Interview with Álvaro Longoria

Before dedicating myself to cinema, I worked in banking, my training was in finance. I worked in an investment bank, outside Spain, in New York City and London. So, I started working in the audiovisual sector in a somehow "strange” way.

I studied the master's degree in New York City and did a master’s final project on the creation of an audiovisual production company. This project became a reality, and it was a bit by chance, so that's how I entered the audiovisual industry, by setting up the production company ("Morena Films"). This is a bit unusual, since people start little by little. I started directly thinking big, so I had to learn how to manage it.

The beginning was very complicated, since I knew a lot about cinema, but very little about production. I was lucky enough to become partner with Juan Gordon, who had a lot of experience. It took us a few years to get the production company back on track, but then we got the hang of it, and now we're obviously doing much better. Anyway, at the beginning it was very complicated, as we sometimes had to raise more capital, when we flopped, with some quite good films.

"Morena Films" was a master's degree idea, from New York University. Afterwards, I continued working in banking, but the project’s idea never left my mind, so I talked to several potential partners and we found Juan Gordon, who also wanted to set up a production company. Juan Gordon was working at that time with a production company called ESICMA, owned by Elías Querejeta. However, Juan Gordon wanted to become independent, so we got together and formed "Morena Films".

You must remember that we have been working for 21 years now, we have produced almost 90 feature films, and these two are "our most important ones".

The Goya represents those films that have marked a turning point, and "Champions" is perhaps the perfect film, a film that wins all the awards. I think it won 55 awards and additionally, it was the number one Spanish film at the box office. "Cell 211" was also a blockbuster. These two are films that make you grow both financially and in terms of your reputation.

It is very important to be successful, because in the end, as a producer you are as good as your reputation is. Reputation is the most important thing.

I loved being part of this film.

I have always been lucky enough to produce films by great directors, from whom I have learned a lot. I have produced Steven Soderbergh, Carlos Saura, Oliver Stone, or Javier Fesser, among many others. Of course, I might have become a bit addicted to working with great directors, it's a bit what I like the most. I love working with geniuses, if I can find them. I always try to find people who have a different vision, who might have a different and unique way of directing, and that's what I like.

In Javier Fesser’s case, I think he is one of the great talents of this country, he is one of the geniuses of Spain. He has made five films, and all of them have been a great success. Nobody has that record, the one of each film being a "bomb”. That doesn't usually happen. Therefore, I think it's fundamental, I think talent is everything.

I think this valuation has changed a lot. In the past, directors set trends and marked audiences, people went to see "the director's film", and now it's changing a lot. Actors are more and more important because they represent the poster. In the end, as there is so much information, and so many films, people are guided by "Javier Bardem’s film", although in the end the film is the director's.

However, precisely the opposite is happening on TV, where the series are not so much originated by a famous actor, since in many cases they are all unknown or not very great. There, I do believe that the role of the producer is becoming more and more important, because producers are also creators, and the trend is producers getting more and more involved in the production process.

For example, I consider myself a creative producer, not a financial one, essentially, I always get into content. Also, I am a director, and I believe that the real added value of the producer is to know how to identify and manage talent, and if it is possible to bring in his own talent. I think that's where the future lies, because providing talent is something irreplaceable, but in terms of money, platforms like Netflix will always have more money than anyone else. Finding money is less and less an added value, and I think that having talent is more and more so.

There is a system of subsidies in Spain. In general, the Spanish European system is highly subsidised. It is an industry that has a lot of public aid. Essentially, it has two forms: through subsidies and through tax incentives, and this is a very common practice in all European countries, and worldwide in general.

The audiovisual sector is a highly subsidized industry in general, because a film generates a lot of money, so everyone is interested in having productions shot in their region or in their country. So yes, they have a lot of support, as in the vast majority of countries.

I'm not a big fan of subsidies. I think that in general, public funds are not very “intelligent money”, as it ends up being directed to the person who best knows how to fit their project into a set of rules, which are generally set by people who do not work in the audiovisual industry. They are often drawn up by people who are not professionals in the industry and are taken away by people who are not professionals in the industry either, because there are people who know very well how to obtain subsidies.

As I have said, I am not in favour of subsidies. I also believe that the audiovisual industry is a strategic industry, it is an export industry, which generates value, and creates many jobs. We must support it and above all, protect it from the competition of international products. We must bear in mind that the audiovisual industry is not just an industry, it is also culture, and if you lose your country’s culture, you become nothing. Spain is what it is, because its culture, and people come here because they want to experience its culture. People consume Spanish products because they like Spain. The best banner for this is their films and their series. The Spanish product is consumed all over the world. It is an export industry and it needs to be protected, and at the same time, you must be very careful not to fall into the hands of officials who often mismanage public money.

