The 25th Goya Awards ceremony was somewhat overshadowed by the continuing fallout from the very public spat between Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde and Alex de la Iglesia, the president of the Spanish film academy, over the government’s recently approved and controversial anti-piracy law. Academy president Alex de la Iglesia at the Goya ceremony. Protesters wearing V for Vendetta masks booed and threw eggs at government ministers and movie-world bigwigs as they arrived at the February 13 ceremony, reserving their cheers exclusively for De la Iglesia. De la Iglesia, a filmmaker himself who has resigned from his post as president of the film academy in protest at what has become … [Read more...] about Goya Awards: and the winner is… González-Sinde
Industry infighting spices up Spanish cinema awards
Sunday Bloody Sunday, Star Wars, and perhaps Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: this year’s Goya cinema awards ceremony on February 13 looks like producing more off-stage drama than the content of all those movies put together. Topping the bill in this very public spat is Ángeles González-Sinde, a scriptwriter and director herself and former president of the Spanish Cinema Academy, who in her current role as culture minister is trying to push through legislation against P2P downloading sites along the lines of that in place in France, the UK, and the United States. The new legislation has been dubbed the “Sinde Law” in her honour. In her quest to protect what she calls “Spain’s … [Read more...] about Industry infighting spices up Spanish cinema awards
Time for a name change for the Socialist Workers’ Party
When the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) holds its annual conference this summer, the party faithful’s main task will be to dump its leader, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and replace him with wily Interior Minster Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. While they’re at it, they might consider a name change more in keeping with the party’s sharp right-turn over the last year, for which Pérez Rubalcaba can take much of the credit/blame. Times are tough, and they’re going to get a lot tougher. Unemployment officially stands at 20 percent, growth rates are zero, and growing numbers of people are feeling the impact of the government’s austerity cuts. In short, the recession is hitting millions … [Read more...] about Time for a name change for the Socialist Workers’ Party
Spanish music mourns passing of Pacheco and Morente
As 2010 comes to a close, the Spanish cultural firmament has been dimmed by the loss of two of its brightest stars: in November record producer Mario Pacheco died, and then in December flamenco singer Enrique Morente passed away. Pacheco, who died of cancer aged 60, founded Nuevos Medios, the groundbreaking record label behind the “new flamenco" scene in the 1980s. The label, which has a catalogue of more than 900 records, launched the careers of many of Spain’s most original musicians, making flamenco fashionable, and shedding the genre's image as tawdry spectacle or the preserve of experts. Best remembered for reviving the fortunes of flamenco through its stellar roster of artists … [Read more...] about Spanish music mourns passing of Pacheco and Morente
Spain’s anti-P2P “Sinde law”: Her Master’s Voice?
Imagine the press conference in the pre-Wikileaks world of just a month ago: a journalist stands up and asks Spanish Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde if her government’s persistence in trying to push through a controversial anti-P2P bill making it easier to shut down websites that link to copyrighted material might have something to do with pressure from the US embassy in Madrid. Visibly outraged at the suggestion, Sinde sidelines the question, and reiterates the official line: “The government is fully committed to protecting intellectual copyright, which is fundamental to the growth of our culture industry… Spain cannot afford the luxury of wasting its creative talent and the … [Read more...] about Spain’s anti-P2P “Sinde law”: Her Master’s Voice?
Spain’s air traffic strike: We’ve been here before
On December 3, Barcelona’s El Prat and Madrid’s Barajas, along with every other airport in Spain, shut down, closing the country’s air space. Air traffic controllers (ATCs) had walked off the job at the start of the country’s longest holiday weekend —a five-day break for some— leaving hundreds of thousands of people stranded, and scuppering an enormous number of vacations. The controllers were responding to a government decree passed that very afternoon —the third this year relating to the ATCs—approving new regulations and the partial privatisation of Spain’s airport authority, AENA. In Spain, so-called “royal decrees” can be passed by a government without prior approval by … [Read more...] about Spain’s air traffic strike: We’ve been here before
Quality TV is the big casualty of Spain’s dubbing
That Fox Television’s recent announcement it would be screening medic drama series House in the original English —with subtitles— was considered a news story by the Spanish media might go some way towards explaining this country’s poor ranking in EU tables of member populations’ knowledge of languages other than their own. More saliently, it highlights this country’s dismal record when it comes to producing quality television programming. Spain ranks as the fourth-worst country in the EU when it comes to mastering foreign languages, according to a recent report by Eurostat. Those figures coincide with a report by the EU’s Dubbing and Subtitling Needs and Practices in the European … [Read more...] about Quality TV is the big casualty of Spain’s dubbing
Berlanga, the bad Spaniard
Luis García Berlanga, who has died aged 89, will be remembered not just for his wonderful films: in making them he also led the shift towards serious film-making in Spain in the 1950s and 1960s. His achievement is all the more remarkable in the context of a military dictatorship that had either eliminated or forced into exile most of the artists who had flourished during the all-too-brief Second Republic. Looking back at his hallmark movies made during the depths of the Franco dictatorship, one can only marvel at his courage and determination, along with his ability to outwit the general’s censors. And while Berlanga was a thorn in the side of the regime —from his first film in 1951 to … [Read more...] about Berlanga, the bad Spaniard
Spain’s smoking ban: stubbing out freedom
Time was when the smell of Spain was a heady blend of coffee, cologne, and tobacco. The coffee is still there, and one still gets the occasional whiff of Heno de Pravia, but the Ducados are increasingly being stubbed out; and when a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants comes into force in January 2011, they will be gone forever. Yes, Spain is finally extending its smoking ban to all public places. The initial smoking ban was first introduced in 2006, and was meant to apply to all public places. But the Popular Party’s Madrid boss, Esperanza Aguirre, played the regional card, challenging the government and saying that she wouldn’t be enforcing the law in the capital’s bars and … [Read more...] about Spain’s smoking ban: stubbing out freedom
Labordeta: Aragon’s protest-song politician
Politics and sport don’t mix, so the saying goes. Except in the case of Madrid’s working class heroes Rayo Vallecano. The third-tier soccer club’s famously leftist fans observed a minute’s silence before the start of their game on September 26 against Aragonese side Huesca in memory of José Antonio Labordeta, the singer, poet, and politician who died on September 18 after a long illness. Labordeta came to prominence in the final years of the Franco regime by combining traditional Aragonese tunes with modern Spanish folk music, and captured the spirit of a generation tired of waiting for the dictator to die. Over the years he stuck to his principles, vociferously opposing Spain’s initial … [Read more...] about Labordeta: Aragon’s protest-song politician