This is a selection of projects, fiction films, creative documentaries and hybrid essays. Over the years, we’ve developed several international co-productions, working with partners across Europe and Latin America to explore new ways of telling stories. Our films have grown within industry programs such as Mia market, Eurodoc, Fucusam, Docs Barcelona, FipaDoc, Zinebi Lab and Dox in Vitro. Each step, from development labs to screenings, has helped us shape a practice grounded in experimentation and international exchange. Browse the work below, or get in touch if you’d like to collaborate on something new.
Synopsis
Wolves and shepherds clash in an ancestral struggle that has shaped the landscape for centuries.
Amidst this fragile balance between wilderness and survival, a young man is initiated into the secrets of an ancient coexistence — one that blurs the boundaries between tradition and legend.
Through his journey, the past and present intertwine, revealing a world where myths still breathe, and where the bond between human and nature must be constantly renegotiated.
Technical Sheet
Title: Il Luparo
International Title: Wolves Hunter
Genre: Creative Documentary / Essay Film
Running Time: 75min
Format: 5,6k – 4/3
Production Company: Boicot Films
Country of Production: Spain / Italy
Original Language: Italian
Status Production
Teaser https://youtu.be/OJ-B3d_JB5s
Project Path / Development
The project took part in the Meet the Producer program organized by Catalan Films.
Synopsis
In the nostalgic bars of Catalonia, “pajareros” (bird enthusiasts), like migratory birds, find refuge and a shared song that defies the loneliness of modern existence. Mundo Pájaro is a visual poem that takes us to the heart of this singular community and into the solitary life of Juan and his friends. Through their gazes, silences, and the singing of their birds, we explore the paradox of loneliness in a hyperconnected world. The singing competitions, beyond rivalry, become rituals that celebrate nature and reflect the human condition.
Technical Sheet
Title Mundo Pájaro
Genre Creative Documentary
Format 5.6K Digital, Color
Duration 75 minutes
Language Spanish / Catalan / Italian
Director & Screenwriter Antonio Marenco
Production Company Gris Medio, Boicot films, Escac
Country of Production Spain
Status In Production
Producers Gris Medio & Antonio Marenco
Short Film Reference Mundo Pájaro (2024, 15 min)
Teaser https://youtu.be/wnJfSTNHI4w
Project Development
Mundo Pájaro was selected for the DOC Barcelona Campus, an incubator dedicated to mentoring emerging documentary voices. There, the project refined its dramaturgy and co-production strategy, positioning itself for international collaboration and festival visibility.
Synopsis
Set in the burning heart of Barcelona’s Raval district and inspired by true events, El Rey follows Marouan, a young Moroccan trying to build a new life through a vocational training program. While he dreams of independence, the shadows of petty crime and social exclusion constantly lure him back.
During his struggle, he meets Bea, a girl from a wealthy family, whose world only exposes the hypocrisy of privilege. Their brief encounter, marked by illusion and impossibility, becomes a mirror of the city’s invisible borders.
Technical Sheet
Title El Rey
Genre Hybrid Fiction / Social Drama
Format 8K Digital, Color
Duration 90 minutes
Languages Spanish / Arabic (with English subtitles)
Directors & Screenwriters Manal El Ouady & Antonio Marenco
Cinematography Andrea Sala
Production Design Jacinto Melara & Rubén Micola
Editing Anna Gallarati
Sound Design Jocelyn Chamoun
Production Company In negotiation
Country of Production Spain / Morocco / Europe
Status Screenplay option
Animated storyline https://slides.com/treatment/el-rey-dossier/fullscreen?token=zHxX8db5
Project Development
El Rey is a hybrid feature film that fuses documentary realism with narrative storytelling, inspired by the true story of a young migrant who lost his life trying to cross the border between Spain and France.
Synopsis
The fountain represents the intimate bond between humans and nature, between water and life.
The circle of connection between things — in this case, humanity and water — is both fragile and eternal.
At night, a mother approaches with buckets to fill them for her family. At dawn, children wash themselves before going to work at the port. Later, cooks, tourists, and elderly women each repeat the same ritual.
Through their gestures, we witness patience, resilience, and the rhythm of daily life in a place where water is not just a resource, but a shared breath.