It is very important to favour and encourage private investment, so this will always be a good formula. Also, not only is it important to give direct support to production, but also to exhibition, that is, almost more important that there is a market of people and educated to watch films. For example, if you don't educate people, at school or university, to watch films and go to the cinema, to know how to value art of cinema, those people when they grow up are not going to consume, and this is exactly what is happening now. In the end, what has happened is that there is a generation that lacks this. If there is no education, you lose your audience. You either educate audience, or they end up consuming the simplest and most "stupid" product, a very superficial, basic product without depth and without technical and artistic quality, and this is very dangerous. Besides, we must add that educating is not very expensive either, it is not expensive to take the children to the cinema once a month, since the cinemas are happy to encourage film consumption. The problem is that if people are not used to watching movies, they do not consume.

I think that's where you need to focus, more than just throwing money around, you need to maintain the industry, encourage it and help it. You must support the industry, not the cinema itself, since it is an industry and you need to consider it as such.

I think the emergence of these platforms is a great opportunity. Netflix, HBO or Amazon Prime, and many others, are platforms that are somehow replacing the most traditional forms, which allows a very varied offer of content. However, not necessarily the audience looks for the best content at an artistic level, but they often prefer the very basic content, so the great risk of the minimum communicator exists, since it is not the same to watch a film by a great director with a great cast of actors, than a series without much background. In the end, this is the greatest danger platforms have. They are directed by the consumption itself; it only has an algorithm that says, "This is what people consume, we need more of this". If what people consume is something not very good or with not very good moral values, in the end it's worth that and it's very dangerous. On the other hand, it's also a great tool to give other products a chance.

For example, I am a documentary filmmaker. In the past, my documentaries were a minority product in the cinema, and these new platforms favour that minority product so that it can be seen. At least, although it depends on the audience that decides to see it, the product is there for viewing. The democratization of the platforms allows all the contents being there, even in Youtube, you can make a film and upload it. It might not be seen by anyone, but at least it is available for everyone, and that is very important.

Of course, it helps to create more and more content. Here the key is quality. Being successful will later make the difference.

For example, I've made great documentaries that have cost 20,000 euros and have been consumed by a lot of people. In the end nowadays, thanks to the advanced means and technology, money is not essentially an obstacle for talent. If you have talent you can make any audiovisual product without many means and reach a large audience. A good example of this is "Paquita Salas", I think each chapter of the series cost 5,000 euros, and yet it has reached thousands of people. Basically, I think it's a great opportunity for new talents.

I love documentaries. When I look for something to watch, I always end up watching documentaries. I think reality always outweighs fiction, I think there are incredible stories.

I really like directing documentaries for one reason. That is, when you direct a documentary you are part of the adventure, you are not portraying the adventure of anyone else, but you are the adventure yourself. I like documentaries very much for this reason, because when you make a documentary, in some way, you always intervene or participate in that story and you have the opportunity to be part of it and help people to take part. For me, making a product that makes people think is very important.

I think we live in a society where people think less, and I consider that documentaries make you think, through entertainment, but it is important that at some point the viewer has the obligation or the need to think about something. In fiction, generally, it is rare to see a product in which you need to take a position, and yet in documentaries it is much more common and very interesting to see.

I certainly find it fascinating. Obviously, it's not the majority genre, but maybe that's why it gives you more freedom to do whatever you want.

I think I went through the perfect storm when it comes to documentaries. My first documentary film as a director won the Goya, which was "Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony", and that clearly raised the need to do more. If it had not been so and the documentary had been a failure, maybe I would not have done more, and I would have worked as a producer. But for me, being a documentary filmmaker is something that fascinates me and I'm not bad at it, because people like them, they have an audience and they have been awarded prizes, and this is something that has inspired me to do more.

Documentaries are a complicated and difficult genre, but I think it is very important that they are made, and I think it is part of the market, that is to say, there has to be all types of genres, because if not, in the end people will consume the same thing, and this is exactly what has to be avoided.

All the documentaries I've made, which are all political, have their dangerous and risky sides, because in the end when you tell a story about North Korea, Sahara, or Catalonia, you are taking the risk of being a collateral victim.

In all the documentaries I've made, I've had controversy, on one side or the other. In the case of North Korea, perhaps it was more dangerous because it has a reputation and the country's sanctions are more forceful, so at some point, I was afraid. However, in the end, I don't think there was much risk though, because I explained very clearly what I was going to do, it was not a deception, nor did I deceive the North Korean regime to enter the country and then tell a different story from the one I had said. I told them I was going to tell both versions, theirs and the view from outside, and talk about the propaganda and the media manipulation that is constantly being done from and to North Korea. So, I was never afraid, because I knew what I was doing, and I was very transparent.

Anyway, there is always some risk. For example, when I dealt with Sahara’s topic, I went through very complicated moments, since of course, it was a very hostile documentary for Morocco.

This centralisation is absolutely necessary. You can't have a decentralised audiovisual industry, because it doesn't work, since economies of scale are fundamental. If you manage to create a place where it is effective and cheap to shoot and where you have teams who are used to shooting, it will be easier and faster, and everything will be better. It is not okay to create an audiovisual centre in each province of Spain, because I think that is senseless, that's a mistake. In fact, if you look at all the countries of Europe, and even more in the United States, there are some centralisations.

