Madrid's ECAM incubator project "Macrame" explores the boundaries of class and gender

One ​​of the five projects of the 5th ECAM Madrid Film School incubator, an initiative of six-month mentorship for producers, "Macramé" explores the politics of sex in the story of a 70-year-old bourgeois woman passionate about macrame.

His life changes drastically when his 64-year-old Ecuadorian housekeeper makes him feel the knots in his skin , sparking a mutual exploration of the Japanese art of erotic bondage.

The Spanish romantic drama is written and directed by Barbara Magdalena and produced by Iván Luis and Andrea Jaurrieta de Lasai Productions.

Given Magdalena's background in design, the project in development should have a compelling visual aesthetic . Magdalena and her producers sat down with Variety to discuss the development process and the challenges ahead.

Andrea, have you made 'Ana by Day' and are you already making another feature film" Niña" with Bteam, Irusoin and Lasai. But at the same time, you are producing Barbara's film with Iván Luis. Is the idea for you both to produce and to direct?

Jaurrieta: I consider myself primarily a director, but Iván and I produced 'Ana by Day' together and now on “Nina”, we also co-produce. So we set up this production company to support my own films and the projects of other emerging directors that seemed interesting to us. We wanted to support them because we know that for the next generation, if you're doing cinema that's a little bit different, it's hard to get it done in the system. We think we could bet on new voices, that's why we decided to produce Barbara's project at the same time.

Luis: I would add that Barbara's "Macrame" movie is our first project where Andrea did is neither the director nor the co-producer. We have produced other people's shorts but this is our first feature.

When you say that new generations make cinema a little differently, I think there is a much more serious social conscience than in the generation of the 90s. And that seems to sum up a cinema that has more to do with the cinema of the 1970s, of the transition, until the Balmaseda law in the 1990s, which gave priority to box office success and made Spanish cinema one of the most mainstream in Europe. I have this impression with the new subsidy system, it means that you have to co-produce with other companies to collect enough points for a project.

Jaurrieta: It is precisely because of this point system that we go to San Sebastian because which we are looking to co-produce with a bigger Spanish company that will help us earn those points. The system is a bit tricky in that sense, but we believe there is a new generation of producers like Irusoin, pushing and betting on new talent.

Luis: When you bet on a movie that a priori isn't a blockbuster, I think it is important to establish synergies with other production companies precisely to set up the financing structure which would otherwise be complicated. We need to forge alliances to make bigger but not necessarily mainstream movies.

Barbara, Your film is about marginalized people, not just as characters, but in their traditional importance as characters in movies. Immigrant domestic workers, when appearing in a film, with few exceptions, normally have two lines. "Yes ma'am" or something like that. Your film is its apology and pleasure. It's radical and it breaks taboos.

Barbara Magdalena Yes. Well, I completely agree. A key point is to take these characters who are not usually protagonists and bring them to the fore, to create complete, authentic characters, with particular and concrete desires that come out of the norm. We are in a private sphere and everyone develops their sexuality in a particular way. For me, in a way, it was with the characters, a kind of social prohibition...