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00:00Then it's a question of intuition, you know, like trying to see them, what is the potential, you know.
00:05They're very young, so it's always in consideration the fact that they're very
00:10young, so it's more about not only what they can do now, but the potential that they have.
00:14Hello, we're at the Berlin Film Festival and we'll be talking about the Dream Makers
00:29project and I'm joined here by a fantastic panel, so I was wondering if everyone could
00:35introduce themselves. Hi, I'm Wayne Griffiths, I'm CEO of SEAD and CUPRA and we're one of the
00:42major partners of the Dream Maker contest. Hi, I am Jay Bayona, I'm a film director and one of
00:48the mentors of the Dream Makers project. Hi, my name is Martha Ayerbe and I'm one of the Dream
00:54Makers winners with my project Señuelo. Hi, my name is Hansel Rodriguez and I'm one of the
00:59co-directors of Homing. Hi, I'm Lizzie Atherton and I'm one of the co-directors of Homing.
01:04Wayne, if I can start with you, can you just explain to everyone what the Dream Makers is?
01:11I think the Dream Makers is the opportunity to find the next generation of filmmakers,
01:17to give them an opportunity to show their work, to tell their stories. Something we're really
01:23passionate about at CUPRA is a brand for the next generation and it was great to join with
01:29Rota and with Daniel on the jury to look to not only produce cars, we're a car producer, but also
01:37produce short films as well. We wanted to launch this contest because we thought there was a big
01:42link between CUPRA as a brand and the film world. We as a brand, we're more than just a car
01:48manufacturer, we want to create emotions. So I think we were looking to try and find a fit
01:55into the film world that wasn't just putting cars on the red carpet or product placement or the
02:00classical type of involvement with film, but really trying to do something for the next
02:05generation of filmmakers and promote talent, because we're the brand for the next generation
02:10and we want to help that talent. There are two sides to the project. One is to promote the
02:17short film, so we selected it at the end. We couldn't decide for once, so we ended up deciding
02:23for two films, for Homemade and Senuelo. But also there's another part of our initiative that's
02:28going to sponsor Descartes, the film school in Catalunya, to give people an opportunity of
02:34studying there and I think we'll be announcing that in April. So two sides to the project.
02:40How do CUPRA's values and those of the dream makers align and how does it fit with CUPRA's
02:45other interactions with the world of cinema? Yeah, I mean CUPRA is a very young brand and we've only
02:51existed now for seven years, but we're growing like hell. We've already sold 800,000 cars.
02:57We're a brand from Barcelona, we're really proud from being Barcelona, that's why we're really happy
03:02to work together with Jota, who's also from Barcelona. Our motto is inspiring the world
03:06from Barcelona, something we're very proud about. As I said, we're an emotional brand.
03:12I think we want to try and hit a nerve with the next generation of car lovers out there,
03:18with great design, you know, inspired by this fantastic city we all live in, Barcelona.
03:26And in getting involved with the movie world, the link for us is all about emotions, you know,
03:33movies are there to create emotions too, but also CUPRA as a brand wants to do the same,
03:38create emotions. It was Jota's idea initially when we first sat down and talked about
03:43CUPRA and movies and how we want to get involved and he said, well, why don't we go and help
03:47the next generation? He'd gone to the school, ESCAC, and so they became a key partner
03:53and I think a key anchor point in the whole project to help us manage
03:58the whole thing. So they've been really, really important. But Jota's time as well, I mean,
04:03the amount of time he's spending mentoring the young people I think is amazing. And also with
04:09Daniel Brühl as well, with the actor, together with us on the jury. We've had some fun, it's
04:14been a great, for me, a great process having the guy who Jota can be seeing me in my headquarters
04:19in the car manufacturing, spending half a day talking about short films or young talents is
04:26something really inspiring. What's your personal connection to the world of cinema?
04:30Yeah, I mentioned it before. I said, you know, when I was a kid growing up in Manchester,
04:35on Sunday, I always used to go to the movies. I was 11 or 12. Everybody else went playing
04:39football, watching films. I was a bit like the strange kid, sat on my own in the movies
04:44theater. And I always, I don't know, I really thought one day perhaps I can become a film
04:49director. But back then there wasn't the opportunities that there are now. There was no
04:56movie school in Manchester back then. So I went to grammar school and then I went to study
05:03and ended up in the car industry. But I think there are some parallels, you know.
05:06I'm directing a big story at Cooper as well. Cooper is like a movie as well. So I still see
05:11myself, I'd like to swap with him and do his job. I don't know whether he'd like to do my job, but
05:16I think directing Cooper is kind of like directing a movie as well.
