in filming
The director revealed in the cycle of conversations that the Colpisa news agency has prepared on the occasion of its 50th anniversary that Marta Nieto would be one of the protagonists of this adaptation of ‘Ávidas pretensions’, the novel by Fernando Aramburu
Since last April 25th, Madrid-born Jaime Chávarri has been filming in Galicia (mainly in the province of Orense), ‘The Golden Apple’, a film with which he gets back behind the camera 18 years after he finished his previous film, ‘Shrimp’.
The film is an adaptation of the novel by Fernando Aramburu (the author of ‘Patria’) ‘Ávidas pretensions’, with which the author received the Biblioteca Breve Award in 2014. The cast of the film is led by Marta Nieto – they revealed it both in the cycle of conversations that the Colpisa news agency has prepared on the occasion of its 50th anniversary-, Sergi López, Adrián Lastra, Elena Seijo and Abelo Valis. Along with them, Carla Campa, Joaquín Climent, Vicky Peña, Loreto Fajardo and Álvaro Subiés.
‘The Golden Apple’ will be moved by a certain tone of comedy – “very British”, according to Chávarri-, and will tell the story of a group of people who meet in an isolated convent of a supposed Galician town, Morilla del Pinar, to debate and decide on the poetry prize ‘The golden apple’, within the third poetic conference of the place, three days in which the authors will discuss aesthetics and present their work. The situation of the conference is destabilized with the arrival of an unexpected guest. Reciting, writing, some suspicions of plagiarism, the desire to participate in an anthology, the anniversary of a centenarian poet and a stormy night, among other vicissitudes, are milestones in this story. In the original novel Aramburu made a scathing critique of the literary scene and its protagonists, where the miseries of the world came to light.
You can listen to the full meeting on this podcast:
Aramburu’s first novel was ‘Fuegos con limon’ in 1996, which reflects the aspirations of young writers in the San Sebastian of the 70s; possibly ‘Avid pretensions’ was the present of those same characters. Aramburu is behind the great success of the HBO series ‘Patria’, based on his 2016 best-selling novel with the National Narrative Award, set in Guipúzcoa mired in ETA terrorism and which was one of the most watched Spanish series of 2020.
For his part, Chávarri established himself with his second film, ‘El desencanto’ (1975), a documentary about the family of the poet Leopoldo Panero, and has directed titles such as ‘Bicycles are for summer’ in 1984, based on the work play by Fernando Fernán Gómez, starring Amparo Soler Leal, Gabino Diego, Agustín González, Victoria Abril and Marisa Paredes. In 1989 he directed another of his greatest successes, the musical film ‘Las cosas del Quiero’, performed by the trio formed by Ángela Molina, Ángel de Andrés López and Manuel Bandera and which was inspired by the figure of the charismatic copla singer Miguel de Molina , who had to go into exile in Argentina, threatened with death by the Franco regime because of his homosexuality. In 1995 he directed a second part of ‘LasCosas del Quiero’ in a co-production with Argentina, shot between Madrid and Buenos Aires and which included Darío Grandinetti and Susú Pecoraro in the cast. He was also behind ‘Tattoo’, a series for RTVE, and the short film of the same title in which Almodóvar sings the famous song by Concha Piquer behind a bar.
According to the 79-year-old filmmaker, “I had no intention of producing again until some producers presented me with a script based on Aramburu’s novel that caught me so much that I couldn’t say no.” The script is signed by José Ángel Esteban, Vocento’s audio and podcast director, and Chávarri himself has also participated in it, promoting a humor that “starts more from the situations than from the dialogues,” according to his words.
With a planned six-week shoot, the film has the Pazo de Bentraces, in Orense, as its main backdrop, as well as other nearby locations. The film is produced by Mario Real and Xosé Zapata (La Pirueta Films), with the collaboration of the Diputación de Orense and Televisión Española.
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