{"id":936,"date":"2015-03-10T12:10:51","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T12:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/?p=936"},"modified":"2015-03-16T11:35:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T11:35:26","slug":"on-the-7th-premis-gaudi-by-stefanie-allum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/2015\/03\/10\/on-the-7th-premis-gaudi-by-stefanie-allum\/","title":{"rendered":"On the 7th \u2018PREMIS GAUD\u00cd\u2019 by Stefanie Allum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Today,<\/em> Medi\u00e1tico <em>presents\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.northumbria.ac.uk\/study-at-northumbria\/our-students\/student-profiles\/a\/stefanie-allum\/\" target=\"_blank\">Stefanie Allum<\/a>&#8216;s report\u00a0of the\u00a0latest awards ceremony for the Catalan Film Academy\u2014the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.academiadelcinema.cat\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\">Premis Gaud\u00ed<\/a>. <em>Allum&#8217;s report on the Gaud\u00eds compares them with the Goyas,\u00a0the Spanish Film Academy award ceremony. The report is packed full with useful information on the last few years of Catalan and Spanish cinem<\/em>a.\u00a0<em>\u00a0Currently a PhD student in\u00a0the Department of Media and Communication Design at Northumbria University, Newcastle. Allum&#8217;s\u00a0PhD research uses Catalan cinema as a case study to further problematize the term \u2018national cinema\u2019 in relation to sub-state national cinemas. She\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/salluminium\" target=\"_blank\">tweets<\/a> about\u00a0Contemporary Catalan Cinema in English, Catalan and Spanish at <a class=\"ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/salluminium\">@<span class=\"u-linkComplex-target\">salluminium<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>On the Seventh \u2018Premis Gaud\u00ed\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northumbria.ac.uk\/study-at-northumbria\/our-students\/student-profiles\/a\/stefanie-allum\/\" target=\"_blank\">Stefanie Allum<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/ventura-pons-644x362.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1012\" src=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/ventura-pons-644x362-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"ventura-pons--644x362\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/ventura-pons-644x362-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/ventura-pons-644x362.jpg 644w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Veteran Catalan Director Ventura Pons, winner of a Premi Gaud\u00ed\u00a0d&#8217;Honor<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday 1<sup>st<\/sup> February 2015 I attended the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccma.cat\/tv3\/alacarta\/Premis-Gaudi-de-lAcademia-del-Cinema-Catala\/Gala-dels-VII-Premis-Gaudi-de-lAcademia-del-Cinema-Catala\/video\/5451591\/\">Gaud\u00ed awards<\/a> ceremony for the Catalan Film Academy at Sant Jordi Club, Montjuic, Barcelona, hosted by television personality \u00c0ngel Ll\u00e0cer (pictured above). The &#8216;Premis Gaud\u00ed&#8217;\u00a0are the Catalan equivalent of the Goyas, the Spanish film awards made by the \u2018Academia de las Artes y las ciencias cinematogr\u00e1ficas de Espa\u00f1a\u2019. Gaud\u00eds are awarded by the Catalan \u00a0\u2018Acad\u00e8mia del cinema Catal\u00e0\u2019 (ACC). They\u00a0previously existed\u00a0as the \u2018Premis Barcelona\u2019, and were awarded by the \u2018Col\u00b7legi de Directors de Cinema de Catalunya\u2019 between 2002 and 2008. When\u00a0the ACC (founded in 2008) assumed responsibility for the awards in\u00a02009, they \u00a0began to mirror the Academy Awards ceremonies in\u00a0Spain and elsewhere. Now,\u00a0like the\u00a0Spanish Goyas ceremony, which\u00a0\u00a0provides a platform for\u00a0satire\u00a0about\u00a0news items beyond the cinema, the Catalan gala\u00a0has been\u00a0characterised by\u00a0political and economic\u00a0commentary. In what follows, I reflect on\u00a0the most interesting aspects of this year&#8217;s ceremony, and what they suggest\u00a0about contemporary film culture in Catalonia and Spain.