Miguel Machetti's feature project "Copy" ("El participio del verbo oír"), now in the final stages of development, has been selected for the ninth edition of Madrid film school ECAM's Incubator and presented in the ECAM Forum's 2026 Films to Come strand.

Ángeles L. Guerrero and Tina V. Mollá produce through Gelatina Películas, a company they founded in 2025. The story follows Ramón, a film assistant reeling from a painful breakup, who starts working with Camille de Valois, a legendary French actress returning to cinema after two decades away following an accusation of murder.

"One of the most important themes to explore throughout the film was always the extraordinary within the absolute normality of everyday life," Machetti told Variety. "Everyone has perhaps experienced a painful breakup, but what would it be like to face one alongside a living legend and potential serial killer?"

While everyone around Ramón obsesses over whether Camille actually committed the crime, Ramón grows far more consumed by the attention she gives him. "The fact that the most famous person in the world sees him, recognises him and, in many cases, depends on him, makes everything else fade into the background," Machetti said.

That dependency drew Gelatina to the project. The young company sees in "Copy" an unconventional first feature and a story they hope will travel beyond its film-industry setting.

"You do not have to work for a major film star to recognise yourself in a toxic relationship from which you feel unable to escape," the producers said. "Beneath its specific setting, 'Copy' speaks to something far more universal: the power dynamics, dependencies and contradictions that can shape our relationships with others and with ourselves."

Those power imbalances extend to the film set itself. Machetti drew on years working in assistant direction, describing the industry as "an extremely hierarchical environment."

International co-production is now a priority, according to Gelatina, with the producers looking particularly toward France and Belgium. They envision Camille played by an established French or Italian actress opposite a largely unknown actor as Ramón.

"This echoes the central dynamic of the film itself: a young outsider suddenly sharing the screen with an established star," they said. "The casting becomes an extension of the story, allowing fiction and reality to subtly mirror one another."

Even the title crystallizes the hierarchy. "Copy" is Ramón's habitual radio response on set. "It is perhaps the word he says most often throughout the day," Machetti said, "through a device that seems like an extension of his own body, and through which he only receives orders that he has to carry out."

The ECAM Incubator has an established track record. Its alumni include Jaione Camborda ("The Rye Horn"), Estibaliz Urresola ("20,000 Species of Bees") and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa ("Lullaby," "Sundays"). With development closing and French and Belgian partners in its sights, "Copy" now faces the task of turning that pedigree into a finished debut.