The Messiah, the long-awaited new series by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, will be screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival before it hits television. Despite its format, this production, which can be seen on Movistar Plus+, will take part in the official non-competitive part of the Spanish competition, as titles of the likes of Blackout and La peste have done on the same platform in previous years. Isabel Coixet and Fernando Trueba will be presented with their films in the main section this Friday.
Defined as a family thriller, the Javises told this paper during the taping of The Messiah last fall that the novel would focus on “the passage of time and how childhood shapes us forever.” The series revolves around the members of a large family whose development unfolds over the years. It is, in his own words, the most complex story of his career, very ambitious in terms of characters, plot, themes, timelines, narrative leaps, genres and tonalities. Also in terms of creative freedom and resources: a huge technical team worked for 22 weeks in different locations in Catalonia, after more than two years of research on the topics they deal with.
A moment from the making of The Messiah.
A viral video commemorates Enric, one of the protagonists. This recording takes him back to his childhood and youth, which were shaped by religious fanaticism. Her memories are the ones that lead the viewer to this farmhouse and other places of the past, and that bring the story of Spain in the 80’s and 90’s, filmed in 16mm and full of textures and colors, to the present. reflects in digital form and with an unusually aseptic tone for directors.
Full of relevant characters, this altarpiece focuses on two basic figures, one female and one male. The messianic delusional woman Montse is the one who lends her name to the series and “touches this whole family the most,” the creators comment. At his side is Pep, “someone who is much more than he seems,” said Ambrossi. “One of those men for whom neither time flies … nor emotion,” added Calvo.
The cast includes Roger Casamajor, Macarena García, Lola Dueñas, Carmen Machi, Ana Rujas, Albert Pla, Amaia, Biel Rossell and Cecilia Roth, among others. Ambrossi and Calvo have directed successful series such as Paquita Salas and Veneno. In 2017 they celebrated the premiere of their first feature film “La llamada” in San Sebastián, which was inspired by their own play and brought them success. That same year, in early April, both were presidents of the jury of the Cannes Series Festival in the short series category. There they distinguished the Spanish miniseries El hijo zurdo by Rafael Cobos with María León in the leading role.
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