María del Puy Alvarado, the Spanish producer who votes at the Oscars: "Sometimes they still ask me where is your boss?"

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How does a Spanish production company become an academic of the Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of the United States, the person in charge of the coveted

?

"In my case, thanks to the nomination of '

'. Those who win the statuette are invited to be part of the Academy; the nominees, it depends, the trajectory is valued", answers

(San Sebastián, 1979) downplaying the fact of being one of the

who vote for the Oscars.

"And more than inviting you, they publish a press release where they say so. At that very moment the email arrives, they don't notify you beforehand. That's how I found out."

But it is not that simple.

She's been in the Oscars race twice in just a couple of years.

The first in 2019, as I said, with '

', the short directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen that also won a Goya;

later, in 2021, for the documentary film

And it is something that brings this story closer to a fantastic plot.

"We worked hard to make it happen, but always with our feet on the ground and knowing how extremely

it is to get there, let alone win. I have been nominated twice in a very short time, now I think about it with perspective and he still follows me sounding like science fiction. From here, without being in the

, it seems practically impossible."

Being nominated is very complicated, she says.

That is why on both occasions receiving the news was a party, although "there was also a part of

and disbelief," she recalls.

"I don't know how to explain very well how you get to the

films

. In these two there is a super-powerful story, a 'history' that excites and moves at the same time."

Nor is it easy to decide who to vote for.

"There is the

of each country in the world. There is such a 'level' of films that it is normal that you like many, so it is difficult to make a decision.

the end, since we are talking about cinema and not mathematics, elements of

play I vote for the films that come to me, when I think "how beautiful! The most important thing is always a

and a good story, they are the foundations. A good script sustains everything, even if you have few resources. It is what I spend the most time on" .

because the

is responsible for the creative part, "where the film comes from. It seems that we are the ones who put the money, but no, we look for the financing windows, which is different. We always assume economic risks, but what we do is design the project and put it together. Obviously we have to market it and talk to banks, but there is a whole part of

that is not known".

And that is the one that the Oscars recognize.

cecilia malo

His is a small independent production company,

, which he created at just 27 years old, just after finishing his studies at the Madrid Community Film School (ECAM), asking his father to borrow 3,000 euros.

"I had no idea of ​​anything, neither of setting up a company nor almost of being autonomous. I look at it now and, my goodness! I see that there was a lot of ignorance and jumping into the pool, which is something that goes with me, there is something In this profession that involves

and adventure, if you are not an intrepid person it is difficult to face producing projects, because in each one you get into an

movie ," he jokes.

"Setting up a company is easy, the same in other countries even more. The difficult thing comes later, when you say: 'Now what'".

But the script for this film began to be written much earlier.

María del Puy studied Advertising and Public Relations at the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense, "because she wanted something related to communication

although she did not know what. Shortly after it became clear that she liked the

world , but she decided to finish her degree At that time ,

was born , where he studied Production as much as he could. "At the age of 16 I began to get hooked on cinema and until I entered school I spent my time watching many

, buying magazines and reading film books... And dreaming a bit, more like thinking, that I wanted that to be my path.

At the beginning, I wasn't even clear about what production was, because when you're very

and no one around you works in this industry, it's hard to understand."

His

was not linked to the cinema -"When you want to dedicate yourself to a profession, it ends up emerging above the environment"-, but to the world of art.

His great-grandfather,

was a

of photography in Navarra.

"He was born in 1877 and for me he is a reference. He has an enormous legacy that has now been donated to the

of the Royal and General archive of Navarra, there are more than 2,000 photographs from the time. The amount of material and files he had the family was brutal."

Telling the life of his

is one of the

he has pending: "He had the photographic laboratory in his house, which later became my grandmother's. There was always a place with chemical products that could not be accessed, dangerous and prohibited ".

Self-portrait of Laureano Landa in his house in Dicastillo (Navarra, approx. 1902)

María del Puy's first short, '

', arrived long before its producer.

"It was in the third year of the film school, in my name, with a script from a classmate and a grant from the Community of Madrid," she recalls.

After her, with

, she alternated her projects with commercial and institutional work for a few years.

"That gave the production company a lot of money, it was the way to grow and take the route, understanding how the

works and how things are done well. The

is a good

if you want to make films, it is very important to start like this , because it's better when it comes to giving you a cookie. I've given myself some, but you get up, with a movie you can't anyway ".

