On Thursday 20 March, the Festival de Málaga hosted a new session of 5 Minutos, which presented three projects still in development. The audience had a chance to talk about them with several members of their teams.
The UMA Rectorate was the venue for the sessions of this section of the competition, which presented 'El mal', 'Abuela hippie' and 'Cuarzo'.
 
‘El mal', a reflection on the inability to look at oneself
 
The first session served to present 'El mal', the new project by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, who directs a story about a journalist who yearns for success and is asked to write a book about the biggest murderer in history.
 
The preview screened showed some images with no spoilers, but which were suggestive and unsettled the audience at the session. "Suspense is the spice of cinema," said the film's director.
 
Shot between Vitoria and Bilbao, according to its creator, this film has been written since 2006 and he has finally been able to tackle it after several attempts. With complex characters, Juanma Bajo Ulloa has navigated a premise: "The extraordinary capacity of the human being to be recognised and the inability to look at oneself".
 
With him at the presentation were actresses Belén Fabra and young feature film debutant María Schwinning, as well as project executive producer Borja Gil Moreno.
 
"Working with Juanma has been fortunate and a challenge as I had to try not to be overwhelmed by the character", acknowledged Belén Fabra. These words were echoed by the newcomer: "Thanks to help from the director and support from a cast of professional colleagues, I was able to understand and play a character," said Maria Schwinning.
 
Borja Gil, in turn, wanted to express his fascination for the project and emphasise the support received from public entities. "Juanma's work, together with our creativity at a business level, has allowed us to advance step by step along a complicated path, and thanks largely to TVE and EITB”.
 
 
‘Abuela hippie', Luna Fulgencio's horror film debut
 
Next at 5 Minutos came 'Abuela Hippie', the new feature film directed by José Enrique March and scripted and produced by Ezekiel Montes, with a cast made up of actresses Adelfa Calvo and Luna Fulgencio, the latter present at the session with the director and producer.
 
"We use this section to show the industry what crazy things we're coming up with," said the screenwriter and producer. Still in pre-production, this project has been in the making for seven years, when Ezekiel Montes started to propose a horror film to the director.
 
On whether there are any influences when directing this film, José Enrique March assured that they are "making a new kind of cuisine". "We want to avoid the gimmick as such and play with the presence of well-known actresses," he said.
 
"The actor is going to see how good an actress she is and that she can also adapt to the genre," Ezekiel Montes said of Luna Fulgencio and her debut in a horror film. For her part, the young actress expressed her excitement at embarking on this new adventure: "My character has to scare and they have to scare her".
 
‘Cuarzo' becomes a feature film to raise awareness on childhood abuse
 
The last session of the 5 Minutos section on Thursday 20 March at the Festival de Málaga left no one indifferent. ‘Cuarzo', directed by Daniel Ortiz Entrambasaguas, exposed abuse experienced during childhood.
 
This feature film picks up from '7:11 Cuarzo', a short film presented in 2023 and which has had a great run, included among the 101 best documentaries at the Oscars. Faced with such success, the director felt the need to continue showing a subject that he claims to “have encountered difficulties in distributing content with a pedagogical function on public television".
 
"We are still in the selection process," said the director, who used 17 real testimonies for the short film and aims to reach 50 people for this feature film. Several of these testimonies have accompanied the director and had a chance to speak during the emotional session of this 5 Minutos, as is the case of María Andújar and Noemí Pérez.
 
For this work, the director has also been accompanied by Norma Velázquez, a Peruvian producer; as well as Victoria Maldonado, psychologist, documentary filmmaker and also a fundamental part of this production process that seeks to avoid sensationalism and reportage at all costs.
 
"It's brave to do this kind of work, but there was a lot of training to be done," said the psychologist about the importance of raising awareness among project members about a process that has lasted at least a year and a half.
 
The producer stressed the need to show this sensitive issue: "Abuse is much more prevalent than we think. As filmmakers, we have a responsibility and a power to make these stories visible", concluded Norma Velázquez, who also highlighted the important support from the Peruvian Ministry of Culture for this project through the Directorate of Audiovisual, Phonography and New Media (DAFO).