"We should be more chauvinistic and see that Catalan cinema is valued"

Barcelona, ​​Jun 15 (EFE) .- The new president of the Acadèmia del Cinema Català, Judith Colell, is very clear that, in the last decade, Catalan cinema has lost its "industrial muscle", but, at the same time, believes that Catalans should be "more chauvinistic" and recognize that their cinema "is valued and awarded everywhere."

In an interview with Efe, Colell, who in the elections held at the institution last night prevailed over the list headed by the also director Neus Ballús, by 172 to 103 votes, said on Tuesday that the first thing he would do, precisely, is to get in contact with the members of that candidacy and invite them to work together, because "we thought they had a terrific program."

Director, scriptwriter and teacher, she had already been secretary of the academy board chaired by Isona Passola and, between 2011 and 2015, she was vice president of the Spanish Film Academy, in addition to being one of the founders of the Women's Association Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media (CIMA).

Interested behind the camera in social cinema, as a manager, she asserts that the time has come to "open up the academy more, because there are many people with a lot of talent and we want that, if there are people who want to work, they can do it."

His candidacy, under the name of "Cinema and Future", was made up of the producer Sergi Moreno; the directors Carla Simón, Alba Cros and Sílvia Quer; the distributor Carlos Rodríguez Ríos; the editor Ana Pfaff; the screenwriter Eduard Sola and the actors Maria Molins and David Verdaguer.

The idea they have is to form different commissions because "in the day-to-day running of the meeting I have realized that there is no possibility of analyzing and thinking in depth about important things to do to improve, give visibility and make Catalan cinema grow", has aimed.

In his opinion, "it is above all about showing that we have talent and seducing our audience. Also scold them to see that what we do explains us. I am always very envious of the French in this, they are very chauvinists, and I think that we Catalans should be more so and recognize that our cinema is really valued and awarded everywhere ".

At this point, he recalls that the young Clara Roquet will compete with "Libertad", her debut, in the Critics' Week of the Cannes Festival and will be the only Spanish representative to do so, while in the last Spanish Film Festival of Malaga the great winner was "The Belly of the Sea", directed by the Mallorcan Agustí Villaronga.

"From all this - he continued - we should all take out our chest, not only us, but also the spectators, who feel proud."

Despite this positioning, Judith Colell, author of works such as "53 days of winter", "Elisa K" or "15 hours", it is not obvious that now "the entire sector will have to row towards the same place" to "recover the muscle industrial that has been lost ".

The situation - last year only six films were filmed in Catalan - should be reversed, in his opinion, "with the other associations in the sector, all together. We have to see the data, study it, know what has happened and how it has gone losing. With the data in hand, it will be much easier to go talk to the institutions. "

He also stressed that "now a new Minister for Culture has just started and I think that, when projects start, there is a lot of desire and enthusiasm, we have to take advantage of the moment."

His team will put another focus on the Gaudí Awards Gala, which are delivered annually, understanding that it could be a "very important showcase" for the fashion, music, theater or even circus and visual arts industries. .

With good words to the former president Isona Passola, Colell has advanced that another project will be the creation of a department, with a lawyer and a psychologist, against abuse, where "people in the sector who suffer them can have a space in which talk and ask ".

Getting closer to young people, with the complicity of the Department of Education, so that from a young age "children can see another type of cinema and cinema in Catalan" is another of the objectives of the new board.

Qualifying as "magnificent" her experience at the Spanish Film Academy, "where I learned a lot", Judith Colell and her team now want to strengthen ties with this institution and with others in the autonomous community and "take advantage of their projects and that they take advantage of ours".

Irene Dalmases