This is the story of a special woman, who meets a special man, so they live a love story even more special. For she suffers an obsessive compulsive disorder due to a childhood more than complicated. So does he.
Now, this woman who still lives in an everlasting childhood must face the greatest challenge of all: becoming a mother.
Aïda Ballmann is an actress from the Canary Islands, Spain, with German origins. She gained her language abilities, fluent Spanish, German and English, during her international and multidisciplinary education in the field of performance, circus and acting. Aïda has been awarded best actress of the year by Filmbizarro for her acting and she has been nominated best andalusian actress. Furthermore she received excellent critics from the prestigious paper “The Hollywood Reporter”, amongst others. After the shooting of “The Extraordinary Tale”, Aïda participated in an episode in the series “El Tiempo Entre Costuras” at “Antena 3 TV” (Spanish television), based on the best seller of Maria Dueñas. Recently she has taken part in the shooting for the series “Águila Roja” also for the Spanish television.
In 2013, Ken participated in the movie, Casting (Jorge Naranjo) which premiered at the Malaga Film Festival, where he won a biznaga for best secondary actor as well as starred in the film The Extraordinary Tale, directed by Jose Ortuño and Laura Alvea which has been selected to participate in several International film festivals. Most recently he interpreted the role of a kidnapped tourist in the the independent thriller Obra 67 a film recorded in 13 hours that premiered at the Sevilla European Film Festival and has been lauded by both critics and public alike. In 2012 he had a minor role in the documentary film The Imposter, winner of a BAFTA for its director Bart Layton.
Laura Alvea
& José F. Ortuño
José F. Ortuño has written and/or directed documentaries such as como Ignacio Sánchez Mejías: Más allá del toreo or Alcalá Zamora: la Tercera España. He has also written and directed medium length films such as El legado de Munt for Universal, and features such as KiaN or Pleno al quince and as well as other projects. Most recently he has written and directed the film The Extraordinary Tale and the TV show 25, mucho que ver contigo.
As a playwright, he has written and directed over a hundred plays, which have been performed in Spain or at the Royal Court Theatre in London. His play Atrapado received the Miguel Romero Esteo Award from the Centro Andaluz de Teatro, as Andalucias best theatre play. In 2005, he won the I Jerry Goldsmith Award for Young European Composers for Palomita Mía and two years later was nominated again for El árbol seco.
Meanwhile Laura Alvea is one of the most active Andalusian audiovisual professionals today. She has developed her career mainly as an Assistant Director, although she has also worked in the production of many works and is also becoming a renowned casting director in Spain. Along with this work she has also co-directed several projects including the docummentary Tebraa, retratos de mujeres saharauis (awarded with the La Rosa del Desierto) and the short Relojes de Arena along with José F. Ortuño.
As an Assistant Director, highlights of her work include feature films such as: El mundo es nuestro, Carmina o revienta, Juan de los Muertos, Carmina y Amén, Cenizas, Un mundo cuadrado, Asesinos Inocentes, Flamenco, flamenco, by Carlos Saura, Colorado Avenue or El legado de Munt. She was head of production of the feature Juan de los Muertos, by Alejandro Brugués, and worked in the castings of the movies Grupo 7, Héctor y Bruno, La Isla Mínima, Un Mundo Cuadrado, Asesinos Inocentes or Déjate caer, among many others.
In 2011 they created their own production company, ACHERON FILMS, with which they produced shows such as Treintañeros for Antena 3 & Neox, and the feature film The Extraordinary Tale, which premiered in Londres, Sevilla, Madrid, Toulouse, Cardiff, Los Ángeles, Málaga, Tubingen or Atlanta, where it received the award of Best Foreign Film. Moreover, it won the awards of Best Actress (Film Bizarro Awards), Best Costume Design (ASECAN Awards) and Best Art Direction (ASECAN Awards), and the independent web site Film Bizarro voted The Extraordinary Tale as the fifth best film of the year. At the 17th Festival de Cine Español de Málaga it won 2 Silver Biznagas including best feature film voted by the public and at the Cardiff Independent Film festival it won the awards for Best Picture and Best Actress.
Its mission is to create original products so each project has a defined and unique personality differentiating itself from anything previously seen.
Additionaly, ACHERON FILMS has collaborated in the production of numerous advertisements for companies such as Cruzcampo or the Junta de Andalucía and in the docummentary Memorias de una exposición, for Canal Sur Tv. Theatrically, ACHERON FILMS has produced plays such as Evidentemente and Esperando that premiered in Sevilla and Edades, which premiered onstage in Madrid. Most recently they have produced the contents for the prime time show 25, mucho que ver contigo for Canal Sur Tv andcurrently theACHERON FILMS team is working on two documentaries and two television shows.
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Carlos Tuñón
Carlos Tuñón is a director, producer and writer with extensive work in film, television and theatre. He has studied and worked mainly in Andalucía and Madrid.
