Film Factory Entertainment has swooped on international sales rights to “Marco,” the next film from Basque filmmaking trio Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga.
Their latest follows a high caliber run consisting of 2014 San Sebastian competition player “Flowers,” 2017’s San Sebastian Special Jury Prize winner “Giant,” and lockdown hit “The Endless Trench” which secured their second Oscar entry for Spain. Shooting is scheduled to begin in October.
“‘Marco’ will be a beautiful film and it perfectly suits our slate of quality films with commercial potential,” Film Factory’s Vicente Canales told Variety.
The film, based on real events, turns on imposter Enric Marco. Marco gained sympathy, fame, and respect for being an eloquent concentration camp survivor. He was a distinguished voice for the Spanish deportees as head of the Amical de Mauthausen. Marco was charismatic. In giving speeches, he packed them with tragic details of life at the camp.
It was a lie. Marco was exposed in 2005 by historian Benito Bermejo, just prior to sharing a platform at the Mauthausen camp with then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. He was 84 at the time. The film will explore the motivations behind what leads to a lie of this magnitude, and the fallout post scandal. “His lies were like a ball of snow, becoming bigger and bigger over time. At the end he was telling huge lies.” Jon Garaño told Variety.
The shoot will be located in San Sebastian, with parts shot in Germany, Barcelona and Madrid. Its expected release is 2024.
“The Endless Trench” saw the three sharing directing credit. This time around it’s split between Arregi, and Garaño, with Jose Mari Goenaga still heavily involved in all aspects of writing and production. They are a contented trio, seemingly holding the secret to collaboration having worked successfully together for over 20 years.
“Marco” is backed by the filmmakers’ long-time producer Xabier Berzosa at Irusion, and Moriarti Produkzioak, as well as Artresmedia and La Verdad Inventada AIE.
“Working with such dedicated production houses as Irusoin and Moriarti is a real pleasure.” Canales added.
It would be easy to hold contempt for Enric Marco but the directors hope to show the choices we all make in revealing ourselves to others. “Sometimes you want to show a better version of yourself. In a way that people can love you more, and can admire you more. And this is what he did. And in a smaller way, it is what we all do,” said Garaño.
Arregi highlights another aspect of how we can be taken in by a lie. “Why do we give so many people like this a platform? Because he knows how to tell a good story and we prefer to hear a good story over a true one perhaps. For me, this story dances in that kind of concept.”
This dance between the said and the unsaid, the metaphors of secrets is a marker of their work. With “Flowers,” “Giant,” “The Endless Trench,” and soon to release Disney+ series “Balenciaga,” the Basque trio are building success upon success with a slew of ideas and projects ready and waiting.
