xcèntric presents del Éxtasis al...

DEL ÉXTASISAL ARREBATO 50 Years of the other Spanish Cinema

Produced by CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona(Contemporary Cultural Centre of Barcelona)SEACEX Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior(State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad)with the support of ICIC/Filmoteca de Catalunya

Xcèntric presents

DEL ÉXTASISAL ARREBATO50 YEARS OF THE OTHERSPANISH CINEMA

FILM PROGRAMME CURATOR / Antoni Pinent

DVD CURATORS / Andrés Hispano and Antoni Pinent

COORDINATOR / Gloria Vilches

DIRECTOR / Carolina López

PRODUCTION / Audiovisual Department CCCB - Ángela Martínez, director

DVD PRODUCTION / Cameo, CCCB and SEACEX

A PRODUCTION BY

CCCB - Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

Contemporary Culture Centre of Barcelona

SEACEX - Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior

State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad

with the support of ICIC/Filmoteca de Catalunya

Centre de Cultura Contemporània de BarcelonaDpt. Audiovisuals i Multimèdia Montalegre, 5 / 08001 Barcelona + 34 933064100 ext. 139 [email protected] www.cccb.org

Xcèntric, the CCCB’s Cinema

Xcèntric was created in 2001 to showcase less conventional cinema (experimental, avant-garde, art films and

creative documentary). With 300 original programmes over the years, Xcèntric has presented the work of

outstanding directors and young talent.

As well as organizing regular screenings in Barcelona, Xcèntric carries out other activities relating to the cinema

it promotes. Some of the projects it has created include the Xcèntric Archives, digital archives for free public

consultation of experimental and independent cinema (since 2006); the exhibition That’s Not Entertainment:

Cinema Begets Cinema (2006); the book Xcèntric: 45 films against the grain (2006); the travelling film

programme (in Spain), Film Visits Art: Journeys to Creative Processes (2008) and the Xcèntric Classroom

(since 2008), a space for studying experimental and independent cinema. These activities prove Xcèntric an

ideal vehicle for undertaking the project DEL ÉXTASIS AL ARREBATO (FROM ECSTASY TO

OUTBURST) 50 Years of the other Spanish Cinema.

DEL ÉXTASIS AL ARREBATO. 50 Years of the other Spanish Cinema - 2


Ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren, José Antonio Sistiaga, 1968-70

The project

DEL ÉXTASIS AL ARREBATO (FROM ECSTASY TO OUTBURST) 50 Years of the other Spanish Cinema

is our first international project. Our wish is to present Spain’s experimental cinema since the 1950s beyond our

borders, by showing a film programme on the large screen and publishing a catalogue in DVD format. This is a joint

production between the CCCB and SEACEX (State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad), with the

collaboration of Cameo DVD publishers and distributors (www.cameo.es) and the support of Filmoteca de Catalunya.

Despite its interest, Spanish experimental cinema is widely unknown both in our country and beyond our borders

and has not been properly reviewed since the early 1980s. This is why we consider our initiative so necessary.

By bringing to light works that do not generally circulate and which have had to be rescued from the files of film

libraries and even the homes of the filmmakers themselves, our initiative provides a source of knowledge for the

uninitiated and encourages rigorous research on these unknown, fascinating works of the history of Spanish cinema.

We have already undertaken the exhaustive documentation and classification of more than 1000 titles, from

which 44 works have been selected by two outstanding specialists in the subject, Antoni Pinent and Andrés

Hispano.

In order to guarantee the best possible technical quality, we have worked on the restoration, new film printing

and digital transfer of the selected works.


Project format and calendar

The film programme includes 44 titles by different authors (2 feature films and 41 short films) and is divided into

6 sessions of approximately 70 minutes each. The films will be shown on film (35 mm) or video support, depen-

ding on the availability, condition and the characteristics of each work. The works on video can be delivered on

DigiBeta (PAL/NTSC), Betacam SP (PAL /NTSC) or DVD (PAL /NTSC).

The programme will be accompanied by a special edition catalogue of two DVDs with their corresponding

booklet, which will contain a selection of works, texts by specialists and additional information on the films and

authors included (in Spanish and English). CAMEO will distribute it internationally to centres where the film

programme will be screened.

Most of the films have no dialogues. For those in Spanish, Catalan or other languages, we offer copies (in either

film or video format) with English subtitles.

The film programme will be available from September 2009 until September 2012.



