Palma Pictures Co-Produces 'Behold The Monkey'

Palma Pictures has announced it has co-produced a new comedy drama, Behold The Monkey, for Sky Arts.

The one-off drama has been commissioned by Sky Arts and produced by Wildcard Films in association with Palma Pictures. It tells the true story of Cecilia Giminez, an elderly parishioner who took it upon herself to restore her local church's prized Elias Garcia Martinez fresco, 'Ecce Homo' (Behold the Man).

The premise behind the comedy drama is that the results of Ms Giminez's work were so disastrous that the painting – and the story – made the headlines. There was a happy ending amidst the media attention however, as it brought people from around the globe to visit Cecilia's artwork and bring some prosperity to a village in the Pyrenees.

Filmed in Spain, Palma Pictures provided all of the local production services for the shoot in and around some of the mountain villages of Mallorca.

Trent Walton, Co-Producer, said: "Adam [the Director] really wanted to film in Spain, to keep the story as authentic as possible, but was unsure if he could base the schedule there. We were of course familiar with the true story and when he contacted us about the shoot, we jumped at the chance to get involved. We quickly ruled out filming in Borja, where Cecilia still lives, because it was logistically very difficult to get the whole crew and our equipment there. However we were able to recreate the quaint mountain village with a true Spanish flavour in Mallorca.

"It was ideal as Mallorca is a compact yet diverse island so we could orchestrate the shoots between the mountain settings and our studios with real ease. Shooting on the island also meant that we were able to make full use of our in-house crew and equipment. It was a fantastic experience and a brilliant opportunity to bring such an intriguing story to life."

'Behold The Monkey' is directed by Adam Wimpenny and produced by Adam Morane-Griffiths and Joe Hill. It stars Spanish actress Imma Colomer as Cecilia. Assumpta Serna, Amparo Moreno, Jacob Torres and Carles Gilabert also star in the programme.

Image: Behind-the-scenes of 'Behold The Monkey'. © Courtesy of SkyArts.

(JP)