Technical Sheet
Title SBER (Patience)
Genre Creative Documentary / Short Film
Format 5,6K Digital, Color
Duration 20 minutes
Languages Arabic / French
Director & Screenwriter Antonio Marenco
Country of Production Morocco / Spain
Status Completed (2023)
Producer BoicotFilms, Grismedio
Festival L’Alternativa Pantalla libre – Barcelona (2020, short version)
Teaser/Demo https://youtu.be/g854_DGrXW4
Project story
Sber was born from an encounter in 2020, when I was working as a cameraman in Essaouira. I often stopped in front of a small fountain, contemplating the life unfolding around it. The project grew from a simple observation into a visual meditation on time, patience, and coexistence. The film rejects narrative linearity in favor of a sensorial journey: repetition, silence, and subtle variations guide the viewer toward a contemplative experience. Inspired by the aesthetics of observation cinema, it captures the essence of waiting: where water, light, and sound become the protagonists. Produced by Gris Medio, Sber has evolved into a poetic documentary that continues to travel across festivals and art spaces, exploring the delicate intersection between humanity and the natural world. Is Been supported by Al jazeera, 2Maroc and Eurodoc program.
Synopsis
The Tough Life of a Musician explores the search for balance between these worlds through a looping narrative structure: their creative childhood environment, a recent tour, and the composition of their new album.
This documentary is both a portrait of two friends and a reflection on a eroic figure: the artist who fights to transform passion into livelihood.
Tecnical sheet
Title: Tough Life
Director & Writer: Antonio Marenco
Country: Spain / Italy
Language: Spanish
Genre: Creative Documentary
Duration: 70 minutes (approx.)
Format: HD Digital, Color
Production Company: Gris Medio, Boicot Films
Sound: Direct sound recording, diegetic music
Status: In development
Links: Trailer / Project Teaser
Development path
In 2020, Los Ganglios disbanded. Two years later, in September 2022, they reunited for a new tour starting in Barcelona and continuing through southern Spain.
Director Antonio Marenco (an old friend of the band) followed them with his camera to document this new chapter. Participated in Dox in Vitro lab 2024.
Synopsis
A young Italian soldier and an Austrian one are sent to guard two opposite Alpine slopes. Unaware of each other’s presence, they remain isolated at 3,000 meters for months, cut off from the world and even from the end of the war itself. To survive the mountains, the cold, and solitude, they will be forced to set aside hatred and form an unexpected alliance. The Divided Mountain is not a traditional war film. It is a story about waiting, estrangement, and the absurdity of conflict. Through Carlo and Paul’s parallel isolation, the film explores the invisible border between enemy and ally, and the fragile humanity that emerges when survival becomes the only act of resistance.
Technical sheet
Original Title: La Montagna Divisa
English Title: The Divided Mountain
Genre: Fiction / Drama / War
Running Time: 90 minutes
Language: Italian, German (subtitled)
Format: 8K Digital, Color
Country: Italy
Writer: Antonio Marenco
Production: In negotiation
Shooting Locations: The Dolomites (Val Travenanzes and surrounding areas)
Status: Script and pre-production
Project Development
The Divided Mountain was conceived as a psychological and visual exploration of isolation during wartime, and, by extension, of the alienation in our modern world. The film transforms the high-altitude trenches of 1917 into a metaphorical space: suspended, timeless, where silence and survival replace glory and victory.
The director envisions a minimal, immersive cinematic style, slow, contemplative, and intimate.
The mountain becomes a living entity: hostile yet spiritual.
Synopsis
Paul, a young Venetian outsider from a wealthy family, inherits a mysterious villa in Barcelona. It seems like the perfect escape, a chance to start anew, until he discovers that the house is occupied by a radical commune led by the enigmatic Océane. Determined to reclaim his property, Paul infiltrates the group, pretending to share their ideals while plotting to dismantle them from within. But as he becomes increasingly involved, he begins to lose himself. His fascination with Océane and the group’s ideals turns his rebellion into obsession.
Set against the backdrop of Catalonia’s independence movement, Il Faraone becomes an ironic and tragic journey from privilege to ideology, and from love to power, a reflection on identity, belonging, and the fragile boundary between freedom and control.
