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At A Contraluz Films Xavier is focused on producing fiction and documentary features, with credits including: The Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015) which played at SXSW, Midnighters and Sitges Film Festival; Estrella (2013), which premiered at Malaga Film Festival and was nominated for two Gaudí Awards by the Catalan Film Academy; Carmo (2008), which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Brazilian Film at Sao Paulo Film Festival; Savage Grace (2007), which played at Cannes Quinzaine des Realisateurs and Sundance and was nominated for Best Script at the Independent Spirit Awards; and documentaries including Deconstructing Leonardo, The Sark Case, and NO Mosque!; as well as the TV programme El Mur for Televisió de Catalunya.
Many of Xavier’s productions have been national and international co-productions, and he has worked with companies and talent from countries including Brazil, Poland, United States, France, Portugal and Germany.
We asked Xavier some questions about his work and his experience of Inside Pictures so far.
What attracted you to the Inside Pictures programme?
During the first module in London there was a word to describe producers based in Europe outside UK: “continentals”. I loved it. As a continental producer, I was attracted to Inside Pictures by the promise of a deep learning and understanding of the Anglo-Saxon production system (mainly UK and US), getting used to its vocabulary and system. I expect to be better prepared to produce more commercial movies, with a wider potential, as well as being prepared to work more with private financing. On the continent financing is more based in TV pre-sales and film funds, rather than raising funding from the international film market.
Who is your Inside Pictures mentor?
My mentor is Bart van Langendonck, from Savage Film (Belgium), an IP alumni 2014. Being a continental, I hope to get good advice from him on my IP participation and project preparation, as well as learning from his experience building a successful production company with an amazing slate of projects produced every year.
What has been the highlight of the programme so far?
The fantastic atmosphere and the amazing professional level from both experts and my fellow participants. All the sessions so far have been great and brought a huge amount of information and advice, as well as their personal viewpoints on the industry. In Module 1 a highlight was Tim Bevan, who has been a reference for me since I began studying film production.
You have been involved with many co-productions in a range of territories. Are there any lessons you have picked up about co-producing which you could share?
I have been really lucky being able to work with a wide range of different countries. Every country has its production system, and every producer has their own way of producing. So the main advice I could give is to learn with whom do you want to co-produce and why do you want/need to, study and know the country and the co-producer you are approaching, and to try building win-win and long-term relationships with them. “Co-producing is an art” is a sentence I heard years ago.
What are you currently working on?
I am beginning the pre-production of the feature film Jean-François and The Meaning of Life, a Spain-France-Germany co-production to be shot in 2016, as well as co-producing a TV movie and developing new film projects and a personal documentary, Time Twins – a co-production with the UK. We are also releasing our last feature co-production, The Corpse of Anna Fritz.