Carmen Fernández Villalba, Iñaki Alforja, Ione Hernández, Marciano Menéndez Aizpurua, María Hervera and Pilar Gutiérrez Aguado are the participants in the first edition of Laboratorio Segunda Versión, the audiovisual creation incubator for the over-50s.

Promoted by DAMA, the audiovisual authors’ rights management organisation, the programme is supported and financed by the Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA), the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the European Next Generation funds.

In the first edition of the laboratory, 163 applications were received. The six winning projects were selected by a reading committee made up of Cristina Bodelón, Juan Salvador López Ciudad, Oriol Puig and Teresa Bellón; and a jury made up of César Alenda, Diego Vega, Lola Mayo and Yolanda García Serrano.

Three feature film projects and three projects for series have been selected.

Laboratorio Segunda Versión, the support programme for audiovisual creators over the age of 50 promoted by DAMA, with funding from the ICAA, announces the six projects selected to take part in the first edition.

Lola Mayo, president of the jury and coordinator of the tutorials, has highlighted the participation and spirit of the project in these terms: “The jury values the opportunity to get to know the work, creative and emotional situation of authors over 50 and is happy to see the good creative health, energy, vitality and imagination of very diverse and imaginative authors. We are happy to perceive a sense that these authors are active or eager to be active. We have found delicate and tender stories alongside entertaining blockbusters, many of them written far from the big centres of audiovisual production. Reading the motivational letters of these authors over 50 has made us learn and feel the power of writing at any age and in any situation of life”.

In addition, the jury wished to share these reflections on the six selected projects:

• CUARTOS COMPARTIDOS by Pilar Gutiérrez Aguado: “For the author’s sensitive approach to the complex reality of those who seek to find a dignified place in another country”.
• EL MONTAJE by Marciano Menéndez Aizpurua: “For the originality of a proposal that turns a story about loneliness in adulthood into an investigation and mystery film against the backdrop of a relevant theme”.
• LA SIMA by Iñaki Alforja: “For the daring formal proposal used to unearth the darkest side of the human being in times of war”.
• MAREN EN TRES TIEMPOS by Ione Hernández: “For the sensitivity and responsibility with which it deals with the threat of suicide in modern society”.
• SCOOP by Carmen Fernández Villalba: “For the twist on a universal theme such as the disappearance of victims and the strength of the characters presented as a vehicle for this resolution”.
• SERVIAM by María Hervera: “For the chilling analysis of such a controversial subject as Opus Dei and the need to capture it in a fictional series”.

During the nine months of the laboratory, the selected authors will be tutored by a large group of mentors, who will accompany them in the writing of a first version of the script in the case of feature films or the script of the pilot episode for series.

In addition, the selected authors will receive a complete training programme in new areas of audiovisual production such as environmental sustainability, diversity, new forms of promotion, management of performers and international sales, among others. Finally, the laboratory will receive financial support of €6,000.