Technical Sheet
Title Il Faraone
Genre Fiction / Dramedy
Format 8K Digital, Color
Duration 90 minutes
Language Italian / Catalan/ Castellano
Director & Screenwriter Diego Borella / Antonio Marenco
Production Company Boicot Films
Countries of Production Italy / Spain
Status In Development
Project Development
Il Faraone explores the contradictions of a generation suspended between comfort and revolt. Through Paul’s story, the film reflects on the desire to belong, the illusion of revolution, and the seductive nature of power.
Blending irony and political tension, the narrative mirrors the historical events of 2017, when Catalonia declared its independence, and lost it the very next day. The film captures this tension between utopia and disillusionment, between collective idealism and individual fragility.
Synopsis
In an increasingly inhospitable Rome, a group of quirky, struggling actors cling to their love for art and a shared spirit of survival. Living from day to day, they navigate the precarious world of dubbing, auditions, and creative hustle while trying to stay true to their bohemian ideals.
Inspired by Scenes of Bohemian Life and Ask the Dust, Stardust portrays the daily absurdities, hopes, and tenderness of four friends who have chosen art over security. Though their lives are filled with hunger, failure, and rejection, their friendship and imagination transform poverty into poetry.
This black-and-white tragicomedy is a modern ode to art as resistance, to those who, despite everything, still believe that hope — and creation — can be a way to live.
Technical sheet
Original Title: Polvere di Stelle
English Title: Stardust
Format: TV Series
Genre: Tragicomedy / Drama
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 8 per season (20 min each)
Language: Italian
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Color: Black & White
Country: Italy / Spain
Director & Writer: Antonio Marenco
Production: Zoorama
References:
Scenes of Bohemian Life (Aki Kaurismäki, 1992)
Ask the Dust (John Fante)
Vie de Bohème (Henri Murger, 1852)
Up and Down the Stage (Jerome K. Jerome)
Teaser: https://youtu.be/SrtdAzEcShs
Development path
The project has completed concept development and pilot production, and is now seeking co-production partners and distribution for full series realization. Despite its ambitious style, the series is designed for a low-to-medium budget through creative adaptation of sets and cast flexibility.
Antonio Marenco’s background in creative documentary and visual experimentation informs the show’s hybrid tone, grounded in realism yet infused with poetic surrealism. Stardust becomes both a love letter to cinema and a manifesto for survival through art.
Produced by: Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica (Barcelona)
Presented at: Kronos Art BCN #6 – Santa Mònica Cultural Centre, Barcelona, September 26 2019
Format: Short essay film | 20 minutes | Spain | 2019
Language: Spanish (subtitled in English)
Presentation
Amores y otros algoritmos is an experimental essay documentary by Italian filmmaker Antonio Marenco, commissioned by the Santa Mònica Centre d’Arts Contemporànies in Barcelona.
The work explores how the digital era reshapes the concept of love, turning it into something more fluid, fragmented, and data-driven. Through a poetic monologue that oscillates between intimacy and irony, Marenco questions whether our emotional connections still belong to us or to the algorithms that define them.
Author’s note
“This short film is a love letter written with glitches. It’s about affection in times of automation, about how technology mimics our most intimate gestures, and how we, in turn, begin to imitate it.”
Screening
Venue: Espai Balcó, Santa Mònica, Barcelona
Date: September 2019
Curators: Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica
Synopsis
For seventeen years, Uncle Li has built his «Catalan Dream» from a simple bar in the Sants neighborhood into a thriving family enterprise. Now, he’s ready to pass it on to the next generation. There’s just one problem: his son wants nothing to do with it.
Growing up in Spain, the son dreams of his own version of success—opening a travel agency for tropical islands. The Catalan Dream delves into the heart of this immigrant family, capturing the intimate, often humorous, tensions between filial duty and personal ambition. With a lightweight camera and a discreet crew, this observational series offers a raw and privileged look at the universal struggle between tradition and change, all set within the four walls of a classic Barcelona bar.
Technical sheet
Genre: Observational Documentary
Format: Web Series
Episodes: 8
Runtime: 10-12 minutes per episode
Language: Spanish, Chinese (Catalan subtitles)
Shooting Format: 4K, Handheld
Visual Style: Naturalistic, intimate, following the authentic rhythm of daily life.