Carlos Tuñon graduated in Film Direction from the Escuela Andaluza de Cinematografía in 2007. He is the writer, director and producer of several short films such as Crisálida, Amor, REM and La luz me despertó, which premiered and won several awards (European Film Market Berlin Festival in 2006, Certámen Jóven in the Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival in 2007) and has also been a Juror of the International Script and Shortfilm Competition of Utrera (2008-2011). He has taken several specialized courses in film direction, writing, and film production, and has performed these roles in several projects such as the documentary Descubriendo a Colón (Canal Sur, 2007) and in many short films for the production companies El Mandaito, Acción Alternativa, UNIVERSALMIX, The Art and Cross Factory, La Claqueta and La Zanfoña between 2005 and 2008. He is a producer for the movie The Extraordinary Tale, from Acheron Films (Best Foreign Film in the Atlanta Horror Festival 2013, 9 nominations for the Asecan Awards, selected for the London Spanish Film Festival and the Toulouse International Film Festival in 2013 and the Málaga Film Festival in 2014).
Carlos Tuñon studied Journalism at the University of Sevilla (2003-2008) and was the media relations director for EACINE (2007 – 2009) and a correspondent for EL TERRAT (2006 – 2010). He has also written several short stories, three of which have been awarded and published: El Caso Méndez (winner of the José Saramago National Competition in 2006), Mi Isla (Young Promise Award for the andalusian literature, México DF in 2007) and Isla Saíz (presented in the 2008 Feria del Libro de Sevilla).
In the theatre sector, Carlos has worked as production director and cultural manager for the production company TELÓN CORTO (Esperando al Señor S. Teatro Español de Madrid 2008, El Viaje Perdido MADFERIA 2009, Edgar Escritor de sombras 2010), as stage manager in Yo, Lázaro for EL AEDO Teatro and Universalmix Teatro (2009 – 2011), as production assistant and technician in Geografía de un soñador de caballos, written by Sam Shepard for David Amitín Teatro (2012) and he has done professional internship in theatre productions such as Mi piedra Rosetta written by José Ramón Fernández for Palmyra Teatro (2013), Maridos y Mujeres written by Woody Allen and directed by Álex Rigola for Teatro de la Abadía (2012 – 2013) and Los Mácbez written by Juan Cavestany and directed by Andrés Lima for CDN (2014).
Carlos Tuñon has also produced and directed seven plays: Vacas Gordas for Imagina Teatro (Best Andalusian Young Play 2007), El Aedo for El Aedo Teatro (Teatro Arenal in Madrid, 2010), El perro del teniente written by Josep Benet I Jornet for Producciones el Perro (Fuenlabrada Joven 2011 – 2012), Subterraneo written by Carlos Silveira for Producciones el Perro (2013), Audiencia written by Vaclav Havel (2013), La evitable ascension de Arturo Ui written by Bertolt Brecht (2013) and La cena del rey Baltasar written by Calderón de la Barca (Kubik Fabrik 2014). These last three stage productions were for [Los numeros imaginarios], a theatre research project he created in 2013 and with whom he currently prepares NO EXIT based on the play of the same name by Jean Paul Sartre, co-produced with Atolladeros.
He has studied stage direction with David Amitín (2009-2013) and with Marcelo Díaz (2011-2012), writing with Adolfo Simón (2009 – 2010) and acting with Carlos Silveira (2012 – 2013). He is currently finishing his BA in Stage Direction and Writing at the Royal School of Dramatic Arts in Madrid (2010 – 2014) and he is a founding partner of the theater research center LA MANADA, where he teaches Stage Direction and Performing Arts Theory and Analysis.
Sonia D. Roncero
Sonia D. Roncero has a wide experience in audiovisual production, having worked in films such as Unit 7 or ¿Pero Quién Mató a Bambi? “The Extraordinary Tale” is her first experience as production manager in a feature film production.
Héctor Pérez
Composer and music producer specializes in music for film and television. More than twenty years of professional experience in music business, he shows a great capacity to create feelings and atmosphere needed to the different audiovisual projects that he works in, contributing with his own style.
In 2005 founded a company of recording named “Studio Mundo Sinfónico” in Seville, Spain. There he focuses on his work as composer, musical producer, and engineer, working for many national and international production companies.
