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Travelling around Gandules ’14

July 2nd, 2014 No Comments

From one end to another, from east to west, sailing the seas and oceans, breezing through airports, packing and (un)packing suitcases, talking other languages – or at least trying to, with the Andalusian and amusing touch of Spaniards in London, by Javier Moreno. Alone, or in company. Feeling at home far away, or terribly nostalgic. In this new edition of Gandules’14-Gas Natural Fenosa we will be travelling a great deal, without spending a euro and without suffering jet lag. We will travel by land, sea and air based on already-recorded images and the private views of the directors of over 20 finalist short films. A few days before the online voting deadline, we’ve decided to approach them and find out a few more things.

Frame from “Tu y Berlin” by Anna Mitjà

First stop: Berlin. We will be visiting the German capital twice, first of all with Gabriel by Alice Cugusi, where we witness the interior monologue of a writer in crisis. Cold and closed, it is not an easy city to adapt to, and even less so when there is a yearning. A long-distance love, like that of Anna Mitjà, director of  Tu i Berlin, (another) thought-provoking portrait of the city and of that love that arrives precisely when different paths must be taken. Travelling is also this: taking diversions, leaving behind unfinished stories.

“Every time I take a flight I feel the urge to get my camera and let myself be carried away by a new story.” These are the words of Helena Bonastre, responsible for El viatge, which takes us from Barcelona to Maastricht in little more than 13 minutes. Objective: to find work. The same as so many other people! Today and in the past. Since time immemorial there have been people saying goodbye, farewell, Adéus (title of the short film by Antón Varela and María José Pérez), see you soon, until I don’t know when, hugging each other with a lump in their throat. “The idea is born from the perception of seeing how close families and friends find themselves forced to pack their bags and leave.” This is Galicia, but it could easily be Malaga. Everything is like in Lugares comunes, the short film by Dela Márquez and Pablo Díaz, “a small tribute to all those emigrants of yesterday and today”. In this case, inspired by the story of a nurse from Malaga who has been living in Düsseldorf (Germany) for the last two years. A goodbye like that of the grandfather of the protagonist of Toledo, Ohio, who left to “do the Americas” in the 1940s, and who knows if he ever came back, an exercise of combing through the past to find one’s origins, one’s roots. Like the search around Patagonia for the father of Diana Toucedo in Imágenes secretas. “My knowledge of my father had been based for years on mere ideals [...]. Eventually I wanted to get closer to him than I had ever been capable.” And, without leaving Argentina, Viceversa, by Mexican Atzin Ortiz, narrates a return home, “a fictional representation of my own departure”. Leaving Buenos Aires at the end of seven years with the long etcetera that accompanies a goodbye.

Frame from “Aller et Retour” by Nuria Monjo

We travel ever lighter in terms of luggage, we have become post-modern nomads capable “of learning to live with a new family, other customs and another language”, says Núria Monjo, creator of Aller et retour. After her Erasmus stay in Tournai (Belgium), it was her turn to say goodbye and store away the memories. Only those that there was room for, of course. As in Udlandet, by Aina Pociello, another Erasmus in images; in this case, a year of experiences in Copenhagen. “Travelling means opening and closing cycles, starting an adventure, learning a new language or even changing your name”, such as Polish Míjau (Michael in Germany, Miguel in Spain), by Olaia Sendón: “I have not chosen a journey, nor a destination, the only thing that I chose was a person who took us from one country to another without us moving.” Michael has lived in four different countries during his life.

Some people here, some people elsewhere. The Barcelona that we know is also full of stories. Las tardes (The Afternoons) of Teresa, the Ecuadorian protagonist of the short film by Alba Molas, is an everyday example of it: a woman who tries to keep going by working as a cleaning lady and caring for the child of a family. The Primers dies (First Days) of Pakistani Ahmad (a short film by incoming new pupils at the Institut Milà i Fontanals) is a reflection on the experiences of recent arrivals in Barcelona. In their own voices, and based on real events. A lone journey that shows what the discovery of a new city is like. Pakistan is also the country of origin of the protagonist of Ashgbar, diario ambulante, by Violeta Blasco, a documentary portrait about a group of Pakistanis selling souvenirs in the Parc Güell: “I wanted to talk about that forgotten face of the city of Barcelona, that under a presumed cosmopolitanism hides an evident marginality.” And margins, and social changes, are also the subject of Encajados, by Albert Bougleux, diverse portraits by some of the neighbours of the neighbourhood of La Ribera, in Montcada i Reixac, a working-class neighbourhood marked by a heterogeneous and conflictive migratory identity. Apart from this, African immigration acquires a very important role in 9 dies, by Imma Gandia and David Castro, “a documentary portrait that establishes a comparison between the totalitarianism that is described by Hanna Arendt in Los orígenes del totalitarismo and determined social behaviours, seen today, towards immigration from countries in the South”. Based on conversations with Josufa No, which caused a major impact on the two directors, this short documentary film shows the rawest, most incomprehensible and difficult marginalisation. The suffering of many recent arrivals and the day-to-day of an immigration that is far from pleasant.

And thus our journey ends, a giant journey. When somebody says “I’m away from home” there are many things, many stories, remaining to be told. End of journey.

Remember that you still have time until 6 July to cast your votes for the nine finalist short films of this year’s Gandules.

