A lockdown musical phenomenon is brought to the big screen in the documentary Stay homas. La banda que no hauria d’existir
The official documentary selection of the Out of Competition section of the Festival de Málaga premieres a documentary about the band that played at the closing concert of the 23rd Festival de Málaga
Over 2020’s lockdown, in the midst of the pandemic, three friends and musicians – Raï, Guillem and Klaus – were stuck in Barcelona. Some people took the opportunity to bake muffins; others, to perform Tiktok dances; but the three of them took advantage of their musical talent to create a daily song on Instagram. Something that soon became an essential part of their routine, and that brought people together every day, in front of their phones, in an escape from the reality around us.
The first 'Confination Song' was titled Coronão and shared on Rai Benet’s Instagram on 14 March 2020. Then came the song that gives the group its name, Stay Homas, which was shared on Guillem Boltó’s Instagram. The third, Confineo, was from Klaus Stroink’s. And then suddenly, they were a viral phenomenon.
The songs were so well known that the trio went on to make ‘digital’ collaborations with artists including Nil Moliner, Macaco, Judit Nedderman and Manu Chao. They’ve also collaborated with artists such as Rubén Blades and Michael Bublé.
The ‘homegrown’ success meant that when they lockdown ended, tickets for their first concert in Barcelona sold out in just ten minutes. Would the success last? That’s the question producers Oriol Gispert, Nick Bolger and Ramón Balagué ask themselves during the eighty-two minutes of documentary, during which we get to know the most intimate side of the trio. 'There’s a story here, that’s what we thought when we saw the whole phenomenon they were awakening', said Gispert. 'We always have our eye on stories that could be interesting for the public, and we said to ourselves: let’s see where this one takes us. And we started filming'.
The three producers asked for permission to come to their home and set up the cameras, and then set about capturing the musicians in their day-to-day lives – part of an intimacy that couldn’t be seen through the daily videos. The musicians admit that, for them, it was all very 'bizarre', and that they weren’t prepared to have a camera following them. 'There was a time when we tried to script the scenes, but it went badly. It was best that they filmed us without us knowing it, and were able to capture that improvisation', confesses Rai Benet. Guillem Boltó agreed with him: 'When you go on stage, you control what you want to project, but what they’re going to see on the big screen is much more intimate'.
The Stay Homas. La banda que no hauria d’existir documentary had its premiere at the Festival de Málaga, an event the band played the closing concert of in 2020, and the first in a series of festivals, screenings and platforms where it will soon be shown.
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