Alicia Moncholí, winner of the New Directors of Asturias Award for her latest short, “Campolivar,” is developing her first feature film, the coming-of-age drama “Weekends,” just announced as one of the five titles in development set to be presented at the Second Spanish Screenings on Tour.
They unspool at Rome’s MIA forum, which takes place Oct. 9-13.
“Weekends,” like “Campolivar,” is set up at Barcelona-based Oberón Media, launched in 2018 by Antonio Chavarrías, producer of Berlin Golden Bear winner “The Milk of Sorrow” and director of “The Chosen,” and Mexico’s Mónica Lozano, producer of Alejandro González Iñarritu’s “Amores Perros” and Eugenio Derbéz’s “Instructions Not Included.”
Selected at the 9th edition of DAMA Ayuda, where Moncholí was tutored by Michel Gaztambide (“Cows,” “No Rest for the Wicked”), “Weekends” was put through Spain’s Residencias de la Academia 2023 program and Acció Viver de Dones Visuals, a 7th-month development initiative.
Her future debut is also written by Moncholí, an alum of Barcelona’s Escac film school whose work turns on the reinterpretation of experiences related to family, absence and latent trauma.
Expanding on “Campolivar,” “Weekends” is set in Spain in 2005. It tracks the journey of Olivia, 8, who reconnects with her father after five years without seeing him. Together they will travel to different hotels over different weekends.
“Through the fractured dynamics of their relationship, Olivia will lose the innocence of her childhood and confront instability contaminated with a reality of anguish, feats and euphoria that her father reveals to her,” the synopsis runs.
“‘Weekends’” is a project that proposes a self-referential journey to explore the sensations of my childhood and my relationship with my father,” said Moncholí.
“I aim to develop a project that reflects on mental health, parent-child relationships, and the changes in perception towards the world caused by childhood trauma,” she added.
Winning Moncholí the New Directors of Asturias Award at the Gijón International Festival Lab, “Campolivar,” which inspired “Weekends,” is now in post-production. It is slated for release in early 2024.
Moncholí’s doc short “No Quiero Más,” was selected at various festivals, including the Gijón Film Festival and L’Alternativa, and was awarded best student film at the Navarre Film Festival.
Oberon Media’s credits include Jaime Rosales’ San Sebastian competition player “Wild Flowers” and the upcoming “La Abadesa,” from Chavarrías, and Belén Funes’ “The Turtles.”
