15/04/2024 - The feature starring Isabelle Stoffel, Violeta Rodríguez, Álex Brendemühl, Manfred Liechti and Mona Petri wrapped its shoot in early April

Director Ana Serret (centre) with actors Isabelle Stoffel and Álex Brendemühl (right) on the set of Apuntes para una ficción consentida (© Núria Aidelman)

Apuntes para una ficción consentida (lit. “Notes for an Authorised Fiction”), a film directed by Ana Serret Ituarte, recently wrapped its shoot and is now immersed in post-production. The film stars an international cast made up of Isabelle Stoffel (whom we have seen in Spanish movies such as Karen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: María Pérez Sanz
film profile] and The August Virgin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonás Trueba
film profile]), Violeta Rodríguez (The Quiet Maid [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Miguel Faus
film profile], which is released in Spain on 17 May), Alex Brendemühl (whom we glimpsed last year in Creatura [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Elena Martín Gimeno
film profile], for which he secured his first Goya nomination, and who will be hitting Spanish theatres from this Friday with Hate Songs), Manfred Liechti (Katrina’s Dream [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Mona Petri (Animals [+see also:
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interview: Greg Zglinski
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interview: Caterina Mona
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Apuntes para una ficción consentida tells the story of Lea Grand, a Swiss woman lost in Madrid, who will have to find her own path to becoming an actress in a country she wasn’t born in. However, she will have some help from an array of different characters whom she crosses paths with: a young actress, her ex, a pianist who does not talk, a neighbour of hers and a nurse specialising in bats. Regardless, she’s looking in the wrong place.

With directing and screenwriting duties taken care of by Ituarte, the DoP is Almudena Sánchez (Journey to Somewhere [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Helena de Llanos
film profile]), and the art direction is courtesy of Rocío Peña. It was shot in Madrid and Basel (Switzerland), and in the words of the director, “It’s a fiction authorised by actress Isabelle Stoffel, based on her own experiences, where reality and fiction are totally indistinguishable from one another. That’s how a series of notes came about as well as a string of characters that populate her life and accompany her as she struggles to be an actress in a foreign country whose language is so different to her own.”

Ana Serret Ituarte was born in Madrid in 1970, and trained as an assistant director with filmmakers of the likes of Mario Camus, Fernando Colomo, Gerardo Vera and Mariano Barroso. Her first short film, Extras, won the Goya Award in the non-fiction category in 2005 and the Best Documentary Award at the Medina del Campo Film Festival, in addition to taking part in Documenta Madrid and Málaga. In 2015, her feature debut, La fiesta de otros, took part in Documenta Madrid, PortoPostDoc, Guangzhou, Ibaff and Underdox Munich, and after participating in Alcances, it won the Docma Award for Best Feature and the Jury Special Mention. In 2017, she premiered El señor Liberto y los pequeños placeres at the Seville European Film Festival and scooped the Award for Best Cinematography at Documenta Madrid 2018 as well as the gongs for Best Feature and Best Director at Alcances. It also took part in other gatherings, such as IBAFF, Málaga and Rizoma.

Apuntes para una ficción consentida is an Atiende Films and Tandem Films production, with its distribution and international sales entrusted to Begin Again Films. Its producers are Xesc Cabot, Pep Garrido, Cristina Zumárraga and Pablo E Bossi. It has secured funding from the ICAA, the Community of Madrid and Madrid City Council, and it also boasts the involvement of the Filmin platform.

(Translated from Spanish)