<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\">[i]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In her speech, Isona Passola i Vidal (president of the ACC) described 2014 as\u00a0a \u2018dark period\u2019 for the industry, with further cuts in government subsidies affecting funding opportunities for production and the (state-wide) 21 per cent \u2018IVA cultural\u2019 (VAT on cultural products) continuing to have a negative impact on audience figures. However, she highlighted that, despite difficulties, some great films were being made. Six days later at the Goyas, the president of the Spanish Academy, Enrique Gonz\u00e1lez Macho,\u00a0utilised\u00a0Passola&#8217;s\u00a0statement, inverting its negativity, noting that whereas for Catalan cinema 2014\u00a0had been\u00a0\u2018a difficult year in which some good films were made\u2019, for Spanish cinema it had been\u00a0\u2018a good year, despite the few problems that still exist\u2019. Indeed, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rtve.es\/alacarta\/videos\/premios-goya\/gala-premios-goya-2015-parte-1\/2986757\/\">Goyas ceremony<\/a> (on the 8th February) also opened with presenter Dani Rovira reeling off figures about the\u00a0gross domestic product generated by cinema and how much it had contributed to the treasury, summarising that 2014 was the year that the state stopped helping cinema, and cinema started helping the state.<\/p>\n<p>Even though criticism of the\u00a0Spanish VAT\u00a0system, and calls for it to be lowered, were a common theme at both galas, we may wonder how\u00a0the same year can be described as \u2018the best year ever\u2019 for Spanish cinema, and a \u2018dark period\u2019 for Catalan cinema, when the two cinemas are so closely linked. As actors Alfonso S\u00e1nchez and Alberto L\u00f3pez at the Goyas pointed out,\u00a0before presenting Edmond Roch and Toni Novella (both from Girona) with the Goya for best production design,\u00a0 \u2018when the Catalans get going, they do whatever they want, and that includes making Spanish cinema!\u2019 This difference in perception between the two ceremonies may just seem like a stereotypical example of the gap\u00a0between the Spanish and Catalan approaches to life, but it is also\u00a0true that smaller industries such as the Catalan one are much more vulnerable to\u00a0economic troubles than a larger industry like Spain&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0different perspectives at\u00a0the two ceremonies\u00a0could equally have to do with\u00a0the effects of the economic crisis: Catalan film production has consequently been reliant on \u2018co-productions\u2019 with Spain. Perhaps it is a reflection of a general fatigue of all things \u2018Catalan\u2019 after almost five years of a sustained effort\u00a0for independence (from the separatists) and sustained tolerance (from the nonplussed and unionists). 2015 also marks four years since the economic crisis really began to impact on\u00a0the film industry, and September 2015 will mark three years of battling \u2018el maldito IVA\u2019 (the damn VAT). However, both of these factors equally impact Spanish cinema. Perhaps it is simply disappointment at falling production and audience figures for Catalan film both of which, had been quite consistently on the rise (at least until 2011).<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0drop in production figures in Catalan cinema was much in evidence\u00a0at the gala. Only twenty-seven films populated the twenty-two different categories, and there were only ten films to fill\u00a0the seventeen categories devoted to feature-length fiction. The\u00a0animation category had\u00a0only two nominees, although this was an improvement on last year when the category was altogether empty. Passola harked back to the \u2018golden age\u2019 of 2010 when; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FaKVBHDBvds\"><em>Pa Negre<\/em><\/a> (Agust\u00ed Villaronga 2010) won a number of Goyas including \u2018Best Film\u2019 and became Spain\u2019s first Catalan-language entry for \u2018Best Foreign Film\u2019 at the Oscars, domestic audience figures were at their peak of 8.9 per cent and there was an all-time record of 95 exhibited Catalan feature length productions.<a href=\"#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\">[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Pan-negro.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1009\" src=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Pan-negro-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Pan negro\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Pan-negro-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Pan-negro.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Pa negre\u00a0<\/em>(Agust\u00ed Villaronga 2010) Spain&#8217;s first Catalan-language Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film<\/p>\n<p>In terms of exhibition, Passola pointed out that, domestic audiences for Catalan films in 2014 had dropped to 5 per cent, and she compared this to 44 per cent in neighbouring France. Although a stark contrast,\u00a0Passola\u00a0is\u00a0not making\u00a0a fair comparison: France consistently has the largest domestic audience in Europe, and it also produces a lot more films. It also has legislation to ensure its films reach domestic audiences. Spain is also a large producing country, but its domestic audience is smaller (only 15 per cent in 2011).