The world of the neonatal and pediatric ICU is unknown to most people. It is where families and healthcare staff try to save the lives of so many children; a tough but at the same time, beautiful world. This is where my son Pep fought for his life for four months. It is an unknown world, because it is one of the biggest taboos in our society. One of the parents I met in the SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital expressed it in a revealing way: “I didn’t know these children existed. “You don’t see them in the parks, you don’t see them in the movies, nobody talks about them.”
When my son passed away, many of my close friends and family chose silence. I understand this reaction, partly because of the impact it had on them, and mostly because they didn’t know how to deal with the situation. Even today, many people avoid mentioning Pep in conversations, or are surprised that I do so, as if he had never existed… This inevitably hinders the grieving process and increases feelings of loneliness.
As directors of “A shooting star” – with Arturo Méndiz –, this lack of understanding and loneliness is what we have observed in so many conversations with parents and professionals who are struggling in the ICU. This is the reason we are embarking on this project: to show the importance of breaking that taboo so that parents can communicate their loss, accept the death of their child in the most natural way possible and live out their grief in a healthy way.
— Ignasi Guerrero
Co-Director and leading role in Una estrella fugaz. Director of photography and camera operator on the documentaries The Pencil, the Snow and the Grass (2017), Pilar Lorengar: The Voice and the Silence (2016) and Behind the Clue of Otal (2008).
Co-founder and Creative director at btcom Creative Studio, based in Barcelona (Spain) since 2010, where he has directed thousands of brand and music videos, winning the 2nd prize in Kerygma Awards for the commercial “Forgiveness is a two-way thing”. In addition, he works as Director of photography, Camera Operator and Editor.
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Producer, Director and Screenwriter of several documentaries for television and film such as The Pencil, the Snow and the Grass (2017) or Pilar Lorengar; the Voice and the Silence (2016), co-produced with Germany and premiered on TVE (Spain), Aragón Televisión (Spain) and ZDF-ARD (Germany). With more than 300 international awards including an Oscar Nomination and a Palme d’Or in Cannes for Timecode (2016), and also 3 Goya Awards.
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Bastian Films is a production company focused on projects around human stories, often with a significant social dimension. Its filmography includes 14 fiction short films that have garnered over 300 awards worldwide, including a Palm d’Or, an Oscar nomination, and 3 Goya awards for the short films El Barco Pirata (2012), The Runner (2016), and Timecode (2017). In 2020, they released Ropes, which premiered at the Sitges International Film Festival and was sold to more than 20 countries worldwide. Their latest feature, The Remnants of You, is poised for theatrical release.
In the documentary realm, their feature The Pencil, the Snow, and the Grass (2017) received awards at Espiello, Biosegura, and in London. Additionally, Wild Gleaming Space (2024) is set to premiere at Hot Docs.
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btcom is a Catalan production company that was founded in 2010 by Ignasi Guerrero, Luis Carreras, and Carme Raventós. With advertising being its natural habitat, there are already several collaborations between btcom and Bastian Films in narrative and documentary films. The first one was in 2012 with the short film The Pirate Ship, winner of the Goya Prize. It was followed by the co-production of the feature-length documentary The Pencil, the Snow, and the Grass (2014), Best Feature Film at the Biosegura Film Festival, and Special Mention at the London Labor Film Festival.
During these filming days in the Pyrenees, the idea of making the feature-length documentary called A Shooting Star came to Ignasi and Arturo, and they started developing it. Simultaneously, btcom and Bastian Films worked together on the feature-length documentary Pilar Lorengar. The voice and the silence (2016) and the short documentary The Crossing of the Pyrenees (2019).
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Juan Ignacio Peña is the producer and director of the Mexican company Tilma Films, which in 2015 co-produces the short film ZERO the project, and in 2020 starts Mexicana, an animated film directed by Fernando Pomares, animated in collaboration with the Austrian studio arx anima. In 2021, he finished co-producing the Mexican fiction feature 37KMS, directed by Rafael Montero, and available on VIX USA.
In the documentary field, Juan Ignacio Peña developed the project Vivir de cine for Elías Querejeta in 2005. And in the world of animation he was nominated for a Goya in 2003 for the Spanish-French feature film The Three Wise Men, available on Netflix Spain.
Tilma Films and its team join forces with A Shooting Star to tackle the challenge of producing a black and white 2D animation that allows the past of this story to be told in the right tone.
Mexican artist Alexander Acha, produces and composes the music for this film along with Pablo Delgado.
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‘Una estrella fugaz’ forma parte de los 10 títulos mexicanos que conforman la Selección Oficial de la segunda edición del festival Cine al margen. El documental tendrá dos proyecciones en salas de la Ciudad de México, entre el 11 y el 17 de agosto.
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La historia del documental nació para acompañar a todas las familias que viven el proceso doloroso alrededor de las UCI neonatales y el duelo perinatal, con la esperanza de que se sientan menos solos. “Una estrella fugaz” ya está disponible en las plataformas Prime Video, Filmin, Acontra+ y Rakuten.
Dirigida por Ignasi Guerrero y Arturo Méndiz, el próximo 11 de octubre llega a las salas de cine el estreno de “Una estrella fugaz”, documental que aborda de manera íntima y personal el mundo de las UCI neonatales y el duelo perinatal, a través de los testimonios de varias familias que han vivido este doloroso y silencioso proceso.
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