Exp. 1 y II. Joaquim Puigvert, 1958-59

Photomatons, Eugeni Bonet, 1976

Travelling, Lluis Rivera, 1972

Film programme contents

The film programme is designed to broadly cover the most significant works in the little-known history of

experimental cinema in Spain. The series consists of a retrospective of Spanish experimental cinema from the

late 1950s (José Val del Omar, Josep Mestres and Eugenio Granell) to the current production of young

generations (David Domingo, Oriol Sánchez and Laida Lertxundi), along with the work of classics such as Carles

Santos, Javier Aguirre, Eugeni Bonet, José Antonio Sistiaga or Iván Zulueta. The collection is divided according

to thematic sections or sessions that nurture dialogue between the classics and more recent works.


Fuego en Castilla, José Val del Omar, 1959. De purificatione automobilis, Gabriel Blanco, 1974. Souvenir, Silvia Gracia and José Luis Guerin, 1985.


Session 1. DOCUMENTS / ITINERARIES

The inaugural session of this film pack opens with

a piece by José Val del Omar, a visionary, inventive

film director and one of the most relevant figures to

emerge in the Spanish film industry. Fuego en Cas-

tilla forms part of his unfinished “Tríptico elemental

de España”. Other filmmakers included in this session

are the architect Gabriel Blanco, better known as an

animator but represented here by a documentary

showing a typical Sunday for a Spanish citizen in

an outlying urban area; the multidisciplinary artists

Benet Rossell and Antoni Miralda, with a look at mili-

tary iconography; and José Luis Guerin, who, after

debuting with the full-length film, Los motivos de

Berta (1983), created this short with certain reminis-

cences of the genre known as essay film. The session

closes with a documentary by Virginia García del Pino

on the job identity of people exercising professions

having to do with death, dirt or sex.

Fuego en Castilla, José Val del Omar, 1958-59.

De purificatione automobilis, Gabriel Blanco, 1974.

Miserere, Antoni Miralda and Benet Rossell, 1979.

Souvenir, Silvia Gracia and José Luis Guerin, 1985.

Lo que tú dices que soy, Virginia García del Pino, 2007.

Session 2. APPROPRIATIONS / GREAT SUPER 8

This session presents a series of pieces done in Super

8, a format created in 1965 but still in use today, and

other films belonging to the subgenre of found footage

film. Some of the works are both found footage and

done on Super 8, such as Eugènia Balcells’ For/

Against and David Domingo’s Súper 8. In this pro-

gram, a dialogue is established between filmmakers

of different generations: those who participated in

the avant-garde endeavor in the field of experimental

film, based in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia during

the 70s (headed by Eugeni Bonet, Juan Bufill, Manuel

Huerga and Eugènia Balcells) and the latest genera-

tion, active from the late 90s to the present.

For / Against, Eugènia Balcells, 1983.

Minnesota 1943, Toni Serra, 1995.

Alice in Hollywoodland, Jesús Pérez-Miranda, 2006.

Súper 8, David Domingo, 1997.

Bloodfilm, Marcel Pey, 1975.

Roulette Wheel, Luis Cerveró, 2005.

Signaturas (síntesis), Juan Bufill, 2008.

I Love You Because, Lope Serrano Sol, 2007.

22arroba, Maximiliano Viale, 2008.

Photomatons, Eugeni Bonet, 1976.

A escala del hombre, David Reznak, 1991.

Copy Scream, Oriol Sánchez, 2005.

Brutal Ardour, Manuel Huerga, 1979.

Minnesota 1943, Toni Serra, 1995. Súper 8, David Domingo, 1999. Roulette Wheel, Luis Cerveró, 2005.


Session 3. ANIMATED EXPERIMENTS: RHYTHM,

LIGHT AND COLOUR

This third collective session covers very different pe-

riods of the history of cinema in Spain, though all the

films share the common denominator of experimen-

tation in the field of animation, but ranging widely

from pure abstraction to narration. The techniques

and results are likewise distinct: classical studies on

color-music correspondences (Aguirre, Mestres, Si-

rera), cameraless cinema (Puigvert, Artigas, Granell),

stop motion (Marimón, Pié Barba), the drawn line as

a sketch or rough draft (Amat, Oñederra, Etcheverry),

cut-out collage animation (Herguera) and sand on

glass animation (Vicario).

Forma, color y ritmo, Josep Mestres, 1956.

Ballet Burlón, Fermí Marimón, 1959.

Exp. 1 / II, Joaquim Puigvert, 1958-59.

Pregunta por mí, Begoña Vicario, 1996.

Pintura 63, Ton Sirera, 1963.

Hezurbeltzak, una fosa común, Izebene Oñederra, 2007.

