The II Gaudí Awards, … in the midst of controversy

Barcelona celebrates tonight the delivery of the II Gaudí Awards in the midst of a strike by exhibitors who oppose the controversial Llei del Cinema and its dubbing quotas into Catalan.

Catalan cinema is experiencing its big night today with the delivery of the II Gaudí Awards, a ceremony organized by the Catalan Cinema Academy that this year will be overshadowed by the strike called by exhibitors opposing the Cinema Law promoted by the Generalitat. The most controversial aspect of the text currently being processed in parliament has to do with the mandatory nature of its article 18, which establishes that films that have to be dubbed or subtitled have half of the copies in Catalan. In the case of European productions, this obligation would only apply to 16 copies or more.

Throughout today, at least 75 rooms, integrated into the Businessmen's Guild of Catalonia, with the exception of the Lauren group, will close their doors in protest against the new law. While businessmen consider that the bill will mean that the public will turn their backs on the rooms, the Generalitat sees in this text an opportunity to reinforce bilingualism in Catalonia.

controversial text

Of the 54 articles of the future Cinema Law, it is the 18th, focused on language, that has attracted controversy since it would require that there be total Castilian-Catalan parity when it comes to dubbing a production. In this way, half of the copies would have to be distributed in Spanish and another half in Catalan. European films with fewer than 16 prints would be an exception since they could be shown with dubbing or subtitles only in Spanish. Those Spanish films, including Catalan ones, that are not shot in Spanish or Catalan (as is the case of Ágora, shot in English), would have the same treatment as European films with the obligation to be subtitled or dubbed if more than fifteen copies are distributed.
Regarding the distribution of DVDs or other domestic media, the law provides that those marketed in Catalonia must include a version in Catalan.

During the study phase of this bill, the Catalan exhibitors offered the Generalitat the possibility of creating a circuit with fifty screens that would mean a parallel offering of projections in Catalan. However, the regional government rejected the proposal as insufficient.

In its parliamentary process, both the tripartite and CiU support the text (in the case of CiU with certain reservations regarding the amount of the sanctions) while PP and Ciutadans have shown their opposition to the project. On the street, according to a survey carried out by the Culture Barometer of Catalonia, 82% of those surveyed ask for more films dubbed in Catalan, although only 3.8% confess to having gone to a theater to see a film in Catalan in recent months.

The Academy in favor of the original version

In the midst of the controversy, the Catalan Cinema Academy has released a statement in which it claims to be working "for a model of film production and dissemination where the protagonism falls on the original version, whatever it may be. We believe that we have to normalize the exhibition in the original version and that this is the future towards which new support and audience creation policies must be determined."

The main objective of the Academy is “the promotion and dissemination of our cinema and our professionals, and the institutional positioning of our association for everything that refers to the Cinema Law has been and is to promote dialogue between all professionals and the Government, because the Law, and its subsequent development, represent a positive model for professionals, the industry and the public.” According to this institution, the legislative aspects related to the new law should be found in “the competence framework of the Government and the Parliament, and it is in that framework where the professional associations, not the Academy, must present their points of view.”