05:20Jay, how did you start your career in filmmaking and who were the mentors or those who inspired
05:28you? I started with a paper and a pencil. I went to see Superman when I was three years old
05:36and I went back home and I took a paper and I drew on one side
05:42an image of a train with the tracks broken and on the other side I drew Superman and then I put
05:48that paper in front of a lamp and started to turn on and off the light so I could see Superman
05:54appearing and disappearing. So I realized that I wanted to do films since I didn't have a camera
06:02or I didn't know what I was doing. I was very young. I had lots of mentors in my life because
06:09my father was a huge cinephile but then Guillermo del Toro was a very important person for me.
06:17He saw me, he sponsored my career from the very beginning and he ended up producing
06:24The Orphanage. So for me it's very important that first help. The first time Wayne and I
06:31sat down and talked about doing a special collaboration. What can we do that would be
06:37special and I said we should sponsor new talent. We should give the chance that I had in the past
06:44pass the baton to this new generation. Not only that we have to, as Wayne said, we have two
06:50parts in this project. One is the Dream Makers Contest but then there's also this scholarship
06:55that is helping people who doesn't have the resources to study film because studying film
07:01is becoming more and more expensive. So there's so many people talented out there that cannot
07:06afford that and Cooper and I decided that we will do the contest but also we will help
07:12somebody with having a career. We were surprised about the response. We got more than 400 scripts
07:20and we reduced that list to 11 something like that and then we sat down with all the members
07:27of the jury. There were projects from all over the world, more than 15 countries and the truth
07:34is that it's not that we didn't get to an agreement. It's the fact that there were two
07:40projects that we really liked and we decided why don't we instead of helping one team
07:46we do two short films and that's why we are here with three directors that are going to
07:52shoot two short films. How did you select the winners and how have you been working with them
07:56since then? You know that's always a very tricky question. I was watching last night a documentary
08:01on Stanley Kubrick and he was talking about his art and he was saying, if you ask me about
08:06why I do what I do, it's like asking me why I fell in love with a woman. It's like you never
08:14know what is the answer. It's a lot about intuition. We read the scripts, we discussed
08:20with all the members of the jury the scripts and then we saw them, we talked to them and then it's
08:26a question of intuition, like trying to see them, what is the potential. They're very young,
08:32so it's always in consideration the fact that they're very young so it's more about not only
08:38what they can do now but the potential that they have. Since that point you've been working with
08:42them on their projects? Yeah, we've been working closely with all of them, mentoring in the scripts
08:51but also in all the pre-production that we're doing now. We are following each step of the
08:56process and trying to just to give them the resources, give them the people. As I said,
09:04they're very young, they're not that experienced so basically what we are is trying to get the best
09:10of them by giving them the best people around. Turning to our younger filmmakers, can you talk
09:17briefly about your winning projects? Our winning projects were amazing. All of the finalists that
09:23made it into the final competition were also really amazing but I think our two projects
09:30are like two sides of the same coin, like one is more dramatic, more realist and one leans more
09:37towards fantasy and that kind of thing. Do you think? Yeah, no, I think it's interesting the
09:42differences between our projects. So our project is called Homing and it centers around a family
09:48who live on the south coast of England, who have just moved there and a man has arrived into their
09:54garden. The implication is from a small boat and we focus on how the family deal with that situation
10:00and what that tells us about modern Britain and it's a story about what it means to find a home
10:05and what it means to protect it. So yeah, it's been really interesting to develop that with
10:10Bayona and go on this journey and to sort of see it grow from the initial idea that we had
10:15coming into the competition. What's been really amazing about this competition specifically is that
10:20filmmaking is so hard to do anyway and there's so much talent out there but often
10:25to make a film, as you mentioned, is really expensive to learn, to practice and to produce. What's
10:31amazing about this competition is that it allows us to think about the film that you want to make
10:36without limitation. You can really focus on your craft and your imagination and your storytelling
10:42ability in a way that I haven't seen through other short film funds or competitions. So that's been
10:48really lucky for us to be a part of and that's allowed us to, I think, grow more than we could
10:53have. Yeah, I think it's taking down a lot of barriers, especially as you're beginning
10:58and you're entering the industry. I think that's one of the main things that make it
11:03way easier for you. So we appreciate that very deeply. For Lizzie and Marta, what was it like
11:10winning the Dream Makers? What did it mean to you? Well, for me, the moment that I heard it, it felt like
11:16I was being lifted up in the air and just knowing that, okay, this is it.