When you like movies, it seems that you see yourself in front of the camera or as a director.

Why did you choose that unknown world that is the production? Because I thought it was incredible to be behind the choice of stories, to tell them.

When I was studying, the book 'Elías Querejeta, production as discourse', written by himself and edited by the Basque Film Library, fell into my hands.

What he did seemed exciting to me and that was when I decided that I wanted to produce.

Now I think about it and I see it as daring, daring ignorance.

The first day of class at ECAM, Marisol Carnicero, the first production director in Spain and my teacher, asked us: "What do you want to be, production director or producer?"

I, super small and without really knowing what was going on, raised my hand: "Producer".

I had it super clear

she still reminds me of it. Now there are many more women behind the camera, in the part of the industry where the circles of power move.

What has changed? Many things have happened, but above all it is due to a political and institutional decision for this to happen.

I am totally in favor of positive discrimination.

It seems necessary to me.

We have shown over the years that it did not happen naturally, the figures said so.

To be objective, I like to go to the annual report of CIMA, the Association of Women Filmmakers.

According to the latter, things have not changed that much.

In 2021 women represented 21% compared to 79% of directors;

in production, 26% compared to 74%, and in musical composition, 12%.

This is the case in a lot of specialties. Do you think that being a woman has made things more difficult for you? Of course, it hasn't been easier.

It is evident, there have been more difficulties.

Equality exists on paper, we are not our mothers' generation, far from it, but it is more complicated.

At first I didn't realize it, but over time you become aware of the potholes you may have had along the way.

And there is something that is still there, although it is not written anywhere: power and money are associated with men in the social imaginary, in our country and in the world.

You go to a meeting to close a contract and what they hope is to find a man.

It happened to me and it continues to happen to me.

It will be the title of a book that one day I will write: 'Where is your boss?'.

They asked me a lot when I started and I thought it was because he was very young.

But then you realize that it is a mixture of quite a few elements.

Even now sometimes they introduce me as a producer and they don't locate me,

They think I'm the production manager.

But now, at least in our country after the Goyas, it seems that women call the shots... There is a feeling, which is very good, that there are many women in the cinema, because there have been a number of female directors who have They had a lot of visibility and they have dazzled, and also some producers that we have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

At least in our country after the Goyas, it seems that women call the shots... There is a feeling, which is very good, that there are many women in the cinema, because there have been a series of female directors who have had a lot of visibility and they have dazzled, and also some producers that we have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

At least in our country after the Goyas, it seems that women call the shots... There is a feeling, which is very good, that there are many women in the cinema, because there have been a series of female directors who have had a lot of visibility and they have dazzled, and also some producers that we have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

that it is very good, that there are many women in the cinema, because there have been a series of female directors who have had a lot of visibility and have dazzled, and also some production companies that have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

that it is very good, that there are many women in the cinema, because there have been a series of female directors who have had a lot of visibility and have dazzled, and also some production companies that have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

and also some producers that we have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

and also some producers that we have come to light.

But it is not reality, most of the directors are men.

And the same goes for executive production.

Things don't change because we have Carla Simón, who wonderfully won the Bear in Berlin, or Alauda Ruiz de Azúa hitting the ball with 'Cinco lobitos' or Pilar Palomero... What is happening is very good, fundamental, because create references and without them we will never advance, but it does not have to mislead us.

The crazy woman and the feminist

Among her most recent projects, the short 'La loca y el feminista', "which is winning awards and gives a lot to talk about, so I'm very happy", and the short 'Nunca nunca', by Manu Pons to be

.

Soon there will be a documentary with the director

the film 'Miocardio', with

, "and many other projects that I won't count until they come true..., don't go jinxing," she jokes.

Frame from the short film 'La loca y el feminista'.

The last film he has produced is

with

with whom he says he has "wonderful, brilliant communication. He is a very listening guy. Then he decides and has a stubborn part, the Aragonese part. But he listens and is permeable, even if a director later creates his path, that part is very important".

cecilia malo

Is there always a good producer behind a good director? Yes.

A 100% rule is not fulfilled, because nothing is black or white, but a good film is difficult without a good production company involved from the beginning to the end, with a clear vision.

Carambolas can be given, but if the producer is a mess, it is impossible.

I would love for everyone to see the process involved in making a film from scratch;

filming is the most spectacular, because of everything that surrounds it, but you also have to be there in the editing and accompany, see, watch, give your opinion... especially in the documentary. Are there differences when it comes to producing between a man and a woman? Yes, there is something.

