About us
Ikiru Films
Since the beginning of its activity in 2004, Ikiru Films has established itself as one of the most important independent production companies on the national scene, alternating international co-productions such as Tom Tykwer’s Perfume, historia de un asesino, Andrucha Waddington’s Lope, or Alejandro González-Iñárritu’s Biutiful, with strong support for young talent, as in David Victori’s El Pacto, Daniel Benmayor’s Bruc, or Neus Ballús’ El viaje de Marta (Staff Only).
Among its bets are also the multi-awarded documentary Garbo, el espía by Edmon Roch, or the animated film Las aventuras de Tadeo Jones, by Enrique Gato, which became not only the highest-grossing Spanish animated film in history, but also the first to be massively released in China, achieving spectacular exploitation results in Latin America and the rest of the world. In 2013, it released the Spanish-Argentine co-production Séptimo, by Patxi Amezcua, with Ricardo Darín and Belén Rueda. In 2014 he released one of the highest-grossing feature films of the year, El Niño, by Daniel Monzón, winner of four Goya awards and seven Gaudí awards. In 2015 he again bet on animated films, with Atrapa la bandera, another box office success, winner of the Goya and the Gaudí for Best Animated Film. In August 2017 he released the second part of Tadeo, Tadeo Jones 2. The Secret of King Midas, another box office success with more than three million spectators in Spain alone.
In 2018 Ikiru Films released El Cuaderno de Sara, by Norberto López-Amado, starring Belén Rueda; El Pacto, by David Victori, also starring Belén Rueda and Darío Grandinetti; and Yucatán, by Daniel Monzón, starring Luis Tosar, Rodrigo de la Serna, Joan Pera and Stephanie Cayo. In 2019 she was responsible for titles such as El viaje de Marta (Staff Only) by Neús Ballús, premiered in Panorama at the Berlin Festival; and Taxi a Gibraltar, by Alejo Flah, starring Dani Rovira and Joaquín Furriel. During the strange 2020 Ikiru Films was able to open the Sitges Festival with Malnazidos, directed by Alberto del Toro and Javier Ruiz Caldera; present the documentary San Mao: la novia del desierto by Marta Arribas and Ana Pérez, premiered at the Malaga Festival and chosen as one of the audience’s favorites at HotDocs; and release Adú, starring Luis Tosar, Álvaro Cervantes, Anna Castillo and Moustapha Oumarou, which became one of the films of the year with thirteen nominations and four Goya awards, including Best Director for Salvador Calvo.
In October 2021, Las Leyes de la Frontera, the new collaboration with Daniel Monzón as director and starring Marcos Ruiz, Begoña Vargas and Chechu Salgado, based on the popular novel of the same name by Javier Cercas, will be released. Winner of five Goya Awards and three Premis Gaudí, it became one of the most watched films on Netflix in its first week.
Enrique Gato’s Tadeo Jones 3. La tabla esmeralda, and La casa entre los cactus, the feature film debut of Carlota González-Adrio, based on the popular novel by Paul Pen, have just been released. La niña de la comunión by Víctor García has just been premiered at the Festival Internacional de Cine Fantástico de Catalunya (International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia) and is scheduled for theatrical release in February 2023.
Ikiru Films is also in the final editing phase of Javier Ruiz Caldera’s Un hombre de acción, starring Juan José Ballesta and Miki Esparbé, a Netflix original film based on the life of Lucio Urtubia. He is also in full production of the animated feature Mariposas Negras by David Baute and has in development Oh Nora, the directorial debut of Aina Clotet.
Edmon Roch
Edmon Roch is a journalist with a degree in Art History. He has written, directed and produced five short films, among which the multi-award-winning “Blood” (1994) stands out. His first feature film as a director, “Garbo, the man who saved the world”, a creative documentary that he also wrote and produced, was unheard of in Spain. It won the Goya Award for Best Documentary, two Gaudí Awards for Best Documentary and Best Screenplay and the Giraldillo de Oro for Best European Documentary 2009. The film was voted one of the best films of 2009, both by critics and the Spanish public. and according to Variety magazine, it was “the most talked about documentary in recent years.”
As a writer, in addition to his work as a film critic for various publications, he has written several scripts, including the award-winning medium-length film “Away from the Flock”, about British artist Damien Hirst (1994), “Tic Tac”, by Rosa Vergés ( 1997), “Smalls”, for Immi Pictures (1998), and “Mia Sarah”, by Gustavo Ron (2006). He is also the author of the book “Key Films of War Cinema” (Ed. Ma Non Troppo, 2008).
But perhaps his best known facet is that of Producer, with an outstanding career that includes: “Barcelona”, by Whit Stillman (1994), “El Efecto Mariposa”, by Fernando Colomo, (1995), “Seven Years in Tibet” , by Jean-Jaques Annaud (1997), in which he served as Production Director and “The Last Days of Disco”, by Whit Stillman (1998). He was also the Production Director and Executive Producer of the first and third installments of “Las Maletas De Tulse Luper”, by Peter Greenaway (2002/04).
Already with his company, Ikiru Films, Edmon Roch has been the Executive Producer of “The perfume. Story of a murderer”, by Tom Tykwer (2006) and Producer and Executive Producer of “The moon in bottle”, by Grojo (2007) . He is co-producer of “Biutiful”, by Alejandro González Iñárritu (2010) and “Pope Joan”, by Sönke Wortmann (2009), and has produced “Garbo” (2009), “Lope”, by Andrucha Waddington (2010), ” Bruc “, by Daniel Benmayor (2010),” Phantom Promotion “, by Javier Ruiz Caldera (2012),” The Adventures of Tadeo Jones “, by Enrique Gato (2012),” Seventh “, by Patxi Amezcua (2013),” El Niño ”, by Daniel Monzón (2014),“ Catch the Flag ”, by Enrique Gato (2015),“ Tadeo Jones 2. The Secret of King Midas ”, by Enrique Gato (2017),“ El Cuaderno de Sara ”, by Norberto López Amado (2018), “El Pacto”, by David Victori (2018), “Yucatán”, by Daniel Monzón (2018), “Taxi a Gibraltar”, by Alejo Flah (2019), “El viaje de Marta ( Staff Only) ”, by Neus Ballús (2019),“ Adú ”, by Salvador Calvo (2020), the documentary feature film,“ Sanmao: the bride of the desert ”, by Marta Arribas and Ana Pérez (2020),“ Malnazidos ”, by Javier Ruiz Caldera and Alberto de Toro and “Las Leyes de la Frontera”, by Daniel Monzón (2021), based on the novel by Javier Cercas.
Right now also, Edmon Roch is producing the third part of Tadeo, “Tadeo Jones 3. The curse of the mummy”, by Enrique Gato and filming “A Man of Action” by Javier Ruiz Caldera. He is also immersed in the post-production of “La casa entre los cactus”, by Carlota González-Adrio and “La Niña de la comunión”, by Victor García.
In addition to producing, Edmon Roch has served as Production Director on several of his feature films. Especially noteworthy are “The Butterfly Effect”, by Fernando Colomo, “Seven Years in Tibet”, by Jean-Jaques Annaud, “The Suitcases of Tulse Luper”, by Peter Greenaway, “Lope”, by Andrucha Waddington, “El Niño ”, by Daniel Monzón, with which he also won the Goya Prize and the Gaudí Prize for Best Production Direction,“ El Cuaderno de Sara López Amado and “Yucatán”, by Daniel Monzón.
