Blue Pagalou

Madrid, May 2011. Amid mass protests, Gabriel, a riot police officer, struggles between duty and doubt.
His former lover, Angélica, invites him to join her on a remote island offering radical “Dharma-fitness,” promising escape from the modern world.
As Madrid burns with unrest, a seductive alternative life calls him far away.

  • Louis Gamazo de Roux
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Azul Pagalu
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    85
  • Language:
    French, Spanish
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Writer Biography - Louis Gamazo de Roux

I have worked in the film industry for nearly twenty years, on both major international productions — as an assistant to Alec Baldwin and Joel Edgerton, and as a runner on films directed by Ridley Scott, James Mangold, and David Nutter (Game of Thrones, Season 5) — as well as on independent projects in Spain and Canada.

This hands-on experience, from set work to post-production, led me to recognize the central role of screenwriting as the backbone of any film. After training in editing and motion graphics, I worked as an assistant editor on the documentary Soleils Noirs (dir. Julien Élie), produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

Now based in France, I am developing projects driven by intimate, tense, and character-centered narratives, influenced by filmmakers such as Nicolas Winding Refn, Ruben Östlund, and Asghar Farhadi.

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

I discovered Honduras in 2007. It was not my first encounter with Central America. My father’s work took him to Panama in 1985, along with his wife and his three children, myself included, the youngest. Our integration was easy: we came from Madrid (Spain), and although the environment was very different, we remained within a Spanish-speaking world.

Back in Spain—my country of birth—at only eleven years old, Panama and Central America quickly faded into oblivion. But circumstances led me back there twenty-one years later, in 2007, this time for my own work.

As a Production Assistant on a tasteless reality show I am not proud of, I rediscovered this continent. But instead of the maternal, protective bubble of childhood, I found myself trapped in the emaciated, materialistic and obtuse bubble of a Berlusconi-style television production. I did my job as best I could, quickly realizing that my only friends within this large crew of over one hundred people were… the Hondurans who worked as auxiliaries, driving motorboats or building cardboard sets.

I spent my days running along the paradisiacal beaches of the “Cayos,” receiving orders 12 hours a day through a walkie-talkie, and trying to help the unfortunate “survivor” contestants without drawing too much attention from my superiors.

Back in Spain, the economic crisis soon erupted. The year 2011 was marked by the 15-M movement, filling Spanish squares with demonstrations. The gloom was paralyzing. I remembered those Hondurans who dreamed of emigrating to Spain, some of whom had tried the United States and had been turned back. I thought about this insane, compartmentalized, hyper-individualistic world, where no one finds what they are looking for.

I am drawn to the contrast between the turquoise waters of Honduras and the stone pavement of Puerta del Sol in Madrid. Where is paradise? Where is hell? Are both places a mirage, each in its own way? Beneath the paving stones: crisis, unemployment, but also a certain freedom (still). Beneath the white sand of Honduras: a false paradise hiding poverty and violence? Probably.

What kind of personality does one need to “surf” above all these difficulties? Do solidarity and friendship still have meaning, or are they merely the domain of “losers”?

With Bleu Pagalou, I wanted to create an adventure in which all these questions could emerge—even if it does not provide the answers.