<a href=\"#_edn3\" name=\"_ednref3\">[iii]<\/a>\u00a0The difference between 5 and 15 per cent\u00a0is much smaller, although it is difficult to measure the actual number of spectators in either market given the high levels of piracy in both Spain and Catalonia. Perhaps it would be fairer to compare Catalan cinema not to France or Spain, but to another small film-producing country such as Belgium, which in 2011 had domestic audience figures of 10 per cent \u00a0which is much closer to Catalan Cinema&#8217;s \u2018golden age\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>It was also evident at the gala that Catalan cinema&#8217;s\u00a0low audience figures influenced\u00a0the way the awards were staged. \u00a0\u00c0ngel Ll\u00e0cer&#8217;s lavish opening <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lNQNCNdmxQo\">performance<\/a>\u00a0was used to introduce\u00a0films with limited\u00a0spectators\u00a0to an audience (at the gala and watching on television) who had likely not seen them.\u00a0The performance was also an opportunity for a bit of locally inflected, political humour.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/10000.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1010\" src=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/10000-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"10000\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/10000-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/10000.jpg 353w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u00a0<em>10.000 km\u00a0<\/em>(Carlos Marques-Mar\u00e7et 2014)<\/p>\n<p>For instance,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=az3UfqzqjLY\"><em>10.000km<\/em><\/a> (Carlos Marques-Mar\u00e7et 2014: eight nominations including \u2018Non-Catalan Language Film\u2019) was described as \u2018the distance between <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Artur_Mas_i_Gavarr\u00f3\">Artur Mas<\/a> (Converg\u00e8ncia i Uni\u00f3 \/ \u2018Convergence and Union\u2019, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya and present at the ceremony) and <a href=\"http:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oriol_Junqueras\">Oriol Junqueras<\/a> (Esquerra Republicana Catalana \/ \u2018Catalan Republican Left\u2019, leader of the opposition)\u2019, who both support independence, but whose political differences are so numerous that it makes it difficult for them to work together on the only thing they have in common; a desire for independence from Spain.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Altra-frontera.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1011\" src=\"http:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Altra-frontera-193x300.jpg\" alt=\"Altra frontera\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Altra-frontera-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Altra-frontera.jpg 308w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cRJK_ffdyFc\"><em>L\u2019altra frontera<\/em> \/ \u2018The other border\u2019<\/a> (Andr\u00e9 Cruz Shiraiwa 2014: three nominations including \u2018Best Film\u2019) was described as the border with Andorra that the Pujol family crosses \u2018to buy their butter\u2019, referring to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/former-catalan-president-jordi-pujol-to-be-stripped-of-his-titles-after-admitting-to-more-than-30-years-of-tax-fraud-9636343.html\">corruption case<\/a> against former Catalan president , Jordi Pujol, and his sons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Uq8Cs3rdRbE\"><em>Born <\/em><\/a>(Claudio Zulian 2014: three nominations including \u2018Best Film\u2019),\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CK7OrYsMDyY\">Rastres de S\u00e0ndal<\/a>\u00a0\/ <\/em>\u2018Traces of sandalwood\u2019 (Maria Ripoll 2014: eight nominations including \u2018Best Film\u2019) [Editors note: This Mumbai\/Barcelona story with its lost sister\/Bollywood plot looks awesome] and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mrREyC2-gHM\"><em>Stella Cadente<\/em><\/a> \/ \u2018Falling Star\u2019 (Llu\u00eds Mi\u00f1arro 2014: thirteen nominations including \u2018Best Film\u2019), the other three Catalan nominees, were also included in this musical summary.