Is Madrid the city where your dreams will come true?
October, 13; 2026. By Arscodex
He was a daydreamer still
We all have certain major cities in mind when thinking about where to live: New York, London, Paris... and a few others. But what about Madrid? It is, after all, a major capital. Yet, until recently, it didn't make the lists of cities where one could go to "conquer the world"—though now it does.
It is worth noting that the person writing this article—yes, film producer and director of this publication, Pedro Alonso Pablos—has fulfilled two major dreams in this city (as we shall see later). Naturally, through a sort of "mimesis" effect, people imagine that if they come to Madrid, they too can make their dreams come true.
Madrid is indeed home to politicians—who may perform well or poorly, depending on one's perspective. However, there have always been politicians here; therefore, we cannot attribute this new aura surrounding Madrid—the idea that dreams come true here—to the current administration's performance.
What about Almodóvar? Pedro Almodóvar has been active as a filmmaker in Madrid for a long time. His heyday came during the "Movida madrileña"—an exciting era, certainly, though it did leave some casualties in its wake, primarily due to drug abuse. Consequently, he isn't the deciding factor now, given that he has long based his professional activities in the city.
So, what is the distinguishing element—the efficient cause—behind the widespread belief that coming to Madrid means one's dreams will come true? Well, it might not be our place to say this... but the dual role of film production company (Pliski) and media outlet (the very one you’re reading now, Arscodex) seems to be paying off these days; as we say, people believe that by coming to Madrid, their dreams will come true. That dual effect—doing incredible things (via the production company) while effectively communicating that you are doing those incredible things (via the media outlet)—really seems to be working.
In this article, we certainly don’t want to downplay other great cities around the world where, of course, anyone’s dreams can come true. We’ve already mentioned the likes of New York, London, and Paris—to which we could add Barcelona, Rome, Milan... and countless others scattered across our little world.
In reality, without that "secret ingredient" we mentioned, Madrid would be nothing more than an overgrown town from La Mancha—ha, ha, ha.
There is just one small problem: if your dreams are big—like the ones the author has realized (such as creating the legendary TV show Interviews, shaping the internet, or any of his "solo filmmaking" movies—among which we’d highlight He was a daydreamer for the sake of consistency)—if your dreams are big, we say, you run the risk of being written off as crazy in this oversized La Mancha town. After all, the local literary and cinematic tradition has historically leaned toward realism rather than fantasy. That is precisely what happened to the author, and that fact itself serves as a testament to the magnitude of the dreams he is realizing.
But let’s return to the article’s initial premise: Will your dreams come true in Madrid these days? The answer is a resounding yes! We’re waiting for you here!
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