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After 13 years on the road with Spain’s iconic singer-songwriter-poet Joaquin Sabina, “The Good Boss” director Fernando León de Aranoa has finally wrapped his documentary, “Sintiendolo Mucho” (roughly translated to “Deeply Felt”).
“This film is a rare privilege that, as a filmmaker, I would like to share with the public: to spend some time alone with Joaquín when he is not Sabina,” said León de Aranoa. “13 years ago, I began to shoot with him, to accompany him on his day-to-day activities, on rehearsals, tours, immersed in his own environment… to portray the artist, his best and worst moments, and his personality, so linked to his work, his creativity,” he remarked, adding: “Most importantly, it has been a lot of fun.”
León de Aranoa, who also produced the doc, established a deep rapport with Sabina through the years.
The Reposado, BTF Media and Sony Music Spain co-production is the first of its kind on Sabina, who is known to be a very private person. The doc called for coordinating the complex schedules of both Sabina and León de Aranoa, determined by the tours of one and the film work of the other.
Said Francisco Cordero, founder and CEO of BTF Media: “Joaquín Sabina is one of the most famous singers, composers and poets of Spain. He began writing music at the age of 14 and has since released 14 studio albums and two live albums. However, until now people have not been able to see who the real Sabina is when he’s not under the spotlight.”
Sergi Reitg, director of premium content, Sony Music Iberia & Strategic Projects Latin Iberia, concurred: “With this documentary that began to take shape more than a decade ago, we have made what seemed impossible possible.”
“I am convinced that, after viewing it, the public will understand the figure of Sabina and all his musical work from another perspective,” said Reitg, who after seeing a rough cut, was surprised by how funny it was for a bio, although some scenes moved him to tears.
“It has been an honor to work as a team with Reposado and BTF and I predict that this is the first of other great productions that will come from the Premium Content area of Sony Music,” he added.
Speaking to Variety, Reitg said: “I think this film marks a before and after for us, it is an example of what we plan to do from here on, not just record concerts but also tell the stories of our artists.”
“We are participating in many more projects, always as co-producers, and our involvement goes far beyond the rights that are needed to make the audiovisual production,” he added.
According to Reitg, Sony Music produced an original musical docu series on Spanish and Portuguese artists called “Acoustic Home,” that’s now screening on HBO Max Iberia. “It worked so well that we are now working on Season 2, with another 10 episodes,” he said.
“In general the management of music rights is very complicated, and audiovisual producers find it difficult to produce. That is one of our added values when we participate in a project,” he noted.
León de Aranoa’s most recent feature, workplace satire “The Good Boss,” represented Spain at the Academy Awards this year, making the Oscar shortlist. It also took home six Spanish Academy Goyas, Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars. His past films include “Princesas” (2005) and “Mondays in the Sun” (2002). He has participated in a slew of prominent international festivals, including Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian, Berlin and Sundance.