11:21Something that I thought would be impossible, like having this whole supporting network of
11:26professionals that I didn't previously have access to. Now it was within my reach and I
11:31think that is super important for me. That was one of my priorities in my career and I finally
11:36got to this point and I'm just so grateful for it. Yeah, winning the competition, I think, was such
11:41a surprise. The quality of all the other films was amazing. You could see the potential in all
11:46of them and I think winning it just means that we can progress the film, that we can make the film
11:51real. It's so hard to secure funding for short films. So winning it just means that we can
11:58progress it and it becomes more than just a script, it becomes an actual project with cast
12:02and crew and it becomes a real film, which is amazing and we're really excited to start
12:07shooting it. For Hansel and Marta, can you talk about how you have been working with your mentors?
12:13Yeah, it's been a really fun and interesting project. So first of all, pre-winning, we were
12:20given our script mentor Diego Vega-Vidal and he really helped us to kind of, I think, crystallise
12:27the themes of what the story was that we wanted to say and to push it. And then working
12:33with Hotter, we had a meeting and he sort of really brings new perspectives to help
12:39elevate the film cinematically. So I think that's really helped us push the film from beyond
12:47our own perspectives and kind of bringing in this wider team of experience to kind of make it bigger
12:51and better and hopefully a more enjoyable cinematic experience. So we've learned a lot.
12:56Yeah, it was a learning experience all the way through. Since we were even finalists,
13:01we were giving all of the support towards improving the script and I think there was just
13:08invaluable advice from everyone involved and now that we're in it, we're really diving
13:14into what this story means for all of us and how we're going to make it real and
13:20which is the best way and the best path to follow. And Bayona has been helping us
13:27a lot in that and just getting to the core and the berries and shores of the story, which is
13:33actually, we've never done that before in such a deep level.
13:37All three of you, Hansel, Lizzie and Marta, what are your longer-term objectives and do you have
13:43a feature project you'd like to complete at some point?
13:46So I think longer term, we have other short films that we want to develop. We have a feature concept
13:52that we want to kind of continue progressing and yeah, I think the ambition is to get to that
13:58stage and to continue to tell stories, to learn through making and continue to make films.
14:04Yeah and you know, for us as well as co-directors, we want to kind of develop that
14:08relationship together and continue to make films about the themes that we're interested in,
14:13but kind of do so in novel ways that kind of approach things in different ways that
14:19people may expect. So we just want to kind of scale upwards and make longer films,
14:23more cinematic films, more ambitious films and this is a great platform to do that.
14:28Yeah, I just feel like to be within our reach, to be able to think long term in this sense,
14:34is just so incredible and now that I think about it and I have these concepts, you know,
14:41for me it's just more fantasy concepts that I would like to go on writing or materializing
14:46and I just think that the possibility of it being real, like this short film is becoming real,
14:53is just amazing and there's also like, for me, I would also like to do book adaptations. I think
15:00there's some really cool concepts as well that I would like to make mine or incorporate into my
15:04vision. So I just think that would be very interesting to explore.
15:10Coming back to Wayne and J.A., what are you looking for in the next edition of The Dream Makers?
15:17I think we want to spread out, become more international. That's why we're here at the
15:20Berlinale. We had the opportunity of getting involved with the Berlinale. I met Tricia
15:26and we had discussions because we didn't want to come here and just put the cars on the red
15:30carpet. That's easy. That's the easy part, but we wanted to see whether we could get to something
15:36real and authentic as well, similar to what we were doing in Spain and we discovered that the
15:42Berlinale is very active, developing talents. So I think we have the opportunity of doing
15:46something similar here and now we need to start joining the dots. So I think getting involved
15:52here with the Berlinale will be an important step. Hopefully next year we can announce our
15:56Dream Makers for Germany as well. But not only Germany, the UK. My team are going to the BAFTA
16:02I think tonight or tomorrow. Tonight I think it is. So the UK as well. So if we have the UK, Germany
16:09and Spain, you know, we're already in a good direction. Then it's only the US perhaps someday.
16:13We want to go there with Cooper as well. I remember what it was to have my first chance.
16:19I think it's important to sponsor talented people that you can identify and give them
16:26the chance to express themselves for the first time, you know. So it's great to have a partner
16:31like Cooper who cares about that. Great to have a partner who likes to sponsor the brand
16:37using culture, using cinema, using music and using young talent, you know, and give the chance to
16:42talented people to express themselves for the first time. It's a fantastic thing to be working together.