<\/p>\n<p>Box office hits\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FFbNNudaA0Q\"><em>El Ni\u00f1o<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Daniel Monz\u00f3n 2014: thirteen nominations including \u2018Best Non-Catalan Language Film\u2019) and\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0ZUNR1zxRYE\">REC 4 Apocolipsis<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(Jaume Balguer\u00f3 2014: nine nominations including \u2018Best Non-Catalan Language Film\u2019) logically left out of this performance, are not in the Catalan language. If audience figures for Catalan films are low, audience for Catalan-language films are even lower. Although\u00a0audiences for\u00a0both were on\u00a0the rise throughout the last decade, they\u00a0have dropped in the last few years along with a general decline in\u00a0cinema attendance. So, the effects of the crisis (both directly and secondarily in the form of the rise in VAT) show that Catalan and Catalan-language films prosper in times of high disposable income, but suffer in times of economic hardship. This is by no means an unusual situation in European cinemas, but it has come about\u00a0just as money and effort invested in the Catalan industry infrastructure throughout the last decade was beginning to make a difference, making\u00a0the decline that much harder for those in the industry. A smaller film industry like\u00a0that of Catalonia is much more easily damaged\u00a0than an industry linked to a nation-state like Spain&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>Despite\u00a0a number of comments lamenting the stagnation of the industry in the last three or four years, Passola used her speech to look forward to future\u00a0higher audience and production figures generated by\u00a0funds raised from the \u2018tasa de conexi\u00f3n\u2019, a 25 cent tax that telephone operators will pay the Generalitat for every ADSL connection in Catalonia from\u00a0January 2015. She also introduced a new, as yet unnamed measure\u00a0likely to take the form of a membership scheme\u00a0guaranteeing\u00a0discounts and access to special events related to Catalan cinema, which will\u00a0increase domestic audience numbers by, \u2018giving spectators the cinema they want\u2019. Given that the most popular films are coproduced with Spain and in the Spanish language, this suggests that the future of Catalan cinema lies in this direction.\u00a0It also\u00a0reminds us of actor and member of the Spanish academy Jos\u00e9 Sacristan\u2019s much-applauded speech at the 2014 Gaud\u00eds, in which he stressed that Catalan and Spanish cinema must work together to succeed in times of economic difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>Following Passola\u2019s speech \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.venturapons.cat\/\">Ventura Pons<\/a>, the Catalan auteur, was awarded the Gaud\u00ed d\u2019Honor in homage to his career as a director that spans 5 decades and includes 25 feature films. He used his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccma.cat\/tv3\/alacarta\/Premis-Gaudi-de-lAcademia-del-Cinema-Catala\/El-discurs-en-vers-de-Ventura-Pons-a-la-gala-dels-Gaudi\/video\/5451472\/\">speech<\/a>, which he gave in verse, to criticise Jos\u00e9 Ignacio Wert, the Spanish minister for sport, education and culture, and ended by shouting \u2018visca el cinema catal\u00e0\u2019 (long live Catalan cinema), with Passola, to a mixed response from the audience. Actress Carme Sansa\u2019s wish to one day present the award for \u2018Best Film\u2019 (which went to <em>10.000km<\/em>) in a \u2018free country\u2019 got a similarly mixed audience reaction.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the Gaud\u00eds aren\u2019t the place for independent politics; Catalan and Spanish cinemas are so closely tied that individuals often work in both and in order for this to be successful some topics are, unsurprisingly, taboo. Yet at\u00a0the ceremony itself \u00a0there was some\u00a0tension in the air. Those who support the ACC\u2019s stance on independence clapped, and those who don\u2019t, didn\u2019t. I have always liked the openness with which people express political opinion in Spain and Catalonia, and the Gaud\u00eds were no exception. Although the ACC may appear to take a pro-independence stance, this does not mean that it wants to cease working with Spain. In an ideal world, independence would actually benefit the two cinemas. The structures and relationships for coproduction are already in place which means the two cinemas\u00a0could, in theory, benefit hugely from European and Ibero-american coproduction funds.<\/p>\n<p>Presenting the award for Best Lead Actor (which went to David Verdaguer in 10.000km) actress Bel\u00e9n Fabre took the opportunity to address some internal issues by reminding the audience that the anniversary of \u20184F\u2019 was only three days away. \u20184F\u2019 stands for the 4<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0of February 2006, when a member of the Guardia Urbana (the municipal police force of Barcelona) received a blow to the head from a plant pot thrown off a balcony during a raid on an occupied building.