As I mentioned, in the United States, which is the largest audiovisual power in the world, filming takes place in four places, it doesn't happen everywhere. The nucleus generally occurs in one place, which is where the studios are. You can't have expensive editing rooms and equipment everywhere, but you need to to have them in one place and use them all the time. You can't intend to have everything scattered everywhere, because then it doesn't work.

I think that in capital-intensive industries, like the audiovisual industry, centralization is necessary.

If I had to choose a city in the world to achieve fame and recognition in the audiovisual sector, it would be Los Angeles. If we talk about centralization, it is in Los Angeles. Of course, the audiovisual industry in Spain is a minority if we compare it with Hollywood, so in the end that's the Mecca of cinema and television. That’s where it all comes from. The rest of us are small colonies scattered around the world.

Obviously, there is talent everywhere, and very good and very competitive films are being made, and not only at the first level. But of course, you're comparing it to an area where all the best talent in the world is gathered. I, for example, have now been invited to an event at The Hollywood Academy, and this, besides being a great honour for me, is also a way to attract me to them, to attract me to the American industry and to feel part of that industry. So that now I am not just a Spanish product, but a product that can also work there.

Cantabria is a place with great potential, but in order to be competitive on a global level, since the competition is worldwide, you need to be the best at something. You can't be good at only some aspects, as there is fierce competition for film shoots, something that is very attractive and produces a lot of money, generating a lot of wealth in the region where they take place.

For example, in Cantabria, a lot of money is spent on maintaining factories like Sniace, in Torrelavega, which only serves to maintain an industry that does not evolve and has no future. If that money was invested in talent and creativity, and especially in young people, it would be much better used. The fact is that the closure of factories such as these is only a matter of time, it is not an investment in the future (which I believe it’s necessary), but rather an investment in the past.

If Cantabria wants to be a competitive centre for the audiovisual sector, it has to invest, not because it has the best landscapes and an enough brutal diversity, but because it has to be competitive, creating sites for filming and ensuring that these are not occasional.

In Cantabria, we have to invest and support talent, and there is no better way to do this than through a film shoot, whether the director is from the region, like Nacho Vigalondo or myself, since we all bring products to film in the Community.

All over Spain, there is a brutal competition to attract shoots. For example, in the Basque Country, they created a tax incentive that Cantabria could not offer. Of course, if I have to choose between shooting in Cantabria or the Basque Country, communities with very similar aesthetics, and also, the Basque Country gives me 10% of the production cost more than in Cantabria, it is more than likely that I will go to the Basque Country. Therefore, it is necessary to offer something that is very special, competitive, because if not, it is very difficult.

Cantabria could be an ideal destination for filming, but it will never be a "hub", because it will always be Madrid, not even Barcelona, since there are practically no production centres in Barcelona. But we need to distinguish between where we shoot and where the production centre is.

Cantabria can compete because it has good and original locations, but this only takes you to some point. In order to make Cantabria a shooting destination, you need to invest in film sets and local professionals who are experienced, because there are people with a lot of talent but without the habit. For example, in an American film there are people who come and shoot 12 hours in a row without blinking, and that must be learned by practice. It doesn't happen without practicing.

This has to be a short-term political decision, and that's the hardest thing.

There was a very temporary halt in the sector. You need to consider that film and television shoots take time to be done, you stop for two months and it doesn't change everything. It is true, that it stopped, but they have already started again, and they are already shooting films again, so there is a lot of activity now.

However, in my case, I have shot two series in full confinement for Spanish television, as a producer, which means that this stop has not been total.

Anyway, I think that the most brutal damage is going to come from the financial side, since the consumption of theatres has collapsed, and the model we had of cinema was more based on cinema consumption. But it is true, that online consumption has shot up and, in the end, it has neutralised theatres. However, if we manage to eliminate COVID-19, I am sure that this industry will not be as affected as others, if it can be shot, because the real problem with the virus is shooting.

Right now, if a vaccine is released next year or if this problem is under control, I think the industry will survive. I don't think it will be as serious as the exhibition industry, or the cinema industry, which will surely be one of the most affected, but not the production industry.

The future is bright, because as I said before, people consume more and more each day. When people were confined, they essentially watched television. I believe that this needs to be our audience. That audience that has got used to watching television and series in their homes. They will continue consuming and will need more products that will be given to them by the professionals of the sector.

Therefore, I believe that there is a great opportunity in Spain to dedicate itself to this, since there are not many industries that have such a positive future. I think we are stylish, we make good productions, the world buys them and enjoys them.

I don't consider the future will be bad, within the limitations we are clearly experiencing, and of course, I think we are not the most affected industry, not at all.

A few minutes ago, Fernando Palomo phoned me. He is the director of the next film I'm going to produce. It's a film we're going to shoot in October, and it's a comedy with Karra Elejalde and Maria Pedraza, called "Polyamory for Beginners". Its own name already says a bit about it. It tells the story of a new society where the forms of relationships have changed.

Later, I have another film, which will be the film debut of Juan Diego Botto, starring Penelope Cruz and Luis Tosar, which is called "On the Margins".

And then, we will release the next film we have produced, by Javier Fesser, which is called "Deplorable Stories", and has no release date yet.