Two of the most powerful cinematographies in our industry, Galician and Basque, face with hope and caution the measures of the future General Law of Audiovisual Communication regarding the obligatory nature of co-official languages on large platforms.
Just a few years ago, it was celebrated that the Galician accent was included in the series ‘Fariña’. In 2015, the Spanish representative in the race to the Oscars was a film spoken entirely in Basque, ‘Loreak’ and in 2018, ‘Handia’, won 10 awards from the Film Academy in a ceremony in which the ‘eskerrik was sung repeatedly. asko ‘.
Galician and Basque cinematography have been consolidating in recent times thanks to the support of their different autonomous communities and the impulse of a series of producers and directors who have tried to claim their roots, their culture and their language through an authorial perspective. These are two scenarios with their own peculiarities, but which have not stopped growing in recent years, endowing the national scene with a diversity that has been fighting for a long time.
Enthusiasm and doubts
The announcement that the future General Law of Audiovisual Communication must establish a mandatory percentage for the catalog services of the large digital platforms has been received with enthusiasm, but also with many doubts and unknowns about the way in which it can be executed. an objective way.
Alfonso Blanco, general director of the producer Portocabo, based in La Coruña, and responsible for the success of the series ‘Iron’ or from the recent film ‘Cuñados’ he acknowledges that it has been so sudden that it has caught them all ‘with a different foot’ and that there is still to dig into the fine print. One of the keys is whether the dubbing would count towards meeting the quota. “If so, we would stay the way we are,” says Blanco. “So I am not sure if it is super news to uncork champagne, because it would be an injection of money for the co-official languages, or it would be something symbolic & rdquor ;.
Gallego on HBO
Portocabo has just released the second season of the police drama ‘Dry water’, which has become the first product shot in Galician (and Portuguese) to be incorporated into the HBO catalog. “It is the opportune moment for the sector, the institutions and the platforms to start negotiating and for the linguistic plurality that exists in Spain to be recognized & rdquor ;. Alfonso Blanco thinks that, at present, language is not a problem for platforms, since through them we consume content from anywhere in the world that has a great impact. “If the three autonomies with co-official languages receive an injection, they have the structures to produce, but I think that we must be prudent when imposing norms that it is not known if they will be able to comply & rdquor ;.
What about the more independent productions? Is what Blanco wonders and also Jose Mari Goenaga, director, screenwriter and producer who together with Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi, after the success of ‘Loreak’ and ‘Handia’, is currently preparing the first original of Disney + in Spain about the life of the Gipuzkoan fashion designer Balenciaga. For him, it is crucial to continue supporting the less ‘mainstream’ sector. “The important thing is in what way all this is translated into reality. In recent years, production in Basque had been strengthened and it is important that minority languages are not underrepresented. We must protect linguistic diversity, but also independent production so that it does not take a step back & rdquor ;, he says.
Related news
Another of the bastions of cinema in Basque (and in Galician, since he was the producer of ‘Lo que arde’, by Oliver Laxe), is Koldo Zuazua, which last year presented ‘Akelarre’ and this awards season leaves as a favorite thanks to ‘Maixabel’. “There is still nothing regulated and I do not know if it will be feasible or legal within the European provisions, which is something that politicians or jurists will know. If it did happen, it would be great news & rdquor ;.
The producer believes that, although Madrid monopolizes production, for a few years it has perceived decentralization, something in which Alfonso Blanco agrees. The saturation is so great in the capital, that the sector is diversifying towards other geographical points. “Everything is hanging by a thread and is in the process of change, also on public television. EiTB produces in Basque, but their budgets are very small, so their union with the platforms would be a way of transcending the local sphere. If Icelanders or Danes do it, why not us & rdquor ;.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com