<a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\">[v]<\/a>\u00a0The true cause of the policeman\u2019s injury remains unknown, four innocent individuals remain in prison and another (Patricia Heras) has committed suicide. Every\u00a0year, those seeking justice for Heras and the other falsely-imprisoned youths ask for it to be reopened.<a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\">[vi]<\/a> Fabre&#8217;s\u00a0follow up statement that \u2018there are still a lot of unanswered questions that need answering\u2019, received a large applause.<\/p>\n<p>Looking towards international politics, Passola informed the audience that a seat had been left empty for Ukranian director <a href=\"http:\/\/variety.com\/t\/oleg-sentsov\/\">Oleg Sentsov<\/a>, who is currently imprisoned in Moscow for opposing the annexation of Crimea to Russia, and Passola stated that all European film academies would be doing the same.<\/p>\n<p>As with most academy awards ceremonies, only one category was devoted to documentary film, even though\u00a0this is one area of\u00a0filmmaking in Catalonia (Barcelona)\u00a0that is going from strength to strength. The Premis Gaud\u00ed can be forgiven the lack of attention to documentary filmmaking, as they are aimed at strengthening popular cinema. Furthermore, as students of Spanish cinema will know, documentary filmmaking in Barcelona has a long history, and therefore already has an established network of support and reputation for quality. The \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.idec.upf.edu\/master-en-documental-de-creacion\">Masters en Creaci\u00f3 Documental\u2019<\/a> at the Universitat Pompeu Fabre gains more and more international attention each year, and International documentary festival, \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.idec.upf.edu\/master-en-documental-de-creacion\">DocsBarcelona<\/a>\u2019 is now entering its eighth year. This year films connected to the masters in documentary creation had\u00a0a special spotlight at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iffr.com\/en\/\"> International Film Festival Rotterdam<\/a>, and the director and many of the production team on <em>10.000km <\/em>(winner of best non-catalan language film at the Gaud\u00eds) are among the alumni. In fact, documentary production in Catalonia doubled between 2007 and 2013, meaning that in 2013 it made up 41% of all production.<a href=\"#_edn5\" name=\"_ednref5\">[vii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s nominations for \u2018best documentary\u2019 have already won a number of international awards. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OlTQUcaXVXE\"><em>Bugarach<\/em><\/a> (Ventura Durall, Sergi Cameron and Salvador Sunyer 2014) is in the official selection at eleven different festivals as well as winning the FIPRESCI Prize at St Petersburg. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/72555231\">Els anys salvatge<\/a>s<\/em> \/ \u2018The Wild Years\u2019 (Ventura Durall 2014) is in three official selections, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z-FDUsuadgo\"><em>Gabor<\/em><\/a> (Sebasti\u00e1n Alfie 2014: winner) in the official selection of seventeen different film festivals, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=of1kPPAKqIU\"><em>I will be murdered<\/em><\/a> \/ \u2018Dem\u00e0 morir\u00e9\u2019 (Justin Webster 2014) won \u2018Best Documentary\u2019 at The International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, \u2018Best Director\u2019 at the Cartagena Film Festival, and an \u2018Honourable Mention\u2019 at DocsBarcelona.<\/p>\n<p>Given the increasing success of Catalan documentary, auteur and alternative cinema in festivals and awards around the world, perhaps it is worth drawing a distinction between industry and culture within Catalan cinema and summarise that although it may have been a difficult year for the industry, independent productions have fared better. Not only are independent films\u00a0usually cheaper to make, but they also better suited\u00a0to deal more with the current climate of social anxieties. \u00a0That said, both independent and industrial Catalan productions did well at the Goyas with Marques-Marcet winning \u2018best new director\u2019 for 10.000km, and <em>El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> winning best soundtrack, special effects, title track, and production design.