Madrid Film School Title ‘The Imaginary Kings’ Deals With Male Angst

Of the five projects at the 9th Incubator program of the Madrid Film School (ECAM), Eire Cid’s debut feature “The Imaginary Kings” (“Los Reyes Imaginarios”) centers on the angst of male urban youth.

“It is an irreverent and visceral project, with a stylized, anti-naturalistic aesthetic. Fluorescent, dirty and sexy, heavily influenced by urban culture,” Cid tells Variety.

The story revolves around Rude, a tattooed teenager living with his father in a working-class neighborhood. Sensitive yet volatile, he embodies a masculinity that is both aggressive and fragile. Haunted by the sudden death of his pal El Rubio, Rude drifts through trap music, betting, fights, porn and poppers. When he falls for Valeria, she makes him happy but also forces him to confront his grief.

“However, he is unable to connect with his own pain and vulnerability, and to do so, he will have to break,” Cid explains.

“At the heart of the story is doubt and the possibility of change. That is why we also call it a ‘coming-of-empathy’: a journey toward empathy, much like the one I experienced while writing characters I initially hated as a feminist, but ultimately came to understand,” she says.

For producer Bea Villar of Brava, “Los Reyes Imaginarios” is a film primarily “for teenagers whose stories are rarely told … and that is at the heart of Brava.“

“From the beginning, Eire and I shared the same goal: to connect with young people at a time when dangerous ideas about what it means to be a man are resurfacing and to open a dialogue around them,” she noted, expressing her admiration for how Cid stepped outside of her comfort zone to tell this story.

“The setting is also fundamental: a working-class neighborhood in Vigo surrounded by betting shops and bars, with the port cranes in the background. The choice of Vigo was not accidental. Like other European port cities, it carries the legacy of declining industrial masculinity. In many ways, the city reflects the film’s male characters, Villar asserts.

The project itself has been on quite a journey in its development. It participated in the 4th Edition of the Film Academy’s Rueda Program, the inaugural incubation and development program at the Madrid University School of Arts TAI, the Navarra Residency, the AGAG Mentorship Program for Women Screenwriters and the CREA Conecta Lab.

The writing process was mentored by such acclaimed filmmakers and writers as Alberto Guntín (“Matalobos”), Belén Funes (“A Thief’s Daughter”), Lola Mayo (“Dolemite”), Golden Leopard winner Albert Serra (“Story of my Death”) and Silvia Herreros de Tejada (“La Ruta”).

Plans are to shoot it late next year in Vigo, a port city in northwestern Spain. “Vigo is pivotal to the story because, like other European industrial cities, it carries the legacy of a frustrated working-class masculinity shaped by the decline of the shipbuilding industry and offshoring,” says Villar. “That heritage is very present in ‘The Imaginary Kings’ as an intergenerational burden.”