Ritmes cromàtics, Jordi Artigas, 1978.

Spain loves you, Isabel Herguera, 1988.

Espectro siete, Javier Aguirre, 1970.

Lluvia, Eugenio Granell, 1961.

La 72.024 mil·lèssima part d’un any,

Marcel Pié Barba, 2008.

Danse noire, Frederic Amat, 2006.

Monos, Juan Pablo Etcheverry, 1997.

Session 4. PAINTING – MOVEMENT

...ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren..., a series of

meaningless words, is the title of the first full-length

film in the history of Spanish cinema –and the only

one to date– painted entirely in the cameraless ani-

mation technique. José Antonio Sistiaga uses 35mm

celluloid as a blank –or transparent, to be more preci-

se– canvas, directly applying paint onto the film em-

ploying different techniques. Created over the course

of 17 months, lacking figurative elements and sound

accompaniment, the result is a piece impossible to

describe in words, designed to be viewed in projected

format. In sum, a nonpareil pleasure for the eyes.

…ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren…,

José Antonio Sistiaga, 1968-70.

Signaturas (síntesis), Juan Bufill, 2008. I Love You Because, Lope Serrano Sol, 2007. 22arroba, Maximiliano Viale, 2008.


Session 5. INVESTIGATION / METACINEMA

The last of the collective sessions is designed to reflect

the essence of cinema in its different facets, from

reflection on the film media itself or metafilm essay

(Lertxundi, León Siminiani, Rivera, de Pedro) to the

blank screen (Casas Brullet), as well as contact with

other art disciplines such as dance (Marimón and Ra-

mos), performance (Santos), photography (Lacuesta /

Humberto Rivas, Cosmen) and poetry (Padrós). This

session contains a set of endeavors representing the

different branches of which the great tree of cinema is

comprised.

Blanc Dérangé, Blanca Casas Brullet, 2008.

Límites (1ª persona), Elías León Siminiani, 2009.

Travelling, Lluis Rivera, 1972.

Teoría de los cuerpos, Isaki Lacuesta, 2004.

Figura, Gonzalo de Pedro, 2007.

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni,

Jorge Cosmen, 2003.

BiBiCi Story, Carles Durán, 1969.

Farce Sensationelle!, Laida Lertxundi, 2004.

In crescendo, Joan Marimón y Jesús Ramos, 2001.

Ice Cream, Antoni Padrós, 1970.

LA RE MI LA..., Carles Santos, 1979.

Session 6. ENRAPTURED

The film pack closes with Iván Zulueta’s masterpie-

ce, a cult film in Spanish cinema history. The author

combined many of the techniques he had put into

practice in his previous shorts, such as A Mal Gam A,

Frank Stein or Kinkón, done in Super 8, while delving

into a series of themes that had preoccupied him since

childhood. A full-length film as hypnotic as they come,

charged with a certain mysticism and eliciting nume-

rous readings, Arrebato is an indisputable masterpie-

ce whose unwarranted neglect beyond the Spanish

borders we hope to mitigate.

Arrebato, Iván Zulueta, 1980.

Arrebato, Iván Zulueta, 1980. Ice Cream, Antoni Padrós, 1970. Spain loves you, Isabel Herguera, 1988.

The curatorsAntoni Pinent (Lleida, 1975)

Independent contemporary art curator, cinema programmer (experimental, animation, documentary and

independent film) and experimental filmmaker. Content designer and teacher of specialised art courses (CCCB’s

Aula Xcèntric; Fine Arts programme at the UPV in Valencia; Fundación Autor, SGAE, Barcelona and Valencia;

Observatorio de Cine, Barcelona, 2004-2006; Aula de Cultura CAM, Alicante/Alacant). Guest professor for the

Master’s Programme on designing and curating exhibits at Elisava, Barcelona. Creator and programmer of the

Cinema Invisible section (since 2004) of the Xcèntric permanent screen (CCCB, Barcelona). Co-founder and

member of the magazine and group, Cabeza Borradora (Madrid, founded in 2001). Co-director of the film

festival Xperimenta. Mirades Contemporànies al Cine Experimental (CCCB). Curator, in conjunction with

Andrés Hispano, of the exhibition That’s Not Entertainment: Cinema Begets Cinema (CCCB, 2006), which was

shown at the Centro Párraga in Murcia (2007) and Bancaja in Valencia (2008).


The curatorsAndrés Hispano (Barcelona, 1964)

Independent curator, audiovisual filmmaker and illustrator. He publishes articles in La Vanguardia (Cultura s

supplement), where he has his own column and forms part of the editing staff. He is the author of David Lynch.