<\/p>\n<p>Isabel Coixet was not present at either ceremony because she was opening the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4JVROD917PQ\">Berlinale<\/a> with\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4JVROD917PQ\">Nobody Wants the Night<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0the first Spanish (Catalan) filmmaker to do so. That the Catalan\u00a0ceremony highlighted\u00a0Coixet&#8217;s absence (whilst the Goyas celebrated her success)\u00a0is symptomatic of the Gaud\u00eds&#8217; overall\u00a0critical approach to the last year in Catalan cinema but also\u00a0understandable, given the recent\u00a0dip in production and audience figures. Politically, and even though the issue of independence is\u00a0\u00a0usually\u00a0\u00a0is kept out of cinema, frustration with the latter is also responsible for affecting the general mood of a previously confident Catalan cinema.<\/p>\n<p>Tellingly, at the Goyas, Catalan cinema was celebrated in a much more positive fashion. The point was made that in many cases, Spanish cinema <em>is<\/em> Catalan cinema. Furthermore, whereas the Spanish government is reluctant to recognise the plethora of regional and linguistic identities that contribute to the Spanish identity, Gonz\u00e1lez Macho and the Spanish Academy celebrated \u2018nuestro cine, plural\u2019, and Spanish cinema was described as a place for the reconciliation of identities and autonomies; Basque, Galician and Andalucian cinema all had their moment during the ceremony. Perhaps cineastes do know best when it comes to politics.<\/p>\n<p>Just like the Goyas, the Gaud\u00eds are an interesting watch for reasons other than the prize giving.\u00a0They\u00a0follow in the tradition of using the gala as a platform for the expression of political viewpoints, whether in criticism of funding cuts in central and local government, internal issues such as 4F, international issues such as Oleg Sentsov, and also as a platform to express viewpoints on larger issues such as Catalan independence. Furthermore, the Gaud\u00eds\u00a0can offer\u00a0insight into what is holding the industry together. That so many acceptance speeches involved\u00a0thanks to television\u00a0companies\u00a0highlights the fact that, as in other small European countries, cinema relies on television for survival once\u00a0public funding disappears. The\u00a0team of <em>Rastres de S\u00e0ndal<\/em>\u00a0which won\u00a0for \u2018Best Film\u2019 at the Gaud\u00eds spoke in detail of the support that they received from Televisi\u00f3 de Catalunya, Televisi\u00f3n Espa\u00f1ola, and Canal+ right from the beginning, and highlighted\u00a0how\u00a0it\u00a0had been imperative for the success of a\u00a0film that\u00a0received no public funding. Special thanks to television were also much in evidence\u00a0at the Goyas, and rightly so. Since 2010, all television companies that broadcast contemporary feature length films (less than seven years old), must invest 5 per cent of returns into cinematographic production. So, lack of public funding is to a certain extent rebalanced through investment from television.<a href=\"#_edn6\" name=\"_ednref6\">[viii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Catalan film industry has come such a long way over the last fifteen years and\u00a0it would be a shame for the \u2018dark period\u2019 of 2014 to overshadow the cultural successes elsewhere in film culture. Although it\u00a0has been a difficult year, and numbers are down, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the industry in the form of the connection tax and members club. One of Passola\u2019s closing comments that \u2018a country without culture does not exist\u2019, sounds almost like a warning. But\u00a0Catalan culture, and more specifically film culture, does not appear to be in danger. The industry is currently having some difficulties,\u00a0but to consider 2014 a\u00a0&#8216;dark period&#8217; \u00a0is to\u00a0take a short view (and ignore the\u00a0last ten to fifteen years of growth). The\u00a0long view suggests\u00a0that Catalan culture, and cinema, have seen much darker periods.<\/p>\n<p>Given that both the Goyas and the Gaud\u00eds are closely tied to internal politics, it is no wonder that perceptions and moods varied between ceremonies. In some ways Catalan and Spanish cinema are best understood as parts\u00a0of the same whole, but in many other ways they are better understood as separate entities. This year, as attempts to negotiate with Spain on independence drag on and are repeatedly frustrated, the general atmosphere of the Gaud\u00eds was low and somewhat self-critical. At the Goyas however, signs of long-awaited economic growth in the sector were, understandably, celebrated. This economic growth is state wide and therefore includes Catalan cinema, but it seems that this year, Gaud\u00ed and Goya were looking in different directions.