"The audiovisual is an absolute priority in this legislature for the Department of Culture of the Generalitat". This is how forceful the Minister of Culture Natàlia Garriga has shown herself this morning during the presentation of the balance of 2022 and advance of the programming of the next year of the Filmoteca. "We are dedicating resources in terms of the Catalan production of films and series", she has affirmed Garriga.
There will also be priority for dubbing and subtitling. The minister remarked that today Avatar: The Sense of Water is released in Catalan and it is "very good news" since in 2009 it could not be seen in this language. The priority will also affect the conservation and dissemination of Catalan film heritage, as is the case of Once upon a time..., a 1950 film restored by the Filmoteca after eight years of intense work, which today reaches two theaters in Barcelona and RTVE la It will broadcast on Three Kings Day.
Precisely, the story of the Catalan Cinderella that eclipsed Disney, co-directed by José Escobar and Alexandre Cirici i Pellicer, can be seen in theaters starting this Friday. And it is the leitmotiv chosen by the institution directed by Esteve Riambau for the 2023 programming. In the words of the minister, "the budget proposal for the Department of Culture increases by one hundred million euros, which will make it reach the 1.5% of the budget of the Generalitat de Catalunya". With regard to the Film Library, it will have an increase of 27.48%. From 6.3 million it will go to eight.
Riambau has made a positive balance of this 2022 that is about to end. Until November 30, the Chomón and Laya theaters have welcomed 87,931 spectators, with an average of 77.3 spectators per session, a "slight but significant increase" compared to last year. According to the director of the Film Library, they are "good results, but they indicate that we are in a moment of change and reflection. Cinema is in a phase of absolute rethinking, since the pandemic has modified habits and strategies."
The average number of viewers before the outbreak of the pandemic was in the hundred per session. Regarding the programming for 2023, based on the "spirit of diversity and eclecticism typical of the Filmoteca", the momentum that the heritage fund digitization plan is taking, which will include a dozen feature films and short films digitized annually, stands out.
The death of Jean Luc Godard justifies extensive recognition of his work, which is expanded with complete retrospectives of Claude Sautet and Jean Eustache. There will be a cycle dedicated to the women screenwriters of Hollywood from the silent era -Lenore Coffee, Francis Marion, Anita Loos, Jeanie MacPherson, Lois Weber, June Mathis, Agnes Christine Johnston and Clara Beranger are claimed- with the presence of Professor Giuliana Muscio and another cycle for the Japanese filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi and the Taiwanese Edward Yang.
Buñuel will be another protagonist with an exhibition in dialogue with the Mexican director of photography Gabriel Figueroa. Both maintained a creative dialogue for years that led to movies like Him, Nazarin or The Exterminating Angel. The centenary of Warner Bros. will be celebrated, the complete filmography of the great Luchino Visconti and among the guests who have confirmed his presence are Terence Davies, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Margarethe von Trotta. The correspondents for carte blanche are the producer Marta Esteban, the writer Enrique Vila-Matas and the Portuguese director Pedro Costa. In addition, a tribute is being prepared for March to journalist and film critic Jaume Figueras, Gaudí Honor Award 2023.
