In ‘The Royal Republic’ the Spanish/Dutch filmmaker Carmen Cobos is allowed to film an exclusive group of musicians within the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. They never receive attention, but would be badly missed if not present: they are the timpani- and percussion section. It is a pleasure to get to know these five men and discover the love for their profession, the care for their instruments and the appreciation of their mutual connection.
She was born in Andalusia and, in the nineties she worked as a documentary filmmaker for the BBC and other British production companies. In 1997 she moved to the Netherlands, where she performed several executive production duties for Ryninks Films for several years, before founding her own production company, Cobos Films. In 2007 she began to develop fiction projects, without abandoning her regular work as producer of documentary films. In 2010 she chaired the jury for Seminci’s Time of History section. Four years later she presented in this same section her own documentary ‘Imperfect Harmony’ which was followed in 2015 by ‘Nelsons Nº 5’, also screened in Valladolid’s documentary slot. In 2016 she returned to the Valladolid Festival with ‘Daniele Gatti – Overture to a Conductor’ and in 2019 she screened her documentary ‘Samen’ in Valladolid, in addition to being again a member of the Time of History jury.