Madrid-based One of Spain’s most successful auteur film production companies, Aqu y All Films, is teaming up with famed Spanish actor turned writer-director Daniel Guzmán (“Nothing in Return,” “Canallas”) to create drama thriller “La deuda.”
“La deuda” will be produced by Aqu y All’s Pedro Hernández and Guzmán at El Nio Producciones and supported by Spain’s pay TV powerhouse Movistar+ and national broadcaster RTVE.
The film is set to begin shooting in Madrid this September.
“La deuda,” written by Guzmán, depicts the story of Lucas, a 37-year-old man, and Antonia, an 86-year-old lady, who live together in a metropolis too enormous to be alone. Lucas is seeking work, but the job is not looking for him.
Despite their economic challenges and age differences, they enjoy their lives with vigour until Lucas’ choice changes the course of their lives forever.
“I share a vision and a cinematographic technique with Pedro, which is vital for creating and producing a project as private as this one,” Guzmán stated.
“Dani’s managed to bring together many of the components that make a picture succeed with the audience without abandoning auteurship in ‘La Deuda,'” Hernández continued.
“It’s a human narrative with beautiful, complex characters. It’s sensitive, harsh at times, and full of rhythm. Most significantly, it has his signature,” Hernández noted.
“Nothing in Return,” Guzmán’s directorial debut, won best picture, director, and a Critics’ Award at the 2015 Malaga Film Festival and went on to win Spanish Academy Goyas for a new director and breakout actor (Miguel Herrán).
Its sequel, “Canallas,” a Movistar+ original film produced by Universal Studios, had its global debut at the 2022 Málaga Film Festival.
Aqu y All debuted in 2010 with “Here and There,” Antonio Méndez Esparza’s debut film, which received the Cannes Critics’ Week Golden Prize in 2012.
Other Aqu y All productions include Carlos Vermut’s “Magical Girl,” which won the Golden Shell at San Sebastian in 2016, and Méndez Esparza’s “Life and Nothing More,” which won the John Cassavetes Spirit Award in 2017.
“Berlin is undoubtedly one of the greatest beginning locations for presenting ‘La deuda,'” Guzmán said.
“I hope this is the start of a collaboration that can provide continuity to future initiatives.”
“We aspire to close a European co-production and major worldwide sales. “We’re already in earlier talks with future travel partners,” Hernández explained.
