Project-Origin

The story of “Dreams of Salt” is included in the cultural magazine published annually in Novelda during the town“fiestas”. The businessman Jesús Navarro (Carmencita Spicies) was elected director of the 2006 edition. That year the contribution of the publication was to recover the memory of Novelda’s people that had passed during the Spanish Civil War.

After the experience, in 2010, Jesús Navarro embarked on another editorial project, a magazine dedicated to all the neighbors of the Sacred Heart of Novelda, during the celebrations of the district. A tribute to its neighbors, its merchants, a publication with a great historical and artistic value, with old and current photographs, testimonies, speaking of the past, present and even the future of a lively neighborhood.

But after this a more ambitious project started to take shape in the mind of Jesus Navarro Alberola, a project dedicated to the spirit of his hometown, Novelda . “Dreams of salt” is the spirit of people who, despite having a salty river, have managed to reinvent themselves in every crisis and every slip up,” says the producer. Thus was born the idea to produce a short film and to create a production company, Condimenta Films. The short film was created and the project has grown to become what it is today, the docudrama “Dreams of salt”. It was financed with 100% private capital and took nearly two years to shoot in Novelda. The money raised by the movie will go to the nonprofit organizations Caritas and Red Cross.

Synopsis

The documentary tells the story of four people from Novelda who have fought for their dreams, despite the many difficulties they found along the way. Alejandro, a blind boy who plays the piano; Irene, a young woman with spina bifida who wants to become independent and have her own home; Simon, an athlete who wants to travel to Thailand to practice Muay Tai, and Mariano, a truck driver whose dream is to learn to play guitar at the age of 62. The film talks about human determination, the spirit of excellence and the strength of the individual when it seems that all is lost, knowing how to change difficulties into opportunities and challenges.

The shooting

The way this documentary was shot is also very particular. Its director, Alfredo Navarro, has opted to tell his story for the docudrama. Thus, “Dreams of Salt” is a hybrid between fiction and documentary, in which the main characters recreate their own stories. “I considered that this format was what could best work for the story we wanted to tell. Although we have used many resources from the narrative and dramatic fiction, the accuracy and the veracity of the stories are fully respected”, said Navarro, for whom this is his first feature film project.

In addition, the film was shot without a script. “We have been gradually deepening the stories of our heroes while structuring the project as we became emotionally involved”, says the director. The shooting occurred intermittently for almost two years, and the abundance of material required to do a tremendous job of selection and synthesis.

“Dreams of salt” has a very important point in its soundtrack, composed for the film by Oscar Navarro, who holds many national and international composition awards and whose music is performed in major performance venues across the world by some of the leading orchestral and wind ensembles.The BSO has been recorded with the Orchestra of Cordoba and has also had the participation of the choir of white voices of the Misterio de Elche.

“Although we always emphasize the humility of our project, we wanted to achieve a flawless finish” says executive producer Jesús Navarro Alberola. The editing and post production of the documentary film has been made in User T38 studies and the sound has been worked in Tecnison. The Madrid-based artist Gabriel Moreno has been responsible for designing the poster. Known mainly for his work as an illustrator in advertising, Moreno has had full freedom to work and on the poster of “Dreams of Salt”: the result is a nuanced poster, highly aesthetic and with a great finish.

The actor, director and screenwriter Tonino Guitián has worked selflessly in the project, as well as many people from Novelda , who participated in the filming , as part of the recording equipment as well as extras in some scenes . “Of course , this project would not have been possible without the people from Novelda . To all who have helped us, I thank them sincerely . This film is for all ” , said the producer.

Title: “Dreams of salt ”

Production Company: Condimenta Films

Director: Alfredo Navarro

Original idea and Executive Producer: Jesus Navarro Alberola

Production Manager : Juan Carlos Escandell

Soundtrack : Oscar Navarro

Editing: Miguel Burgos

Genre: Documentary

Original language : Spanish

Subtitles: English