And this is generalizing, with what it entails.

But I feel that there is a different way in communication where women are vibrating more.

Not to say that I don't communicate well with directors, in fact I work more with men.

To give an example, in 'The walls speak' almost all the team leaders were women, and it is true that there is another communication.

We all know that it has taken us a long time to get to where we are and there is some kind of support.

I talked a lot with Carlos Saura about how things have changed.

In the first films that he made with Querejeta they were all men, and in the last one there were possibly 90% women on set.

In the career of a director who has made 50 films and has shot until he was 90 years old, you can see the arc of evolution, it's beautiful. Is your production company the result of a personal desire or a need to carry out your projects? I did it to feel free and choose what I want to do.

That is what has kept me going for so many years.

Independent production is hard, in general, and in our country, moreover, complex, more and more.

We sweat the fat drop to get each project forward.

Financially it is complicated and it is easy to have moments of downfall, real.

I have experienced some, although never a bankruptcy.

With the 2008 crisis I had to lay off people and it was very hard for me.

I kept going and the pandemic arrived, which caught me at another stage, more established, but it was also difficult.

Now the business is being reconverted... My generation has been totally marked by crises and the context affects it a lot, because it is very hard to move forward.

In those moments, which always come, there is an inner strength, that of doing your projects, that keeps you going.

Which directors would you like to work with? There are a lot,

so many that it is difficult to say a name.

Going back, with those of classic cinema, for example films like 'Singing in the rain', which now I don't know if we could produce from here.

And with the batch of Spanish directors, both current and former: Icíar Bollaín, Isabel Coixet... I was a huge fan of Pilar Miró, I would have loved to work with her.

I was starting college in the year of 'El perro del manger' and 'Thesis';

It was the moment of the "boom, there is another Spanish cinema".

And she is not a director, but I would love to work with Penélope Cruz, I admire her deeply.

What about subsidies, why are aid to Spanish cinema so controversial? I would also like to know.

In the case of the shorts, they are decisive, because they are the R&D of cinema.

And how many aids are there in R&D in our country?

They seem fundamental and necessary to me, in fact, we should give more, in all sectors, because that is where the seed is.

The short is working.

We have an independent cinema that travels the world and consistently wins awards.

That has a value.

And it is not financed only with aid, there are many other elements that help, the platforms, the televisions, the tax incentives, the risk that we producers assume... Many shorts are produced by lung.

The cinema has a huge economic impact, each film generates many payrolls, jobs and income.

When a film is shot in a locality, the impact there is brutal, it's an industry that generates money... Before there was a lot of criticism, but I have the feeling that this has already happened and that our culture is beginning to be valued,

that he is having the place he needs.

It is very important, because it sets us free. You say that cinema does not finance itself, how do we get the public to theaters? It is one of the great issues, which accelerated with the pandemic.

The public is slowly coming back and there have been some blockbusters this year, but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

It is very important, because it sets us free. You say that cinema does not finance itself, how do we get the public to theaters? It is one of the great issues, which accelerated with the pandemic.

The public is slowly coming back and there have been some blockbusters this year, but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

It is very important, because it sets us free. You say that cinema does not finance itself, how do we get the public to theaters? It is one of the great issues, which accelerated with the pandemic.

The public is slowly coming back and there have been some blockbusters this year, but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

How do we bring the public to theaters? It is one of the great issues, which accelerated with the pandemic.

The public is slowly coming back and there have been some blockbusters this year, but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

How do we bring the public to theaters? It is one of the great issues, which accelerated with the pandemic.

The public is slowly coming back and there have been some blockbusters this year, but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

but consumption has changed.

It is one of the difficulties we encounter.

We don't know where this is going to go.

I think that theaters will continue to coexist with other ways of consuming cinema, because the experience is totally different, it is a social act.

But it will change, it is already happening.

There are also cases that we must study, such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

such as the Embajadores cinemas in Madrid.

They are always full, with very interesting commercial and independent programming.

You have to go back to the neighborhood cinemas.

cecilia malo

With the Oscars

the horizon, are you still dreaming of bringing one home? Is the third time a charm?

"The truth is that I don't think much about it; once the moment passes you forget it, it's not in my day to day. That I was nominated again

something that statistically should never happen again. Having worked with

for two years to me is worth more than an Oscar".

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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