente Álamo, Calasparra, Cehegín (Valentín), Murcia and Cartagena.
Nerea Camacho, who had already worked with the filmmaker on the short film ‘Mar’, confessed her enthusiasm for the project to go ahead and highlighted her interest in her character, “very different from what she had done up to now.”
Talent
Salvador Serrano, who explained that at the narrative level the film “could have taken place anywhere” since “the story is not linked to Murcia,” stressed that the film “recognizes its characteristic corners.”
“We all like to shoot at home”, commented the actor and screenwriter, who also stressed that this has been a great opportunity to publicize “the great talent of the actors from the Region of Murcia” and highlighted the importance of the School Superior of Dramatic Art of Murcia, “one of the best in Spain”. Alfredo Zamora, Toni Medina, Fran Abellán, Eva Torres, Cristian Paredes, Alfonso Destentre, Luis Martínez Arasa, Jesús Abraham Mendoza, César Oliva, Rafa Sandoval, Mamen Garji and Manuel de Reyes are also part of the cast of this film, which includes an original song by Viva Suecia.
“We started working to have a film industry”
“We wanted to convey a feeling, an illusion, that a project could be developed without having to go abroad and make the institutions see that this was teamwork,” explained producer Daniel E. Moncho, who believes that the development of This project may allow the Region of Murcia to be given visibility as a setting for new feature films. Likewise, he encouraged the councils of the different municipalities to “see an opportunity in this type of project.”
“We hope that when we go to Madrid they will look at us differently and that we will be able to promote filming,” said Juan María Prieto, executive producer.
Alejandro Rius wanted to highlight “the great institutional support” received. “It is clear that our government supports us,” said Rius, highlighting the work of the ICA and the importance of the creation of the Murcia Region Film Commission: “We began to work to have a film industry.”
The film has the participation of RTVE and La7 and the institutional collaboration of the Government of the Region of Murcia, through the ICA. It also has the main support of the Molina de Segura town hall and the collaboration of the Fuente Álamo, Mazarrón and Calasparra town halls.
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