Chilean production shingle Clara Films has set up operations in Spain and boarded its first feature film as local producers, “An Imaginary Kingdom” (“Un Reino Imaginado”), the directorial feature debut of Chilean Madrid residents, Belén Abarza and Eduardo Bunster.
“We’re excited to join ‘An Imaginary Kingdom,’ which feels especially fitting as our first production in Spain,” said Clara Films head Clara Larraín, an actress-producer who has been residing in Madrid since 2022. “We believe in its artistic strength and in the relevance of the themes it explores, but above all, we’re drawn to how the directors use tenderness and humor to speak about fragility,” she added.
Clara Films is an associate producer of recent Venice Best Screenplay winner “The Ivy” by Ecuador’s Ana Cristina Barragán. Larraín will be attending Madrid’s annual confab Iberseries & Platino Industria, which runs Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 this year.
The project also benefits from Bunster’s experience as a Chilean cinematographer (“Some Beasts,” “The Black One”) and Abarza’s extensive background in the performing arts. Together, they have previously co-directed two short films: “Teo” (BIFAN, Cinequest, Bogoshorts) and “The Flight of Chaika” (Sanfic).
The story follows Juan Reyes, an undocumented Chilean playwright trying to find his footing in Madrid as he faces the precarity and uprootedness of life as a migrant. Along the way, he meets Lola, a young woman from Murcia who is also searching for her place in the Spanish capital. Amid unfamiliar streets and uncertain days, the two form a deep friendship that restores their strength to imagine a future of their own.
“An Imaginary Kingdom” draws from the personal experiences of its directors and lead actor, Javier Ubilla Martín, as they adapted to life in Spain’s capital. Blending fiction, improvisation, and documentary-style shooting on the streets of Madrid, the film delves into the quiet intimacy of daily life, revealing how fragility, solitude and humor coexist in those attempting to rebuild themselves far from home.
“This film was conceived as a space where affection and hardship can coexist. We believe cinema has the power to give voice to those experiencing displacement, revealing the humanity in everyday life,” said the directors.
The project first began with Chilean company Holoscópica and now advances with the addition of Clara Films as a Spanish co-producer. According to Larraín, the collaboration supports “the development of a diaspora of Latin American talent rooted in the Spanish capital.”
Indeed, Clara Films is one of several Latino companies setting up shop in Spain in order to better tap the country’s generous film incentives and expanding co-production treaties with a host of countries.
During the San Sebastian Film Festival, which wrapped Sept. 27, ICAA deputy director general Camilo Vázquez announced that Spain was planning to add to its 22 existing bilateral treaties by signing new pacts with Asia, starting with the Philippines, South Korea, China and India.
Clara Larraín, Courtesy of Clara Films
LARDIEZ
