NeverSceneFilms by Albert Ventura Roldán
NeverSceneFilms is the label of filmmaker Albert Ventura Roldán (Chinese name 文二北投). Born in Barcelona, studied cinema and photography in Tokyo (New Cinema Workshop) and in Barcelona (Bande à Part Film School). He is now based in Taipei, where he is developing his career as a film director and writer.
“When I was a kid my grandmother introduced me to cinema through movies like the “Wizard of Oz”, Chaplin’s “Modern Times” or “A Night at the Opera” from the Marx brother’s. I always understood a cinema theatre as a place to dream and experience something different. For this reason I wanted to create my label with a name that reminded me constantly what made me feel fascinated in cinema from when I was a child”. Albert Ventura, Taipei 2020.
Shortfilms & Videos
I am constantly creating stories in my mind. I grew up in an environment that fed my imagination and stimulated me to imagine all sorts of unusual situations that I would hardly encounter in real life. I realised that through movies I could share these challenges with an audience that I didn’t know. When I see someone diving into my story and being moved, I feel that this is the reason why I wanted to become a story teller. Once you experience that feeling, is like an addiction that you can never let go.
Never grow up (永遠別長大)
Butterflies Shortfilm
Interview for Taiwan Film Festival Australia
Iphigenia's Night (伊菲基妮亞之夜)
Für Elise (給愛麗絲)
Script (スクリプト)
Swing
Memories of Tokyo
Maganda
Love at third sight
Tong Xue (同學)
Nike | Free Spirit
Photography
To my understanding any movie director should be as well a photographer. Since movies are partly a succession of photographies, I always thought that taking pictures was one of the first steps in the process of picturing a movie. I like playing with the manual settings of my cinema camera and experiment with the style that I am looking for. It also allows me to train technical elements that are essential in cinematographic language, like depth of field, exposure or iso.
Taking portraits is what I enjoy the most. It allows me to observe the soul of a person, sometimes in a more honest way that in a conversation. I often imagine that person being my actor in that spontaneous movie. The reactions I can get from people that I film unexpectedly can be unpredictable, but that also makes it more exciting, and makes me remember the story behind every picture that I take.
Afterdark RGB colors in Taipei
Film nostalgia
Papershoot
Memories of Tokyo
Manila Slums
Tokyo Stories
Projects
As a compulsive writer, I am always working in all sorts of stories that come to my mind. These are the projects that I am developing as a writer and director currently in Taiwan. If you like my works and are interested in knowing about other stories that I will be developing in the near future please feel free to drop me a message.
Back to the North
“Back to the North” is a feature project in development that takes place in a post-war Taiwan that has been divided into two isolated countries, the Northern part ruled by the US and the South ruled by Chinese. Jie accidentally split from his parents during the war and was left alone in the North with another family. Ten years later, hit by several pandemic waves and a severe economic crisis, the US is eventually leaving the North and its citizens are fleeing along to America. Mike, however, stormed by his past memories will cross the frontier to the South to find his parents. On his trip back home he will meet Li, a wannabe star girl that is making a trip on the opposite direction. Their encounter will change their fate and challenge them to define their goals in this crazily mutating world, as well as realising the value of having a place to call home. This is a story that talks to the new generations that are witnessing with anxiety how the world is mutating in front of them towards the unknown.
Déjà Blue
“Déjà Blue” is a TV series project currently in development. This is a dystopian future drama for a young audience placed in a futuristic world that has changed its social and economical rules. This is the story of a character that undergoes a process of revolution in a society that has been unusually fragmented into different economical and social systems. This is a story that combines social issues that concern the youngest generations, as well as different characters with many parallel plots and a message of social awareness in order to build a more fair world.
Illustration by Pai Chi Yu.
Iphigenia in Barcelona
“Iphigenia in Barcelona” is a story in development that takes place in one single night in Barcelona. Mark becomes involved into a dangerous online game where he needs to clear a series of missions in order to complete a puzzle. If he fails, his kidnapped wife will be murdered. Mark will soon realise that he is not playing alone, in fact he will have to associate with other players and compete each other in order to clear the mission. They will also soon realise the game is been followed by a broad audience that is betting about who will be the winner.
This story is the feature version of my previous short movie “Iphigenia’s Night”. The feature version was the original format of this story. However, I shot first the short for budget reasons. This feature project was awarded as best pitch project in Golden Horse Pitching competition in 2018. We are actually looking for collaborators and considering either a feature or a series format.
About me
NeverSceneFilms is the movie label of independent director and writer Albert Ventura Roldán (Barcelona 1978). At 24 he moved to Japan, where he pursued a master and a PhD in Biology at the University of Tokyo. However, fascinated by Japanese culture and arts he also studied photography and movie directing and he eventually moved into his real passion, story telling and filmmaking.
Influenced by Japanese classic cinema and arts, his first short film “Script” was awarded as the Best Script Award in Sapporo Short International Film Festival in 2011. He then moved to Taiwan where he filmed several shorts, including “Für Elise”, sponsored by Kaohsiung Cultural Bureau and nominated for best short at the Taipei Film Festival. In 2017, he directed the PTS Originals Short “Iphigenia’s Night” for Taiwanese Public TV Channel which inspired “Iphigenia in Manila”, his first feature film project. The project was selected for the Golden Horse Project Promotion Platform where it was awarded with the Best Content Digital Award and is actually looking for financing. He is currently writing an eight chapter TV series for Taiwanese Public TV Channel Gongshi sponsored by the Ministry of Education. He is also in pre-production of his seventh short film “Butterflies” also sponsored by the same TV Broadcaster.
Press
Press in Spain
CineAsia
Interview about Butterflies from Cine Asia, the reference online site for Asian cinema in Spanish, about my academic career as a director in Japan and Taiwan. It interview took place during the Asian Cinema Nights in Vic Festival . Read more >
Diari Ara
Interview from Catalan newspaper Ara about my transition from a scientific career to moviemaking during my eight years in Tokyo. Read more >
Diari el 9 Nou
A very detailed interview on the Catalan newspaper El 9 Nou about my life in Japan and how there I became passionate about moviemaking to the point of making a professional transition from science to moviemaking. Read more >
Press in Taiwan
China Times
News about the shooting of “Iphigenia’s Night” in Taiwan in the famous newspaper China Times from Taiwan The Taiwanese star actor Chuang Kai Xun explains his unique experience acting in this bizarre thriller about the moral conflicts between love and desire along with life and death. Read more >
Dramago PTS Plus
An article about Butterflies on the famous Taiwanese website PTS Plus, ran by the Taiwanese Public Channel. In this report I explain my influences of Japanese Manga and anime, specially from Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue for the creation of “Butterflies”. Read more >
Crossing Taiwan
A report on the famous cinema and art blog Crossing Taiwan. The text focuses on the premiere on Taiwanese TV of Butterflies, along with other two production from the Taiwanese Public Channel that speak about how artists envision the future of Taiwan. Read more >
Contact
You can follow my current work from any of the following social networks. You can also contact me by email for any job inquire or for further information about any of my projects. Feel also free to suggest or send your opinion. Follow and share as you like. Thanks in advance, and regards from Taipei!