Director: Antonio Marenco
Teaser Link: https://youtu.be/y10EbnjmOmE
Director’s note
This series applies a sociological lens to the microcosm of a family business. I am fascinated by human behavior in the face of social change, and the Li family’s story is a perfect case study. It’s not just a story about a Chinese family in Spain; it’s a global story about the second generation, identity, and the very meaning of «success.» By earning the family’s trust and filming with a small, unobtrusive crew, we aim to capture the quiet moments and loud disagreements that define their journey, creating a portrait that is both specific and universally resonant.
Synopsis
Catastrophic documentary in search of a virtuous politician… one that hasn’t gone extinct!
Antonio, his co-writer Einari, and Iván (an improvised boom operator) travel through Helsinki, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and even the Bolivian desert in search of a utopia, an ideal — something concrete on which to build a new future. And what if the answer were a cactus?
Technical sheet
Genre: Investigative Documentary
Director: Antonio Marenco
Format: Feature Documentary
Duration: 64 minutes
Language: Spanish/ English
Selections
Mar del Plata 2015
Buenos Aires 2015
Arcipelago 2015
TIFF 2015
Manhaus 2015
Granada 2016
Clip
After the single «Stanza Singola» – the title track from Franco126’s first solo album – the music video for «San Siro,» another single from the Roman singer’s project, has been released. Franco126 had debuted two years ago with «Polaroid,» a track co-written and performed with Carl Brave.
The protagonist of the video is Ugo Borghetti, another member of the 126 crew, while the location is in Sicily and has a vintage feel. The song’s lyrics are also melancholic, weaving together themes of love, misunderstandings, and desires for happiness – which, in the end, would mean «waking up in the middle of the San Siro pitch.»
Set in 1982, it draws inspiration from a winning football pools (Totocalcio) ticket.
https://youtu.be/QHHyE3c7Tnk
Synopsis
«Manuale di Sparizione» is a provocative 60-minute documentary that delves into the modern obsession with vanishing. Framed as a visual «how-to» guide, the film investigates the compelling reasons—from crushing debt and legal troubles to the simple desire for absolute freedom—that drive individuals to abandon their lives.
Through a blend of archival footage, stylized reconstructions, and expert interviews, the project unpacks the practical steps of disappearing: destroying digital footprints, securing false identities, and adapting to a life of invisibility. It juxtaposes real-life cases of both failed and successful disappearances with philosophical and sociological reflections, questioning whether true anonymity is still possible. The film navigates the thin line between the romanticized myth of the lone hero and the often-illegal, psychologically taxing reality of starting over.
Technical sheet
Genre: Investigative Documentary / Philosophical Essay
Director: Antonio Marenco
Format: Feature Documentary
Duration: 60 minutes
Status: Project in Development
Language: English
Style: Noir Aesthetic, dynamic editing blending real testimonies, archival material, and stylized reconstructions.
Visuals: High-contrast imagery, use of black and white, atmospheric lighting.
Soundtrack: Minimalist electronic music, ambient sounds, and subdued city noises.
Teaser: https://youtu.be/y0ajnhB8sP4
Director’s note
«Our era suffers from two great evils: loneliness, and the absence of solitude.»
This paradox is the heart of «Manuale di Sparizione.»
My goal is to use the language of cinema and my background in sociology to explore the ultimate act of rebellion in a controlled world. This is not an endorsement but an investigation—a deep dive into the human desire to become a ghost, questioning whether the ‘vanishing act’ is the last frontier of personal freedom or a dangerous illusion.
Synopsis
Permanent Together offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the «Permanent» squat in Barcelona, a vibrant and self-managed social center housed in a disused factory. The documentary captures the daily life, conflicts, and creative energy of this community as they navigate the constant risk of eviction.
The film delves into the political and social tensions surrounding the space, exploring the residents’ struggle to maintain their alternative way of life in a city undergoing rapid transformation. It becomes a powerful portrait of resistance, collaboration, and the fragile existence of urban utopias in the modern city.
https://youtu.be/Z0hjhLtEPkk
ATLANTIDOC AWARD for Best Documentary – Dir: Patricia Ayala
The film merits recognition for having identified and foreseen the potential of an extraordinary and charismatic character with a unique life story. Antonio Marenco achieves a warm portrait and documents Ivan’s transformation, using his personal narrative to reflect the dramatic changes in our society.