2015
Memory and the Body in Contemporary Catalan Documentary Cinema 3rd Documentary Film
Monday February 3rd – Kane Building B10A – 18:00 h
The Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies is delighted to present the second documentary film of the series:
Memory and the Body in Contemporary Catalan Documentary Cinema
Ocaña, Retrato intermitente
Ventura Pons (1978)
(Movie in Spanish with English subtitles)
Monday February the 2nd – Kane Building B10A – 18:00 h
Ocaña, retrato intermitente
Ocaña, Retrato Intermitente) is the timeless and provocative portrait of Jose Ocaña, an artist who narrates his challenging upbringing in a small town near Sevilla during Franco's regime and his posterior move to Barcelona in the late 70's where he unadvertedly became a pivotal figure in the fight against discrimination and the social dangerousness law through his activism, art and street performances. Filmed in 1978 it is Ventura Pons' opera prima and remains a relevant and timeless classic.
(Pelucas y tacones)
Ventura Pons
Pons is regarded as one of the most important and prolific queer Spanish film directors of present times on par with Pedro Almodovar. After a decade as a theatre director, Ventura Pons directed his first film in 1977, Ocaña, an intermittent portrait, which was officially selected by the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. With twenty five feature films, twenty three produced by his own company Els Films de la Rambla, S.A., founded in 1985, he has become one of the best-known Catalan film directors. His films are continuously programmed in the best International Festivals, with a main interest from the Berlinale, where he has been officially selected during five consecutive years, and distributed in a lot of countries around the world.
He has been Vice-President of the Spanish Film Academy and has also been awarded, among others, with the Spain’ Fine Arts Gold Medal, the Catalan Sant Jordi Cross, the National Film Award from the Catalan Government, the prestigious Ondas Award, the City of Huesca Award and the Zinegoak 2005 in Bilbao, the Zlatni Pecât (Golden Seal) in Belgrade, Serbia, the Respect Award in Piestany, Slovaquia, the Gloria Award in Chicago (USA), the Barcelona critics Sant Jordi Award and live time achievement awards at Lima (Perú), Torino (Italy) and Montpellier (France).
(Ventura Pons Official Website)
All welcome!