An ambitious audiovisual project about coffee
Throughout Spain, coffee is part of everyday life, and each region has its own coffee recipes, traditions and rituals. To honour and explore this rich heritage, Nespresso Spain launched an ambitious competition aimed at creating the world’s first crowdsourced documentary on Spanish coffee culture.
“1,001 Ways to Drink Coffee in Spain” makes use of a new filmmaking trend to create an audiovisual collage, with the audience itself playing the main part. Celebrated Spanish actress Leticia Dolera led the project as director of the crowdsourced film.
The project enjoyed the support and collaboration of Spain’s best film schools and the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AACCE).
According to AACCE vice president Judith Colell, “Films, as the dream factory, and coffee, with its all-powerful aroma that has served as inspiration to many, make a perfect combination. Both of them keep us awake, yet allow us to keep dreaming.”
Spain’s best coffee moments captured on video
Nespresso announced the unique competition earlier this year at the 27th edition of the gourmet food fair El Salón de Gourmets. The competition invited the public to share on video their personal and emotional relationships with coffee, from daily rituals to regional recipes. From May 13 to July 31, a wide range of professional, student and amateur filmmakers from 32 regions of the country uploaded some 200 short films 30 to 180 seconds long. The competition’s website registered nearly 49,000 video views.
From this material, a documentary film was made according to the principle of co-creation. “1,001 Ways to Drink Coffee in Spain with Nespresso” is a moving, 23-minute cinematic collage, in which the coffee drinkers are the stars. Director Leticia Dolera worked with editor Andres Gil to compile the best moments from the submitted films to showcase Spain’s gastronomic culture and on-going love affair with an iconic beverage.
“It was very exciting to see how consumers from different parts of Spain shared their most personal moments on coffee, and, above all, to see how the crowdsourced documentary came alive thanks to the excellent work of Leticia Dolera,” said Jaime de la Rica, Marketing Manager of Nespresso Spain.
Competition winners and film premiere
A distinguished jury, led by Leticia Dolera, judged the submissions based on originality and quality. Prizes were awarded to the best professional and amateur films, with special recognition given to audience best picks and the best film student contributions.
“I was surprised to discover the amount of emotions, sensations and sentiments that are generated around a cup of coffee. For many people it is a pleasure, but for most, it is a very personal ritual known and loved only by oneself. I am very happy with the quality of many of the short films, which reflect the many budding filmmakers who possess so much talent and creativity,” said Leticia Dolera.
The first prize was awarded to "Suau" by Pau Cabarrocas from Barcelona, a student at the prestigious ESCAC film academy in Barcelona. Second prize went to Álvaro Paz, a young filmmaker from Seville for “Memorias de un Café”. Third prize went to amateur filmmaker Sara Blanco from Salamanca for her film “Café Pendiente”.
The winners, along with a selection of competition participants, attended the award ceremony and premiere of the final crowdsourced documentary on December 4 at the National Film Academy in Madrid.
“The project ‘1001 ways to drink coffee’ has also enabled us to achieve one of our priorities: to strengthen our emotional attachment to our consumers and to learn how we can adapt more to their tastes and preferences.”
Inspiration for filmmakers: the Nespresso short documentary
As inspiration for the competition participants, Nespresso produced a short documentary exploring ways in which Spaniards enjoy their coffee. In the 15-minute film, journalist and food critic Concha Crespo embarks on a culinary excursion through cities including Málaga, San Sebastián, Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid.
Personalities including Chef Martín Berasategui, renowned cocktail master Javier de las Muelas and fashion designer Lydia Delgado share their coffee-related secrets, mementos and traditions with Nespresso offering insight on the unique gastronomic culture of the cities where they run their successful businesses. Málaga’s traditional “Nube”, San Sebastián’s tremendously sweet “Ebaki”, Catalonia’s attractive “Trifàsic”, and Valencia’s classic and indulgent “Bombón” are some of the recipes showcased in the documentary.