Gandules Gas Natural Fenosa Competition now down to its finalists

June 6th, 2014 No Comments

When August comes around, the people of Barcelona know they have a date with the CCCB. During 11 editions over as many years, Gandules has offered a very varied programme of films al fresco. This year, to coincide with 20 years of the CCCB, Gandules has been opened up to the public in an international competition whose theme is “Away from Home” – in other words, emigration.

Over 50 short films have been entered for the competition from different countries, especially from Spain (Catalonia, Madrid, Basque Country, Andalusia, Valencian Community and Galicia), but also from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Of all of these films, the following twenty have been selected:

  • 9 dies, Imma Gandia and David Castro (Tarragona, Spain), 2014, 13 min 4 sec
  • Adeus, Antón Varela and Maria José Pérez (A Coruña, Spain), 2012, 4 min 25 sec
  • Aller et retour, Núria Monjo Pastor (Valencia, Spain), 2012, 2 min 13 sec
  • Asghar, diario ambulante, Violeta Blasco Caño (Barcelona, Spain), 2013, 15 min
  • Becas Azkuna, Araceli Sánchez Perna (Bilbao, Spain), 2013, 2 min 17 sec
  • El Guatón, Kiko Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 2012, 4 min
  • El viatge, Helena Bonastre (Barcelona, Spain), 2014, 14 min 3 sec
  • Encajados, Alberto Bougleux (Barcelona, Spain/Italy), 2013, 15 min
  • Gabriel, Alice Cugusi (Italy/France), 2011, 9 min 58 sec
  • Imágenes secretas, Diana Toucedo Crespo (Barcelona, Spain), 2013, 15 min
  • Las tardes, Alba Molas Closas (Barcelona, Spain), 2014, 10 min
  • Lugares comunes, Delia Márquez Sánchez and Pablo Díaz Morilla (Malaga, Spain), 2014, 3 min 21 sec
  • Míjau, Olaia Sendón (A Coruña, Spain), 2014, 7 min 56 sec
  • Primers dies, Incoming new students at the Institut Milà i Fontanals (Barcelona, Spain; Pakistani, Bengali and Filipino pupils), 2013, 12 min 06 sec
  • Spaniards in London, Javier Moreno Caballero (Spain/United Kingdom), 2013, 9 min 15 sec
  • Toledo, Ohio, Maria Solé and Melissa Suárez del Real (Spain/Mexico/France), 2014, 4 min 21 sec
  • Tu i Berlin, Anna Mitjà Comas (Girona, Spain), 2013, 14 min
  • Udlandet, Aina Pociello Mas (Barcelona, Spain), 2014, 3 min 33 sec
  • Viceversa, Atzin Ortiz González (Mexico/Argentina), 2013, 6 min
  • Voluntario, Javier Marco (Madrid, Spain), 2014, 3 min 52 sec

These short films are highly varied in terms of genre: documentary, fiction, animation, experimental and even video art. The majority portray dramatic situations and injustices, but there are also some that treat the topic with humour. Two main themes can be singled out: stories about African or Latin American immigrants in our country, and stories about people from our country who have had to leave, forced by the crisis. As an anecdote, it is interesting to highlight the large number of short films explaining this experience from Berlin, as well as the fact that the majority are works produced by women.

From now on, it will be the audience’s job to vote for their favourites, which can be seen shortly on the website of the CCCB, up until xx July. The nine shorts that obtain the most votes will be screened before each Gandules film and, in addition, will obtain a three-month subscription to Filmin. The winning short film, to be decided by a jury of professionals linked to the audiovisual and cultural world, will win the Gas Natural Fenosa Prize which has a value of 500 euros. In addition, the 20 selected films will also each receive a Friends of the CCCB card.

Vote for the nine shorts that we will be screening at each session of Gandules’14 Gas Natural Fenosa on this link. You can vote up until 6 July at midnight.

Al Fresco Programme

Gandules Gas Natural Fenosa is an audiovisual season that runs during each month of August in the Pati de les Dones of the CCCB. Since 2003, the programme has been linked to the CCCB’s activities and has been scheduled by different programmers, who each year have proposed a selection of eclectic films. For example, the 2003 series was devoted to trash culture, coinciding with an exhibition on the same theme; that of 2005 was devoted to humour; in 2006 the series was related with NOW. Meetings in the Present Continuous; 2008 explored interculturality, while for 2009 films were screened about music in film, and in 2012, experts from the world of cinema, such as Àngel Quintana, Núria Vidal, Carlos Losilla and Jordi Costa chose some of the best films that were acclaimed by critics but had little success with the commercial circuits.

Gandules Gas Natural Fenosa will be held from 5 to 21 August and the subjects of the main films, as with the short films, are stories that talk about emigrants in current times and that tell us about the difficult and unexpected paths they have to travel in order to reach a place where they trust they will find what their country of origin could not provide: a job, freedom, and opportunities for a better life. Among other films, there will be two premières: I am from Chile, by Gonzalo Díez (Chile, 2013), and Il·legal, by Olivier Masset-Depasse (Belgium, Luxembourg, France, 2010), along with titles such as The Yellow Sea, by Na Hong-jin (South Korea, 2010), Al otro lado, by Fatih Akin (Germany, Turkey, 2007) and La piragua, by Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Touré (Senegal, France, Germany, 2012).

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