Cinema, video clips, fashion video art, short films, photography, advertising. They all combine in the trendiest area of contemporary art: Audiovisual. Grand Paradiso carries the elegance of classic Art Deco, and the hotel’s cinematographic aura goes hand in hand with the content it offers. We want to continue to break the mould with distinguishing products that are strongly committed to culture.
Our film and documentary season, Cinerama, kicks off with ‘Ellas’ (Marta Aledo, 2021), a well-received documentary that garnered great reviews. Ibicenca actress Ana Vide plays the lead role in this documentary about pregnant women in the film industry. We continue with ‘El Club del Paro’ (David Marqués, 2021), a comedy starring Carlos Areces, Adriá Collado, Fernando Tejero and Javier Botet, as four friends who get together in a bar to talk about their misfortunes. This is followed by ‘The Mystery Of The Pink Flamingo’ (Hermanos Polo, 2020), which uncovers the enigma behind this popular and omnipresent pink bird.
If you’ve seen the C.Tangana’s latest music videos for his album ‘El Madrileño,’ then you already know the work of production company Little Spain. Antón Álvarez (C. Tangana himself), Cris Trenas (the first woman nominated for a Goya for best director of photography), Santos Bacana and María Rubio make up this creative collective that began as a get together between several friends, and ended up being the production company on everyone’s lips, operating between Spain and L.A. and sealing their formation between champagne and strippers.
When I ask Santos Bacana what Little Spain and Grand Paradiso have in common, he answers: “We share a taste for details and viewing the world through a cinematographic lens. We like to live in film, and at Grand Paradiso there’s no escaping it; every space in the hotel is an incredible location.” Although they are reluctant to exhibit their work, Santos recognises that when seduced by something, it does so to the core. When Diego Calvo presented them with the project, they had to say yes:
“When we ran into Diego in Madrid, it seemed that he could perfectly well be a character in one of our films, and although we have always been reluctant to exhibit what we do, this crazy hotel is the ideal place to do it.” The Little Spain collective will exhibit their work in our Audiovisual Art Gallery, and have a suite named in their honour at Grand Paradiso.
Another winning alliance involved in the project’s art curation is the one we have developed with Javier and Guillermo Polo, Los Hermanos Polo. These brothers from Valencia have been friends and collaborators of Concept since they shot several scenes of their debut film, ‘The Mystery Of The Pink Flamingo’ between our Paradiso, Tropicana and Cubanito hotels. Lovers of the MiMO (Miami Modern) aesthetic and everything related to American culture, our creative imaginations couldn’t be more closely linked. Los Polo have brought us closer to other artists such as: Italian director Floria Sigismondi, who made music videos for The Cure, David Bowie and Katy Perry; Paola Morabito, the award-winning Australian filmmaker; Matteo Garrone, winner of the Grand Prix at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for his film ‘Gomorrah,’ Chilean filmmaker Mattias Bize, winner of the Goya for Best Spanish Language Film in 2011 for ‘The Life of the Fish,’ and British-Algerian Nadira Amrani, photographer and film director who works with some of the world’s leading brands: Nike, Hugo Boss and i-D.
The Polo’s will also have a room named in their honour in our ‘Movie Hotel’, along with: actor and director Eduardo Casanova, director and filmmaker Diana Kunst (who regularly works with Rosalía, FKA Twigs, James Harden, ASAP Rocky, James Harden), Los Javis (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi) friends of Concept, frequent guests and the superstar directors behind the comedy film’La Llamada’ (2017), the hilarious series ‘Paquita Salas’ (2016) and to top it off, the internationally acclaimed ‘La Veneno’ (2020). And so on, up to 41. Start thinking about the film you wanna star in…
