Televisió de Catalunya
The Documentary on Catalonian Television
Over the last few years, the documentary has undergone spectacular growth in Catalonia. All indicators back this up: showings on television and in conventional cinemas, festivals of all kinds, university courses (a range of masters), workshops, specialist publications, presence in the media and in the markets. This new reality is well-known and appreciated both in the rest of Spain and in the main points where the genre is particularly strong, in Europe and North America, and this has been translated into a significant increase both in terms of showings and of production.
Catalonian Television has celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Born under the auspices of a society which wanted a channel of expression in the Catalonian language and in the hands of the most important public institutions, it has since then been characterised because it clearly shows its character as a public television station through the care of its programmes. It is in this way that, in the sphere of the documentary and of the approximation to reality, report programmes were created which have survived until the present, such as "30 minuts" (30 minutes), a look at the world from the Catalonian point of view, or "Entre Línies" (Between the lines) a programme of short reports on red-hot issues. The birth of the second channel, 33, in 1988 meant an opportunity to deploy to the maximum extent all the capacities of the channel in the sphere of the diffusion of culture in its varied forms of expression.
The documentary found its definitive and most genuine space and it constitutes a fundamental part of the programming of the channel even now. From weekly sections devoted to anthropological documentaries (Horitzons, Horizons) and to wildlife documentaries (Planeta Terra, Thalassa...), including also the documentary with historical (Segle XX, 20th Century, of Cubans towards Florida, nominated for the Oscar for the best documentary in 2004; the recently released Can Tunis, which deals intensely with the problems of being marginal in the peri-urban spaces of the large cities or A través del Carmel, a very personal approximation to the daily life of a district of Barcelona.
Heirs to a tradition which comes in large part from the documentary series screened on TV3 since the early 1990s, such as for example "Ciutadans" (Ciudadanos) or "Bellvitge Hospital", which as a result of its reliable and believable approach to the daily work and the ordinary landscapes of anonymous people were an unusual audience phenomenon as well as a permanent attention to the controversial history of Catalonia throughout the 20th century, expressed in the making of many, prizewinning documentaries aimed at recovering the historical memory such as Les fosses del silenci (The graves of silence) or Zona Roja (Red Zone), and having as a premise an open view of the world which has its expression in the purchase of documentaries in the markets of the greatest prestige around the world.
Televisió de Catalunya looks to the future with the intention of continuing to be true to its character as a public television station, Catalonian and providing a service through a permanent and thoughtful attention to reality, whether local or international by means of production, purchase and dissemination of the best documentaries.
Jordi Planas,
Documentaries
Televisió de Catalunya
Catalonian Television has celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Born under the auspices of a society which wanted a channel of expression in the Catalonian language and in the hands of the most important public institutions, it has since then been characterised because it clearly shows its character as a public television station through the care of its programmes. It is in this way that, in the sphere of the documentary and of the approximation to reality, report programmes were created which have survived until the present, such as "30 minuts" (30 minutes), a look at the world from the Catalonian point of view, or "Entre Línies" (Between the lines) a programme of short reports on red-hot issues. The birth of the second channel, 33, in 1988 meant an opportunity to deploy to the maximum extent all the capacities of the channel in the sphere of the diffusion of culture in its varied forms of expression.
The documentary found its definitive and most genuine space and it constitutes a fundamental part of the programming of the channel even now. From weekly sections devoted to anthropological documentaries (Horitzons, Horizons) and to wildlife documentaries (Planeta Terra, Thalassa...), including also the documentary with historical (Segle XX, 20th Century, of Cubans towards Florida, nominated for the Oscar for the best documentary in 2004; the recently released Can Tunis, which deals intensely with the problems of being marginal in the peri-urban spaces of the large cities or A través del Carmel, a very personal approximation to the daily life of a district of Barcelona.
Heirs to a tradition which comes in large part from the documentary series screened on TV3 since the early 1990s, such as for example "Ciutadans" (Ciudadanos) or "Bellvitge Hospital", which as a result of its reliable and believable approach to the daily work and the ordinary landscapes of anonymous people were an unusual audience phenomenon as well as a permanent attention to the controversial history of Catalonia throughout the 20th century, expressed in the making of many, prizewinning documentaries aimed at recovering the historical memory such as Les fosses del silenci (The graves of silence) or Zona Roja (Red Zone), and having as a premise an open view of the world which has its expression in the purchase of documentaries in the markets of the greatest prestige around the world.
