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Medem Controversy
"This film aims to be
an invitation to discussion. This film has been conceived
with respect towards all opinions. The film is independent.
It is due entirely to personal initiative. This film declares
its solidarity with those who suffer violence related to the
Basque conflict. This film will always feel the absence of
those who have not wanted to participate."
With these words Julio Medem introduces
his latest film La Pelota Vasca: La Piel Contra la Piedra
(Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone), the most 'controversial'
film in decades in Spanish cinema. Why 'controversial'? Because
it approaches a stabbing, complex subject: the society, culture,
language, conflict and history of the Basque Country. The
film was released as part of the Zabaltegi Special screenings
at the San Sebastian International Film Festival 2003.
Medem's idea was to go back to the Basque Country
"in order to see, listen to, change certain clichéd
ideas". The documentary would also help in rewriting
the screenplay of Aitor.
By interviewing a great variety of people, Julio
Medem obtained a diversity of ideas to give a basis for proposing
dialogue. As he said in his interview, "I wanted a polyphony,
as much diversity of voices as possible, without hierarchies".
Even though Medem regretted that members of PP, the ruling
right-wing party in the Spanish Government, and the ETA milieu
refused to take part in the film, as well as some of the members
of the Association of Victims of Terrorism ('those missing'
from the preface), the Basque Ball includes 69 interviews
from a total of 103, from sociologistand politicians to victims
of terrorism.
The Basque director "has made the film
that they ['those missing' again] allowed him to make",
he regretted. But he wanted to make the documentary "with
clear hands and clear eyes, with innocence" in the search
for dialogue and non-violence.
Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone, which
has this title in honour of the previous fictional character
Aitor, was shot with two small digital cameras (DVCAM) and
a team of ten people during May-July 2002.
The first critical voices were heard when some interviewees
and politicians, from the Partido Popular, questioned the
author's intention and the contents of the film before its
screening. They claimed it was not balanced in its representation
of opinions and might thus seem to be an apologia.
Two interviewees from the filo-Spanish Foro
of Ermua asked to have their interviews from removed from
the film. They considered the film was "cut" and
was giving "an offensive view for the victims of threats".
Medem refused to cut them out of the documentary.
A PP member in San Sebastian Council and counsellor
at the film festival, María San Gil, requested the
Chairman of both the Council and Festival, Odón Elorza,
to reconsider whether "documentary should be screened
or not at the festival".
The Festival Chairman declared that Basque Ball was
a "valuable cinematographic product"
of the Basque Country and thus the scheduled programme was
retained.
After these direct criticisms of his work, Medem felt compelled
to issue a press release (September 17, 2003) in which he
said that he had decided "not to talk about the film
until it has been screened." Instead, he referred to
his own article A Bird Is Flying Through A Gorge, and
the Diario Vasco interview. He also repeated his commitment
to the non-violence and political dialogue.
Basque Ball: Stone Against Skin was shown on September
21 in Special Screening at the San Sebastian Film Festival,
within the Zabaltegi section. Great expectations were created
for the film's premiere, even though it was being screened
out of competition.
At the end of the film there was a five minute
standing ovation in support of the director against the criticisms
levelled against him the previous week. In the audience were
most of the interviewees in the film. Although opinions differed
about the film, most of the audience accepted that it was
an honest attempt to present the situation by the Basque director.
[For a review see here.]
Since the release of Basque Ball, comments in defence
of and attacking Medem's work and his person have increased
on the press and the media in general. The Partido Popular
was harshly criticised by the opposition and intellectuals
for its attempts to control artistic expression, evoking memories
of Franco's dictatorship.
In particular, a manifesto entitled Nuestro
Apoyo A Medem (Our Support for Medem) was signed
on September 23 by 60 intellectuals, artists and Non-Governmental
Organisations - among them film director Fernando León
de Aranoa (Mondays in the Sun, Barrio) - giving
their support for Medem and exposing "the political and
media harassment to which the director has been subjected"
before and after the festival. Also, words such as censorshipand witch-hunting
appeared in newspaper descriptions of what the Spanish Government/PP
was doing to the Basque Ball and its director.
On the other hand, Julio Medem was compared
by a contributor on the Madrid-based newspaper La Razón
Digital (September 23) to Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's filmmaker.
Also Alejandro Ballestero, a politician from the PP, appealed
to the Basque director to "return all the money and the
promotion that Spanish state TV (TVE) gave to him for earlier
films".
This 'publicity' shot Basque Ball into
the top ten of the Spanish cinemas one week after its release;
and at the end of October it had been seen for over 200,000
people.
Apart from being in cinemas and in the press,
the film has been the subject of TV programmes. Basque TV
(Euskal Telebista ETB2) made a programme which included an
interview with the director followed by a round table discussion
(including the two members of Foro de Ermua whose interviews
were finally not removed) on the documentary.
Furthermore, workshops and seminars on the director and his
film/s have been held in several academic institutions, in
particular two Catalan universities -Universitat Ramon Llull
and Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
The London Film Festival (October 22 - November 6) was the
first place Basque Ball was shown abroad. Tickets for
two sessions were sold out even before the festival started.
The Spanish Embassy in London withdrew its customary funding
for the Spanish strand of the festival. The Minister of Education,
Culture and Sport, Ms Pilar del Castillo, claimed this was
due to financial reasons, while a member of parliament from
the Basque party Eusko Alkartasuna (EA), Ms Begoña
Lasagabaster, suggested that the actual reason was to "censor"
the screening of the film.
MORE INFORMATION
Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone is expected to be released
on DVD in an extended edition with a running time of five
hours. A TV serial consisting of three 55 minute episodes
has already been sold to Basque TV channel, ETB. Furthermore,
a book of 900 pages is going to be published.
A very good source of information concerning the film can
be found on the web page www.lapelotavasca.net,
which is updated weekly, including the English version of
A Bird Is Flying Through A Gorge (in the 'Comentarios'
section), with interviews, the film's trailer and a forum.
The director has pointed out that the DVD, the
series, the film, the book and the web page are products that
differ notably from each other in content and narrative structures.
Esther Terradas
1
MEDEM, Julio. A Bird Is Flying Through a Gorge, September
10, 2003
2 Julio
Medem interview with Ricardo Aldarondo, Diario Vasco,
September 13, 2003.
3 Diario Vasco,
September 16, 2003; 4
Diario Vasco, September 17, 2003
5 El Mundo,
September 17, 2003; 6
Press Release, September 17, 2003.
7 Europa Press.
Madrid, 21 Oct 2003; 8
La Razón, September 25, 2003.
9 Europa Press.
September 24, 2003; 10
Diario Vasco, October 27, 2003.
11 Diario Vasco,
October 2, 2003; 12
http://vilaweb.com. November 3. 2003.
13 Europa Press.
Madrid, 21 Oct 2003.
A list of articles related to Medem's film can be found on
lapelotavasca
website.
Esther would like to thank Tony Keily for
commissioning this press dossier.
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