<\/p>\n<p>NOTES<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[i]<\/a> For more detailed information on the nominees and winner, refer to the following pages:\u00a0Catalan Film Academy (In English, Catalan, Spanish and French): <a href=\"http:\/\/www.academiadelcinema.cat\/en\/\">http:\/\/www.academiadelcinema.cat\/en\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\">[ii]<\/a> Jos\u00e9 i Solsona, Carlos (2013) <em>Una d\u00e8cada de producci\u00f3 cinmatogr\u00e0fica a Catalunya (2002-2011), <\/em>Barcelona: UNICA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref3\" name=\"_edn3\">[iii]<\/a>\u00a0<em>Observatori Euopeu de l\u2019Audiovisual 2012<\/em>, except for data for Catalan film: <em>Estadistiques Cultural de Catalunya, Department de Cultura (Generalitat). <\/em>Cited in: Generalitat (2012) <em>Pla estrat\u00e8gic 2021: Cultura (cinema<\/em>), Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref4\" name=\"_edn4\">[iv]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\">[v]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The injury put him into a vegetative state and four individuals, who according to forensics could not have committed the crime because they were at street level, were arrested, severely beaten, and imprisoned. A fifth, Patricia Heras, was arrested in the waiting room of the hospital where the other suspects had been taken for the treatment of injuries sustained during the beatings. Her hairstyle and clothing lead the police to believe that she was involved and so they searched her phone. Misunderstanding a text message, they arrested her and she was imprisoned, even though she was in hospital because of an unrelated cycling accident. She committed suicide whilst on parole in 2011, and although the case is closed the true cause of the policeman\u2019s injury remains unknown, so every year, those seeking justice for Patricia and the other falsely-imprisoned youths ask for it to be reopened.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\">[vi]<\/a>\u00a0Two weeks previous to the Gala, the feature documentary that many thought would bring the reopening of the case, <a href=\"https:\/\/ciutatmorta.wordpress.com\/\"><em>Ciutat Morta<\/em><\/a> (Xapo Ortega and Xavier Artigas, 2013), was screened on the Catalan public television channel, TV3. The film explores the consequences of the incident through interviews with friends of Patricia, the other prisoners, Amnesty International, and the forensic scientist who stated that it was impossible for those accused to have committed the crime. Members of the Guardia Urbana and Barcelona City council declined to be interviewed and the film condemns their actions, relating them to wider issues of institutionalised racism, prejudice and violence, as well as the gentrification of various neighbourhoods in Barcelona. Furthermore, prior to its emission, TV3 received a court order dictating that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eldiario.es\/catalunya\/TV3-recortar-documental-Ciutat-Morta_0_346815620.html%20\">they must cut the scene which makes reference to the ex-chief information officer of the Guardia Urbana<\/a>, an act which could even serve to confirm the importance of this film in the eyes of its supporters. This film has the unusually high user-rating of 9.1 on filmin.es, suggesting that it strikes a nerve with many.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref5\" name=\"_edn5\">[vii]<\/a> Jos\u00e9 i Solsona, Carlos (2013) <em>Una d\u00e9cada de producci\u00f3n cinematogr\u00e1fica a Catalunya (2002-2011), <\/em>Barcelona: UNICA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref6\" name=\"_edn6\">[viii]<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.minetur.gob.es\/telecomunicaciones\/mediosaudiovisuales\/contenidos\/PromocionProduccion\/1.Informes\/Paginas\/financiacion.aspx\">http:\/\/www.minetur.gob.es\/telecomunicaciones\/mediosaudiovisuales\/contenidos\/PromocionProduccion\/1.Informes\/Paginas\/financiacion.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Today, Medi\u00e1tico presents\u00a0Stefanie Allum&#8216;s report\u00a0of the\u00a0latest awards ceremony for the Catalan Film Academy\u2014the Premis Gaud\u00ed. Allum&#8217;s report on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[133,134,132],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-award-ceremonies","tag-catalan-cinema","tag-spanish-cinema"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/files\/2015\/03\/Premis-gaudi.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p49QSj-f6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1032,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions\/1032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/mediatico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}