Chief lighting technician / Ignacio G. Romanillos
Electrician / Antonio Castaño
Key grip / Fernando Bizcocho
Grip / Ángel López
Camera operator / Fran Fernández-Pardo
First assistant camera / Edu López
Claper Loader / Gerardo García · Juan Molina
Data wrangler / Daniel García Martín-Mora
Script supervisor / Carlos Crespo Arnold
Art director / Mar García Mejías
Assistant art director / Sebas Iampietro
Concept design / Tannia León
Property master / Ana Medina
Props / Ángela Manfredi
Painters and set dressers / Isra Días · Macarena Márquez
Construction carpenter / Alfonso Menor Santos
Carpenter / Pepe Romero
Special effects supervisor / Rubén Hernández · Clara Cuadrado
Make-up & Hair Artist / Ana Domínguez
Assistant costume designers / Carlos Saponi · Matías Martini Ripoll · Rebeca Bermúdez
Associate producer / Carlos Crespo Arnold
Executive producers / José F. Ortuño · Laura Alvea
Co-executive producers /
Yael Hernández Oaknin
Antonio Collado González
Oscar Ramos Calero
Carmen Rosa Pérez Hernández
Facundo Pérez
Habacuc Rodríguez
Executive producer assistant / Marta Velasco, Gonzalo Bendala (ARALAN FILMS)
Line producer / Carlos Tuñón
Assistant production manager / Laura García
Production assistant / Marta Puya
Production Sound mixer / Carlos Pérez
Boom operator / Juan Egoscozabal
Legal services / Carlos Rosado Sibón – IBERIA Abogados
BMDA Asesores
Development executive / Marichu Sanz
Catering by / La Rossi
Assistant editor / Daniel García Martín-Mora
Visual effects artist / Fátima de los Santos
Visual effects consultant / Juan Ventura Pecellín
Color correction executive / Lara Sastre
Color correction / Juan Ventura Pecellín
Post production services by La Zanfoña Producciones
Post-production assistant / Ana M. García
Sound editor / José Tomé
Foley artists / Chris Smith · José Tomé · Maria Maksutova
Sound mixer / Jorge Marín
Sound Mix Facilities / Arte Sonora
Music recorded at Mundo Sinfónico Studios, Sevilla
Arranged by Héctor Pérez
Music supervisor / José F. Ortuño
Still photographer / Aleph Diz
Translation services by Gabriel Anastasiou
Press / JJ Montero
Titles by Carlos Crespo Arnold
Fran Fernández
Degree in Audiovisual Communication by the Seville University and a Diploma in Cinematography by the ECAM (School of Cinema and Audiovisual of the Community of Madrid). After twelve years working in the spanish audiovisual industry he has covered diverse fields work as fiction, documentary, advertising, music video, video art and entertainment.
In feature films he has participated in La montaña rusa (Emilio Martínez Lázaro, 2011), La banda en la isla de la magia (Chalo Crespo, 2008), the opening and ending images in Siempre hay tiempo (Ana Rosa Diego, 2009) and the fictionalized segments from documentaries as La Guerra Civil en Andalucía and Colón al descubierto (XL Productions, 2006 and 2007). He also has shot more than 30 short films by up to five awards for best picture.
In advertising highlights its work for clients such as Coca-Cola, Dove, Pond’s, Cajasol, Arroz Brillante, Sevilla F.C., Real Betis, Vodafone, HTC, LG, Heineken and PSOE and its extensive involvement in campaigns for the Junta de Andalucía such as Deporte de por vida, Andalucía somos todos or El Estatuto de Andalucía.
In documentary it’s outstanding his participation in Ignacio Sanchez Mejías, más allá del toreo (José F. Ortuño, 2008) and El mapa de Carlos (Pablo Coca, 2011).
He has also carried out the cinematography for music videos for artists as Antonio Orozco, India Martinez, SFDK, Tote King and Sociedad Alkohólika, and he has made the lighting design for events held at the European Film Festival in Seville.
José F. Ortuño
José F. Ortuño has written and/or directed documentaries such as como Ignacio Sánchez Mejías: Más allá del toreo or Alcalá Zamora: la Tercera España. He has also written and directed medium length films such as El legado de Munt for Universal, and features such as KiaN or Pleno al quince and as well as other projects. Most recently he has written and directed the film The Extraordinary Tale and the TV show 25, mucho que ver contigo.
As a playwright, he has written and directed over a hundred plays, which have been performed in Spain or at the Royal Court Theatre in London. His play Atrapado received the Miguel Romero Esteo Award from the Centro Andaluz de Teatro, as Andalucias best theatre play. In 2005, he won the I Jerry Goldsmith Award for Young European Composers for Palomita Mía and two years later was nominated again for El árbol seco.
Casting / Laura Alvea
Music by / Héctor Pérez
Sound design / José Tomé
Costume design / Esther Vaquero
Make up and hair design / Rafael Mora
Edited by / Carlos Crespo Arnold
Director of photography / Fran Fernández-Pardo
Produced by / Sonia D. Roncero & Carlos Tuñón
Written by / José F. Ortuño
Directed by / Laura Alvea & José F. Ortuño
THE EXTRAORDINARY TALE
OF THE TIMES TABLE
She / Aïda Ballmann
He / Ken Appledorn
Her mother / Mari Paz Sayago
His mother / Jane Arnold
Unit Production manager / Sonia D. Roncero
First Assistant director / Hugo Baena
Second assistant director / Javier Franco
Director of photography / Alejandro Espadero
Camera assistant / Cristina Cerezo
Electrician / Emilio Cabello Lepe
Second unit supervisor / Carlos Tuñón
Set dresser / Ángela Manfredi
