The Mexico-Spain project, produced with Mexico’s Colectivo Colmena, explores grief, memory and family bonds
Txintxua Films, producer of Netflix hit series “Intimacy,” has boarded Mexican filmmaker Ernesto Martínez Bucio’s second feature, “This Is the Memory I Would Like to Have of Mom” (“Éste es el recuerdo que me gustaría tener de mamá”).
The Basque company joins Mexican production outfit Colectivo Colmena on the Spain-Mexico co-production, one of the 15 projects selected for San Sebastián’s upcoming Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum.
Martínez Bucio comes off “The Devil Smokes,” which won the Berlinale Perspectives Award for best first feature. Karen Plata, who co-wrote that film with Martínez Bucio, pens “This Is the Memory.”
Daniel Loustaunau and Mauricio Calderón produce for Colectivo Colmena, with Marian Fernández Pascal producing for Txintxua.
Now in development, the project received Spain’s ICAA Film Board screenplay writing support in 2025.
“This Is the Memory” centers on Marina, 27, reeling from her mother’s death when she is diagnosed with cancer. Cassettes preserve her mother’s voice, while Marina creates false recordings and invented memories as her family struggles with grief.
Martínez Bucio calls the film “an exploration of the grieving process, the search to understand one’s own existence and family memory as a collective construction.”
Txintxua’s move into the project grew out of Fernández Pascal’s longstanding relationship with Martínez Bucio and Plata. “I’ve known Karen and Neto, the project’s creators, since they moved to my town in the Basque Country several years ago,” Fernández Pascal said.
“We’ve been collaborating on different projects for some time and share common interests. Their previous work is very interesting, and for Txintxua, taking part in ‘This Is the Memory’ was a natural process.”
Founded in the Basque Country in 2008 by filmmaker Asier Altuna and Fernández Pascal, Txintxua has built an international track record across film and TV. Altuna’s “Amama” (“When a Tree Falls”) won San Sebastián’s Irizar Award, while its 2022 Netflix series “Intimacy” topped the streamer’s global non-English TV chart.
Colectivo Colmena, launched in 2015, has meanwhile established a strong festival presence. Its productions include José Pablo Escamilla’s “Mostro,” which premiered at Locarno, Mauricio Calderón Rico’s “All the Fires,” also a Locarno title, and Escamilla’s “Lumbrensueño,” which premiered at Venice.
San Sebastián will mark the project’s first major international industry outing. “The Co-Production Forum will be the first moment to test the project with the industry and find potential allies with whom to continue the journey,” Fernández Pascal said. “For those of us making independent auteur cinema, these forums are increasingly strategic.”