Televisió de Catalunya looks to the future with the intention of continuing to be true to its character as a public television station, Catalonian and providing a service through a permanent and thoughtful attention to reality, whether local or international by means of production, purchase and dissemination of the best documentaries.
Jordi Planas,
Documentaries
Televisió de Catalunya
WHO AM I TALKING TO?
M. Lluna Antúnez / 53´/ 2008 / Spain / Betacam SP
M. Lluna Antúnez / 53´/ 2008 / Spain / Betacam SP
"My father has schizophrenia. I don't know how to explain to you what schizophrenia is. The only thing that I dare do is to give you a look at our life so as to make schizophrenia a little more human. And I don't know whether it is right or not to bare myself in full view, and
for my family to bare themselves. I don't know if what I am doing is right. I think it is worth it. This is the starting point, the excuse, to show you my family. And my family has not only a father with schizophrenia. My parents were part of the hippie movement in the 1970s, living in a commune, experimenting with drugs and developing themselves creatively with such emblematic groups as La Fura dels Baus. And we, my siblings and I, have absorbed all this. But we have also grown up with a divorce, with an alcoholic father with galloping schizophrenia and the visits to the psychiatrist. At bottom, heads or tails of the same coin. Now that everything is calmer, I have tried to fill up the silences that there used to be between us and portray us with the most absolute sincerity".
M. Lluna Antúnez, director of the documentary.
for my family to bare themselves. I don't know if what I am doing is right. I think it is worth it. This is the starting point, the excuse, to show you my family. And my family has not only a father with schizophrenia. My parents were part of the hippie movement in the 1970s, living in a commune, experimenting with drugs and developing themselves creatively with such emblematic groups as La Fura dels Baus. And we, my siblings and I, have absorbed all this. But we have also grown up with a divorce, with an alcoholic father with galloping schizophrenia and the visits to the psychiatrist. At bottom, heads or tails of the same coin. Now that everything is calmer, I have tried to fill up the silences that there used to be between us and portray us with the most absolute sincerity".
M. Lluna Antúnez, director of the documentary.
DIRECTION: M. Lluna Antúnez - PRODUCTION: TV3
THE GRANDFATHER WITH THE CAMERA
Grandfather Jaime is 81 years old and two years ago he bought himself a small digital video camera. He has discovered that he can explain things with it, such as for instance his life to his granddaughter. The Grandfather with the camera is a family portrait which starts from the passion of the Grandfather for filming everything that he has in front of him, from the fascination that he feels with this new language. But when he fi lms, of course, he has some technical problems.
Grandfather Jaime is 81 years old and two years ago he bought himself a small digital video camera. He has discovered that he can explain things with it, such as for instance his life to his granddaughter. The Grandfather with the camera is a family portrait which starts from the passion of the Grandfather for filming everything that he has in front of him, from the fascination that he feels with this new language. But when he fi lms, of course, he has some technical problems.
DIRECTION: Neus Ballús - PRODUCTION: TV3
SEPTEMBERS
Carles Bosch / 89´/ 2007 / Spain / Betacam SP
Every September, the Soto del Real Prison in Madrid holds the Song Festival. The participants are inmates who have come from different prisons and they are the main characters of the film. The festival is only the start, and from here the four men and four women go back to their prison routine and let us enter their lives and into the privacy of their loving relationships. Love (or its absence) serves as a common language so that the audience can understand the world of prison from a point of view that seems close to all of us. In the course of a year - that is to say from September to September and between festival and festival - the film portrays their love stories, how they develop or how they disintegrate.
Carles Bosch / 89´/ 2007 / Spain / Betacam SP
Every September, the Soto del Real Prison in Madrid holds the Song Festival. The participants are inmates who have come from different prisons and they are the main characters of the film. The festival is only the start, and from here the four men and four women go back to their prison routine and let us enter their lives and into the privacy of their loving relationships. Love (or its absence) serves as a common language so that the audience can understand the world of prison from a point of view that seems close to all of us. In the course of a year - that is to say from September to September and between festival and festival - the film portrays their love stories, how they develop or how they disintegrate.
DIRECTION: Carles Bosch - SCRIPT: Carles Bosch - PRODUCTION: Danielle Schleif, Marta Figueras, Joan Salvat, Muntsa Tarrés - CINEMATOGRAPHY: David Fernández Miralles, Walter Ojeda - EDITING: Ernest Blasi