The Catalan audiovisual is entrusted to the 6% quota to get out of the well

As of 2022, the large streaming platforms will be obliged to offer at least 6% of their catalog of productions in Catalan, Galician or Basque. It is one of the strengths of the new General Law of Audiovisual Communication, uncompromising demand of Esquerra Republicana to vote in favor of the General State Budgets. Said like this, 6% does not seem like too much, but it is a huge figure, since it means that one in five European productions (series or films) that the streaming platforms offered in Spain must be in Catalan, Galician or Basque.

Where does that already totemic 6% percentage come from? The European Union obliges large platforms to ensure that a minimum of 30% of its catalog is made up of production made in the continent. Of that percentage, and in the specific case of Spain, half must be in any of the languages ​​of the state, that is, 15% of the total catalog. The agreement between ERC and PSOE establishes that, of that 15%, a minimum of 40% must be reserved for Catalan, Basque and Galician, which gives the final figure that 6% of the total, leaving the rest, up to 15%, for Spanish .

Doubts about how the law is articulated

The Catalan audiovisual sector, immersed in a serious economic and productive crisis that has forced many of its creators and technicians to emigrate to Madrid, where work abounds thanks to the streaming platforms installed there, observes the new law with a mixture of excitement and prudence. “Apparently, it is good news, but it remains to be seen how it materializes. We are very expectant,” he assures director Judith Colell, president since June of the Catalan Film Academy. In the filmmaker’s opinion, “it is a great opportunity for the Catalan industry to regain the muscle it has lost in recent years, but it will be necessary to see how the new law is articulated, because there are key points still to be defined.”

It refers, fundamentally, to whether this 6% applies to new production, which would be great news for an industry burdened by lack of funding; to an expansion of the platform catalog through the use of existing products, such as the TV-3, À Punt and IB-3 series, or dubbing or subtitles previously made; or, in a third option, to the sum of A + B. Right now, it is a key question that lacks an answer, as it is an aspect that must be regulated pending directives from the European Commission, according to sources from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, on whom the future General Law on Audiovisual Communication depends.

“If that 6% only ends up serving to expand the catalog, it will be positive for the language. But it would be preferable if that 6% meant above all new productionIt would not only help the language, but also the industry, “says Colell.” It is crucial for the sector that there is production in Catalan. It would help our industry a lot to to once again be one of the great centers of creation in Spain, as it had always been until TV-3 stopped being a great content generator. Not everything has to be done in Madrid, no matter how strong and absorbent its industrial fabric is now. I just hope that we are not late, “warns the director, who recalls that the number of films that aspire to the Gaudí awards has been declining in recent years. If in 2016 12 were presented in Catalan, in this edition there will only be five. Another data supports the serious stagnation: in 2019, the productions made in Catalonia accounted for only 31% of the total of those of the State (84 of 265), when a decade before, in 2010, they represented 50%. “It is key to regain power, because the audiovisual is a strategic sector culturally and economically,” says Colell. Not in vain, it is an industry that, according to data from the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya, invoices per year 3,869 million euros and generates 14,102 jobs.

For him Secretary of Linguistic Policy of the Generalitat, Francesc Xavier Vila, the future presence of 6% of content in Catalan “is a positive measure, but insufficient”. The sociolinguist considers that, in effect, the improvement “will be immediate, because the presence of Catalan is currently very small, except in Filmin and, to a lesser extent but with a high incidence in audience, in Movistar +”, but at the same time he observes that “the offer in Catalan must compete with a vastly superior sea of ​​content in other languages”.

In any case, for Vila, that 6% “will help the industry itself and in Catalan, guaranteeing its presence. And it will be one more step towards normality, because we cannot forget that, in order for the language to be used normally, it must be so in all areas, including audiovisual and entertainment, which right now it is not: there is not enough diversity of content in Catalan, nor are sufficiently known what there is, or where they are. “In this sense, it is not lost on anyone that a language that is not present in the current audiovisual universe loses visibility and weight, a very alarming question at a time when the social use of Catalan is undergoing an accelerated process of regression.

Platforms awaiting

The platforms are waiting, waiting to see how the new law is definitively articulated. Contacted by this newspaper, Netflix –Which last May presented its first film dubbed into Catalan, the animated comedy ‘La família Mitchell contra les màquines’– declines for the moment any statement pending the official draft of the law; Same as Spanish Association of Video On Demand (AEVOD), whose president, José Antonio Luna Aragón, prefers “not to make any assessment.” At Filmin they are also inclined not to comment on the audiovisual law proposal and the quotas that this law is supposed to mark, although they refer to a brief statement by De Luna Aragón, also linked to Filmin: “We cannot express ourselves in one sense or another. until you know the exact terms of the agreement or the wording of the law. In any case, it should be remembered that In Filmin more than 25% of the catalog is available in one of the co-official languages ​​of the State”.

Independent production

From PROA (Federated Audiovisual Producers), the posture is necessarily cautious. Its president, Jordi Oliva, comments that they feel “satisfied that the demand & rdquor; that they have been doing for some time around the co-official languages, but with great prudence: “We do not know what will be dedicated in the law to independent production, which is our workhorse. We continue to insist to political parties that the law must reflect the role of independent producers, since, in its first draft, it opens the door to possible financing for groups with foreign capital, and this cannot be & rdquor ;. For Oliva, the independent Catalan (or Galician or Basque) producers are the “guarantors of cultural diversity in terms of content, language and industry”, which is what the European Union regulations intend.

But everything remains unknown, because the final draft has not yet been accessed and there are serious doubts. For instance, one year it could be that 6% would be integrated to one or two productions in Basque or Galician, or it would be distributed unevenly. Oliva insists on the long and complex legislative process. The draft bill drawn up by the Government will go to the Council of Ministers, then it will go to Congress and, after the presentation of amendments, it will end up in the Senate. “There is no material time to approve it before the end of this year, and the European Union asked that it be ready in 2018 & rdquor ;, Oliva complains.

“All this is part of a democratic deficit. The languages ​​that must be protected are these, and not Spanish, which has never been in danger”

Lluís Miñarro

Producer

All the parties involved are therefore waiting for those that the Government decides to draft, although dissenting voices have already been noted. For the producer Lluís MiñarroThis 6%, being good for the Catalan industry, is totally insufficient: “We already know that we are fighting against the current and that in the end we will all end up speaking in English. In my opinion, 30% European content is not enough, it should be 50% & rdquor ;. And if we talk about this percentage for the co-official languages, Miñarro adds that “for an industry touched like ours totally insufficient, they are crumbs. The hegemony of the powerful will end diversity. All this starts from a democratic deficit. The languages ​​to be protected are these, and not Spanish, which has never been in danger & rdquor ;.

Safeguard the tongue

Belén Funes, director of ‘The daughter of a thief’, 2019 film rewarded with the Goya for the best new director and the Gaudí for the best non-Catalan-speaking film, direction and script, sees for the moment good things and less good things: “That there is the will to protect cultural diversity and state linguistics with specific quotas is always good news. Safeguarding the tongue is important, in the same way that it is defending the story, the imagination and the local history of people in a territory & rdquor ;.

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In line with what Miñarro said, Funes adds: “I want us to be able to continue explaining stories in languages ​​other than Spanish and learn to differentiate which languages ​​are unprotected and which ones are in excellent health & rdquor ;. For Funes it is important defend your own fictions against the Hollywood machine and stop imitating transoceanic cinematographies, although she is more critical of the dubbing issue: “I want to be very blunt: when I see a Russian film I want to see people speaking in Russian. That’s a great way to take care of culture and languages ​​& rdquor ;.