CANADA, a successful production company “made in Barcelona”

Over 6 years ago Alba Barneda, recently graduated in the university, received a call with a promising proposal: to be an important part of the project to create a production company along with three  successful and talented audiovisual directors. She accepted with enthusiasm and, today, is part of the “founder” team of CANADA as a production manager, team which has several prestigious awards, including 8 Cannes Lions, and has been noticed by everybody by creating their own peculiar style and being admired by artists and brands worldwide. ShBarcelona has spoken to Alba to tell us a bit more about CANADA and its past and future projects… do you want to know more about it?

When and how did the idea of creating this production company come from?

CANADA emerges in late 2008 when three filmmakers, Nicolás Méndez, Luis Cervero and Lope Serrano, decide to join forces and create their own production company under the same vision and a sensitivity in common.

Who is behind the creation of Canada and what is your background? How has it changed the team?

CANADA has the peculiarity of being a production company founded by directors and not by producers (which is the most common thing). This fact distinguishes CANADA from other companies. We started very small. The three directors and myself, I started with them from the beginning. Shortly after the producer Oscar Romagosa joined the team as Executive Producer. Gradually we have been growing, representing more directors and joining efforts in the production team. We have also created a small department of administration and have a post-production coordinator and researcher.

What artists or brands have you worked with?

We have shot music videos for national bands like Fangoria, Los Punsetes or El Guincho, and international groups as Scissor Sisters, Two Door Cinema Club, She & him, the Vaccines. We have also shot some commercials for brands like Coca-Cola, Seat, Volkswagen or Fanta.

Could you tell us three jobs that you feel particularly proud of?

The first thing I always like to emphasize is the video we did for El Guincho, as it marked a turning point in the history of Canada. The video went viral and gained a lot of page views, especially outside our country. From there, we got in touch with music bands such as Scissor Sisters with whom we made a video of that I also feel especially proud. This year we made a video with the website Nowness for an English brand called Crème Caramel, it has been a particularly nice project and we are very proud of it.

What projects do you have in mind or in the near future?

We are now preparing a spot for Victoria sneakers with Marc Oller, one of our New Talents. We also have a couple of ads for Seat, with Erik Morales and Niall Downing and a commercial for El Corte Inglés.

What has it meant for you being a production company based in Barcelona?

Barcelona is our city and this is where we felt comfortable and we have our people. Also Barcelona is a great city to shoot. We have many days of sunshine every year and wonderful locations: the beach, beautiful streets, very different neighborhoods… is a very good place to shoot and it’s great that people come from around the world to do it in our city. Maybe sometimes we would need some bureaucracy to be more agile and match with the timings with which we have to work. Besides being a very good set, Barcelona also has a team of top professionals and providers with a high quality of technical material that is exported worldwide.

Finally… could you reveal to us some of your favorite places to shoot in Barcelona?

Barcelona is full of wonderful places. We still find new places to shoot. Poble Nou is a neighborhood with a lot of potential, for example. Its streets with old factories and houses, it is a very comfortable and easy to shoot there and that’s a thing that always makes us very happy.