Andrés de Arriaga, productor ejecutivo de Arrivelo Producciones
The large liquor company has chosen a small production company from A Coruña to tell its family’s story. “I visited the company’s different distilleries and they told me no 14 times,” explains the executive producer of Arrivelo Producciones.
More on the Galician audiovisual sector: The Galician Audiovisual Cluster is committed to “defending independent Galician production”
In recent years, A Coruña has become the epicenter of Galician audiovisual production. Companies like VacaFilms, Portocabo, and Ficción Producciones have led the sector in the province until now. However, Galician audiovisual production seems to have no limits. Arrivelo Producciones, a company based in A Coruña for several years, has made a splash with an exciting project: the creation of the first series about the Bacardí family.
Bacardí History will soon arrive on television “with a top-tier international cast” and has a strong chance of becoming a global success. The production will be filmed in both Spanish and English and is intended to be the necessary boost for Arrivelo Producciones’ consolidation in the audiovisual sector.
The series will shed light on a little-known “story of values and principles,” but one with great human significance. This is the staunch defense of the company’s executive producer, Andrés de Arriaga (A Coruña, 1965). He fell in love with the story in 2006 during a personal trip to Puerto Rico. Even 20 years after that trip, he still wonders if it was “luck,” “destiny,” or “God” that led him to book a tour of the Bacardi distillery. Whatever the reason, he is eternally grateful because there he discovered “a fascinating story of a family that has always been on the right side of history.”
It was years later that he founded Arrivelo Producciones and recovered the Bacardi story. It was no easy task. “I went around to the company’s different distilleries and they told me no 14 times,” Arraiga recalls. Even when he found the company’s “key contact,” Bacardi’s global director of international communications, Jessica Merz, she also rejected his story.
Arraiga’s faith in the project, however, transformed 14 “no’s” into a great opportunity for his company and for the audiovisual industry in A Coruña. “That day I was inspired and I told her, ‘This isn’t your story, it’s a world story. It’s the story of Spain, of Cuba, and of the United States,’” the executive producer of the production company behind Bacardi History recalls vividly.
Arraiga is convinced that today the motto for many is “to make money and be famous.” He already has the first and could soon achieve the second, but he is clear and emphatic when he says that what’s important are values and principles. And the Bacardí family, he asserts, has them: “They are an example to follow. It’s evident in their stance against slavery, their employment of women, their defense of the Cuban people, and their resilience, struggle, and overcoming adversity.” Among these adversities are the plundering by the Cuban government and other hardships such as tornadoes and tropical storms.
The series is a co-production between Arrivelo Producciones and Secuoya Estudios and will be released in the coming years. Production is progressing slowly, but its promoters are convinced it will be worth the wait. They maintain that if one of the world’s largest liquor companies took notice of a small production company in A Coruña, it’s for one simple reason: passion and the certainty that this series can change people. “What I want is for young people to know this story so that our youth can see a role model of what it means to be a good person, to work hard, to fight, to overcome adversity, and to succeed,” confesses Andrés de Arriaga.
“What I want is for young people to know this story so that our youth can see a role model of what it means to be a good person, to work hard, to fight, to overcome adversity, and to succeed.”
Andrés de Arriaga, Executive Producer of Arrivelo Producciones
The Arrivelo Producciones team has had access to documents and images from the Bacardí family archives. This wealth of information and documentation has been organized by José Tarrío and structured by Manuel Darriba—screenwriter of major TVG productions such as *O sabor das Margaridas* and *Auga Seca*. His partner and film producer, David Martínez—director of Secuoya Studios and former head of fiction production for TVE, Mediaset, and Voz Audiovisual—will also play a key role.
Andrés de Arriaga also plays a fundamental role in the company. He defines himself as a “visionary.” He envisions the project and fights for it. “I’m a dreamer. My mother always said, ‘My son is charming, but he’s just the same.'”
Links Grupo
Sede Principal
Calle Recreativa Ledoñesa
Manzana 7, Par. 64
15199 Culleredo
A Coruña – España
DELEGACIONES
Miami – México – Colombia
Contacto
Tel: +34 881 047 041
Móv: +34 613 641 630
e-mail: info@arriveloproducciones.com
Nuestro horario
Lu-Vi: 9:00-18:00
Sá-Do: cerrado
