Estrella Damm is proud to present ‘Vale’ a new short film by award winning Alejandro Amenábar (The Others), starring Dakota Johnson (50 Shades of Grey, A Bigger Splash), Natalia Tena (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) and Quim Gutiérrez (3 Bodas de más, Primos) that gives a warm-hearted insight into friendship in the Mediterranean, as a group of young people explore the island of Ibiza.
The story follows Rachael (Johnson) who is travelling through Spain alone. Arriving in Ibiza she meets a group of Spanish friends who offer to show her all the best spots on the island, introducing her to delicious food, refreshing beer, and perfect beaches.
Rachael also catches the eye of Victor (Gutiérrez) who embarks on a hilarious attempt to catch Rachael’s attention, despite neither of them being able to speak the other’s language.
Alejandro Amenábar, who co-wrote and directed the film, says it was great to step away from his usual film style for a change: “To explore a comedy, a genre totally away from my usual film style, was very attractive. We worked to a traditional film structure and put together a group of characters that would allow us to explore a typical Mediterranean friendship group. Even if some of them didn’t speak the same language, they would still get together over food and drink and celebrate life. This film portrays the impulse to say “vale” and join any invitation that a friend may offer.
Speaking of the cast, Amenábar, says they were a pleasure to work with: “The presence of Dakota Johnson, Quim Gutiérrez, Natalia Tena and the rest of the cast have been a blessing for me. There was a great vibe amongst them from the very first day and they all understood and shared what we were trying to do.
“Dakota irradiates elegance and freshness. She has moved away from possible clichés with ease and in Rachael she has created a tender and warm character. Quim is one of those actors who I have always wanted to work with. Even the simplest line of his dialogue shines and it becomes something special and very funny.”
Estrella Damm is the first beer brand to use the short film genre as part of an advertising campaign in this way and already with great success. Vale was one of the highest trending videos on YouTube in Spain in 2015 with 10 million views across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. This follows a successful, innovative marketing campaign using a music video, Summercat by Billie the Vision & the Dancers, in 2009.
The trailer to Vale will be screened across Channel 4 digital channels, and before Luna Cinema screenings this summer. You can watch the full short film here:
Estrella Damm also commissioned Singer-songwriter Maïa Vidal to write a song for the film. “Our Place” is available on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/our-place-bso-vale-estrella/id1001096217
Film credits and info:
- Directed by: Alejandro Amenábar
- Written by: Alejandro Amenábar and Oriol Villar
- Starring: Dakota Johnson, Natalia Tena, and Quim Gutiérrez
- Duration: 12 Minutes
- Genre: Short, Comedy, Romance
Alejandro Amenábar
Born in Chile on March 31st 1972, Alejandro Amenábar is one of the most prestigious and renowned directors in the international filming industry. He won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for The Sea Inside in 2005.
He is a very versatile artist –scriptwriter in his five films as a director and composer of the soundtrack in most of them–, Amenábar’s debut Tesis (1996) was a great surprise. The film, starring Ana Torrent, Fele Martínez and Eduardo Noriega, was presented in the Berlin Film Festival and won seven Goya Awards (Spanish Film Academy), including Best Film and Best New Director.
With Open Your Eyes (1997), Amenábar surpassed the always difficult challenge that can be a second film, it was a hypnotic and oneiric thriller starring Penélope Cruz, Eduardo Noriega and Najwa Nimri that would amaze Tom Cruise. Cruise bought the rights of the film and produced and starred in the American remake (Vanilla Sky, directed by Cameron Crowe) but he also partnered with Amenábar in his third feature film, The Others (2001), starring Nicole Kidman.
He became internationally renowned in 2004 with The Sea Inside, a project lead by Javier Bardem based on the life of Ramón Sampedro. With this film, he won numerous national and international awards, including the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Agora, an ambitious historical production starring Rachel Weisz and Oscar Isaac, is Amenábar’s last film presented until now. Six years of waiting that will end next fall with Regression, a thriller starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson.
Having already directed four brilliant short films, Amenábar takes the opportunity that ESTRELLA DAMM brings him to go back to this format, with which he started to show his talent.
Dakota Johnson
Dakota Johnson has become one of Hollywood’s fastest rising stars, becoming a household name after starring in the coveted lead role of “Anastasia Steele” in the box office smashing, feature adaptation of E.L. James novel 50 Shades of Grey.
Since then she has starred alongside Johnny Depp for his Whitey Bulger Biopic BLACK MASS, directed by Scott Cooper, played one of the leads in A BIGGER SPLASH, Luca Guadagnino’s remake of LA PISCINE, alongside Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and Matthias Schoenaerts and appeared as the lead alongside Rebel Wilson in New Line’s comedy How to Be Single.
Dakota first burst on the scene with her performance in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s critically acclaimed film THE SOCIAL NETWORK and went on to play roles in the feature comedies THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT, and 21 JUMP STREET with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.
On the television side, Johnson starred in the lead role of FOX’s primetime single-camera ensemble comedy television series BEN AND KATE.
Johnson had the honour of being crowned Miss Golden Globe at the 2006 Golden Globe Awards.
Natalia Tena
Natalia Tena is a 30 year-old British actress born from Spanish parents. She is internationally known for her role in the Harry Potter saga (where she performed Nymphadora Tonks) and in the TV series Game of Thrones. In 2014, she made her first appearance in a Spanish movie with Long Distance, a drama directed by Carlos Marqués-Marcet, for which she was nominated for the Goya Awards and won the Biznaga de Plata for Best Actress in the Malaga Film Festival. She is the singer of the band Molotov Jukebox, and will star in the soon to come sci-fi TV series Refugiados, coproduced by the BBC and Atresmedia.
Quim Gutiérrez
In the billboards right now with Easy Sex, Sad Movies, Quim Gutiérrez (Barcelona, 1981) made his debut in cinema with Without You (R. Masllorens, 2006), but it would be Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s first film Dark Blue Almost Black (2006) the one that would bring him his first Goya Award (for Best New Actor) and would point him as one of the best young promises in Spanish cinema. He is a very versatile actor and feels comfortable in any style. Lately, Gutiérrez has starred in big hits like Cousinhood, Three Many Weddings and The Last Days.
Estrella Damm
- Brewed in Barcelona with Mediterranean ingredients since 1876
- Estrella Damm is an award winning premium pale lager brewed in Barcelona.
- Passion for excellence has resulted in Estrella Damm still being made according to the original 1876 recipe, brewed with only the best 100% natural ingredients including pearl rice, a very Mediterranean ingredient that characterises Estrella Damm’s flavour.
- Estrella Damm is the perfect accompaniment to any dish; light and refreshingly drinkable, with a perfect balance between fresh grainy malt and subtle fruit, rounded off with a peppery bitterness and a clean finish.
- Estrella Damm is distributed across the UK by independent family brewer Charles Wells Ltd