Claroscuro americano (1998) and has directed some of the less conventional television programmes in Spain,

such as Boing Boing Buda (BTV) and Baixa Fidelitat (XTVL). He has co-curated exhibitions such as That’s Not

Entertainment: Cinema Begets Cinema (CCCB, 2006), El rei de la casa (Palau de la Virreina, 2007) and

La ciutat dels cineastes (CCCB, 2001). Moreover, he has created video-installations for various exhibitions at

the CCCB and La Pedrera (Fundació Caixa de Catalunya), among others. He is guest professor at Pompeu Fabra

University and gives lectures at other universities and institutions. In the last three years, he has been a member

of the jury for the Barcelona City Arts Awards (Premis Ciutat de Barcelona) and the Catalonia National Culture

Awards (Premis Nacionals de Cultura de Catalunya).



1. DOCUMENTS / ITINERARIES

Fuego en Castilla José Val del Omar 35 mm English subtitles

De purificatione automobilis Gabriel Blanco 35 mm No dialogue

Miserere Antoni Miralda and Benet Rossell 35 mm No dialogue

Souvenir José Luis Guerín Video English subtitles

Lo que tú dices que soy Virginia García del Pino Video English subtitles

2. APPROPRIATIONS / GREAT SUPER 8

For / Against Eugènia Balcells Video No dialogue

Minnesota 1943 Toni Serra Video English subtitles

Alice in Hollywoodland Jesús Pérez-Miranda Video No dialogue

Súper 8 David Domingo Video No dialogue

Bloodfilm Marcel Pey Video Silent

Roulette Wheel Luis Cerveró Video Original Version

Signaturas (síntesis) Juan Bufill Video Silent

I Love You Because Lope Serrano Sol Video No dialogue

22arroba Maximiliano Viale Video No dialogue

Photomatons Eugeni Bonet Video No dialogue

A escala del hombre David Reznak Video No dialogue

Film programme’s technical data


Copy Scream Oriol Sánchez Video Silent

Brutal Ardour Manuel Huerga Video No dialogue

3. ANIMATED EXPERIMENTS: RHYTHM, LIGHT AND COLOUR

Forma, color y ritmo Josep Mestres 35 mm Silent

Ballet Burlón Fermí Marimón 35 mm No dialogue

Exp. 1 / II Joaquim Puigvert 35 mm No dialogue

Pregunta por mí Begoña Vicario 35 mm English subtitles

Pintura 63 Ton Sirera 35 mm No dialogue

Hezurbeltzak, una fosa común Izebene Oñederra 35 mm No dialogue

Ritmes cromàtics Jordi Artigas 35 mm No dialogue

Spain loves you Isabel Herguera 35 mm No dialogue

Espectro siete Javier Aguirre 35 mm English subtitles

Lluvia Eugenio Granell Video Silent

La 72.024 mil·lèssima part d’un any Marcel Pié Barba Video No dialogue

Danse noire Frederic Amat Video No dialogue

Monos Juan Pablo Etcheverry Video No dialogue

4. PAINTING – MOVEMENT

…ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren… José Antonio Sistiaga 35 mm Silent

5. INVESTIGATION / METACINEMA

Blanc Dérangé Blanca Casas Brullet Video No dialogue

Límites (1ª persona) Elías León Siminiani Video English subtitles

Travelling Lluis Rivera Video No dialogue

Teoría de los cuerpos Isaki Lacuesta Video English subtitles

Figura Gonzalo de Pedro Video English subtitles

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni Jorge Cosmen Video No dialogue

BiBiCi Story Carles Durán 35 mm Original Version

Farce Sensationelle! Laida Lertxundi 35 mm No dialogue

In crescendo Joan Marimón and Jesús Ramos 35 mm No dialogue

Ice Cream Antoni Padrós 35 mm English subtitles

LA RE MI LA... Carles Santos 35 mm No dialogue

6. ENRAPTURED

Arrebato Iván Zulueta 35 mm English subtitles

Contact information

Director Xcèntric

Carolina Ló[email protected]

Coordinator

Gloria [email protected]

Head of the Audiovisual Department

Ángela Martí[email protected]

Contemporary Culture Centre of BarcelonaMontalegre, 508001 BarcelonaTel. + 34 93 306 41 00Fax. + 34 93 306 41 01

SEACEX

Eloísa [email protected]

State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action AbroadGran Vía, 1-2º dcha.28013 MadridTel. + 34 91 702 26 60


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