The Festival de Málaga has hosted another session of 5 Minutos, the section that brings film projects at different stages of production to the public This year's programme features a total of eleven short films that will be presented throughout the week.

The first session, held this Saturday the 7th at the Rectorate of the University of Malaga (UMA), served to present a preview of El otro chiquito, the new project by screenwriter and director Diego San José, focused on the figure of Chiquito de la Calzada, one of the most popular artists in 1990s Spain. The film recreates the moment when the most-watched programme on private television decides to introduce a character resembling Chiquito, Lucas Grijander, who soon begins to take his place on screen.

The presentation was attended by Manuel Rodríguez, producer of Globomedia; Fran Araújo, producer of Movistar, and Diego San José, executive producer. Both Araújo and Rodríguez agreed that they wanted to portray Chiquito's life in a different way. For Diego San José, “Chiquito is an absolute legend. If he had anything special, it was that he was a completely atypical comedian. He could tell a joke, but the joke was the least important thing; that's what inspired us”. San José also highlighted the city of Málaga as a filming location: “These scenes were filmed, as they had to be, in Málaga, because Chiquito was an ambassador for this city, and I would love to be from a city whose ambassador is Chiquito de la Calzada”.

The documentary, which features appearances by figures such as Pepe Navarro, Paz Padilla, Juan y Medio, José Mercé, and Manolo Sarria, reveals the extent to which the creation and success of the character portrayed by Florentino Fernández affected Chiquito.

The event, moderated by Luis Alegre, included the creator, Diego San José, and the directors, Juan Zavala and Javier Morales.

In the words of its creator, “We wanted to do what Chiquito did with jokes, to give them a twist. We wanted to make a documentary that wasn't a joke. It's a heist film where what's stolen is the character”.

For his part, Juan Zavala pointed out that the trial between Chiquito and Florentino Fernández was an episode that had always been told in a comedic tone, but they discovered that for Gregorio (Chiquito) it had been “a wound he carried until his death.  Something much deeper than what has traditionally been seen".

But, as Javier Morales explained, “The documentary has several layers; it also tells the story of the ratings battles between Antena 3 and Telecinco and how they kept reinventing themselves, becoming a catch-all where anything goes to get viewers”.

According to Diego San José: “Chiquito discovered what was viral when viral didn't even exist. Suddenly you would see politicians and sportsmen saying their lines. Regarding Chiquito's virality, Morales added the curious fact that “such local humor was understood in other cities”.
As the team has revealed, T El otro Chiquito will be available in the coming months.

With this first instalment, the 5 Minutos section once again becomes a space for discovering projects in development and bringing the creative process of Spanish cinema closer to the public.