A crazy Dream

The most outstanding things in my professional life have happened after 1985, and although the over 100 films I have produced are very recent history and I don't want to go into a detailed account about them, I wish to highlight those people who have helped make these movies a reality.

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CARLOS SAURA.

"El Dorado" is the film that marked me most both personally and professionally. During the pre-production, filming and even the premiere, I experienced the entire gamut of the feelings a producer can feel. If one argues that being a producer isn't a profession but a way of living, then my experiences with "El Dorado" are evidence of that. During the almost two years that I worked on it, I went from being wealthy to being poor, from feeling strong and protected to feeling weak and persecuted. Starting from nearly nothing and raising almost one thousand million (pesetas) was a difficult and risky task. The intensity of it produced in me a feeling of vertigo of unmatched proportions. While all this was going on, Carlos Saura, the excellent director he is, would close his eyes and ears and plow ahead. Thanks to his attitude and also to Víctor Albarrán, José Luis García, Francisco Amaro, Juan Manuel Velasco, Rafael Escuredo and our beloved priests -may God be with them- it was possible to finish this film and, above all, we were able to get out of Costa Rica.

Carlos Saura, the only Spanish filmmaker that can compare to his contemporaries like Kubrick, Bergman or Bertolucci, apart from "El Dorado", also worked with me on "La noche oscura" (The Dark Night of the Soul), "¡Ay, Carmela!" "Marathon", "El sur" (The South) -for the TV series about Borges's stories-, "Goya en Burdeos" (Goya in Bordeaux) and "Io, Don Giovanni". Carlos has always insisted in making "his films" without interference. That insistence in maintaining the authorship of his own work, much like what Godard did in the 1960s, has been a source of confrontation between us at one time or another, although such confrontations have always been friendly, so to speak. Probably because of that, throughout all these years our collaboration has been intermittent, although for me it has always been most enriching. I will always want to work again with Carlos, and I think he knows that.

AVG Y TRUEBA - OSCAR

FERNANDO TRUEBA, RAFAEL AZCONA.

"Belle Époque" and its Oscar also occupy an outstanding place in my memory. In this movie, luck and misfortune, pleasure and pain come together. However, my participation in the film during its production was insignificant, and I only attended the shooting one weekend out of courtesy and almost as a guest. I even felt tempted to tell Fernando not to include my name in the credits. At the time I was very busy with the preparation and shooting of "Marathon," during the Barcelona Olympic Games. However, I honestly think that my involvement in launching the film internationally was decisive. The two uninterrupted months I spent with my good friend Enrique Herreros in Los Angeles, promoting the movie and pushing it with the members of the Hollywood Academy was a titanic task. For me Belle Époque's Oscar meant an extraordinary professional acknowledgement, which enabled me to find a place amongst some of the most distinguished European producers. On the other hand, just as I wouldn't have separated from my first wife if I hadn't gone through my experience with Welles, "Belle époque" too had some very powerful effects on me that changed my personal life. And changes, however slow they might be, are changes all the same; they bring with them happiness but also leave behind traces of grief and bitterness that are difficult to overcome.

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As I have pointed out, my encounter with Fernando Trueba was very fortunate; together we started working in "El año de las luces" (The Year of Enlightenment) with Rafael Azcona, who has written the scripts of the most beautiful films I have produced. Rafael has participated in over twenty of the movies that I have been involved with. I doubt that he has worked harder for any other producer than me; I definitely owe a lot to him. Not only the scripts he wrote have been significant but the advice he has given me and even the occasional arguments we've had have all been useful. Much has been said and written about Azcona's attributes and skills as a scrpitwriter; in fact he deserves more credit. Indeed, Rafael is the most important person that has existed in Spanish Cinema. Without his work for Berlanga, Ferreri, Saura, Trueba, García Sánchez and Cuerda, perhaps none of them would enjoy as directors the acknowledgement they enjoy today and Spanish cinema wouldn't be half as important as it is.

I am very indebted to Fernando Trueba because, thanks to him, apart from the film "Sé infiel y no mires con quien" (Cheat with Whoever You Wish), I was also able to produce "El año de las luces" (The Year of Enlightenment) and "Belle Époque", "El sueño del mono loco" (The Mad Monkey), "Two Much", "La niña de tus ojos" (The Girl of Your Dreams), "El embrujo de Shanghai" (The Shanghai Spell). Apart from Fernando, his wife and co-producer Cristina Huete - has made them possible too. Without her, nothing would have been the same and without him, I wouldn't be the person I am.

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GONZALO SUÁREZ.

With Gonzalo Suárez, apart from "La loba y la paloma" (The Wolf and the Dove) and "Remando al viento" (Rowing with the Wind), our collaboration continued with "La reina anónima" (The Anonymous Queen), "El detective y la muerte" The Detective and Death) and "El portero" (The Goalkeeper). In between these films, Gonzalo produced other films by himself. Although his rebellious and individualistic character has led him to escape from my guidance many times, I have always felt towards him much admiration and affection. I still consider him to be, intellectually speaking, the youngest of the directors I work with and honestly believe that some day, perhaps in the very near future, we will have the box office success that so far has eluded us.