User:Maria.adell/Pragda

PRAGDA

Pragda is an independent cultural initiative created with the mission of promoting rare Spanish films in diverse environments with the help of technology and alternative channels. Pragda’s programs travel to the most prestigious venues in the world, including Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Harvard Film Archive (Boston), Film Society of Lincoln Center (NYC), BFI Southbank (London), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston) etc. Its curating mission is to deconstruct Spanish film legacy in order to free it from its conflicting image as well as creating risky film series to challenge audiences, always with the support of worldwide reputable venues around the world.

History

In 2003, Pragda founded ShortMetraje, a Spanish short film series hosted by The Film Society of Lincoln Center. In 2005 the series travelled to 15 U.S. cities, London (Spanish Film Club) and México DF (Espacio Cine). Pragda also brought the first Spanish documentary series to NYC, DocuSpain, in 2006. In 2007, PRAGDA organized 13 film events, among them, Spain (Un)Censored, hosted by MoMA New York and BFI Southbank London. In 2008, the number of events increased to 23, and it was the first edition of the Festival of New Spanish Cinema, a traveling annual Spanish Film Festival. In 2010, the Festival travelled to 10 cities throughout North America and Canada, thus establishing Pragda as one of the most important promoters of Spanish cinema in North America.

Mission

•To ensure an international platform of Spanish cinema exhibition in the cultural and academic field. Particularly to create an opportunity for greater viewership for emerging artists.

•To highlight and protect the historical and cultural heritage of Spanish cinema through a range of programming available at universities, museums and film societies.

•To develop the necessary conditions for the creation of chairs of Spanish cinema within the Film Studies Departments of the participating institutions.

•Promote the image of contemporary Spain, presenting the Spanish cinema as a cinema of quality, daring and modern.

•Build and strengthen sustainable cultural exchange relationships between artists and local cultural institutions we collaborate with, and consolidate the regular continuity of our presence.

•Supporting diversity in the Spanish filmmakers represented, ensuring representation in gender, age and geographical origin, as well as discussed issues and styles, giving particular emphasis to emerging artists.

•Educating an international audience not familiar with the history of Spanish cinema.

Projects

ShortMetraje

This film series presents short films by the youngest generation of Spanish creators. It was an initiative created to support and promote the works of these underrepresented and fresh-minded Spanish filmmakers in the U.S. territory.

ShortMetraje is held each December, since 2002, at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, NYC.

In 2005, the series traveled to 10 cities throughout U.S., London and Mexico D.F.

Spain (Un)Censored

Retrospective of 20 Spanish films produced between the 50’s and 70’s that circumvent Franco’s regime censorship. This film program was screened first in the Museum of Modern Art, NYC (October 17 - November 5, 2007), and traveled later to BFI Southbank, London (January 15 - February 17, 2008).

The films included: Welcome Mr. Marshall! (Luis G. Berlanga, 1953), Poachers (Jose Luis Borau, 1975), Furrows (Jose Antonio Nieves Conde, 1951), The Hunt (Carlos Saura, 1966), The Crime of Cuenca (Pilar Miró, 1980), The Executioner (Luis G. Berlanga, 1963), The Spirit of the Beehive (Víctor Erice, 1973) and Plácido (Luis G. Berlanga, 1961), among others.

There were seven additional events (Q&A's, pannels, lectures, etc.) during the retrospective with the participation of Paul Preston, Fernando Lara, Sally Faulkner, Jose Luis Borau, Ventura Pons, Paul Julian Smith, among others.

There was also an online exhibition of posters at MoMA and the publication of the book: Breaking the Code: Daring Films that Mocked the Repression in Spain.

DocuSpain

Spanish Documentary Tour in five cities throughout U.S. Yearly film program, since 2007.

Some of the venues:

• Miami Beach Cinematheque, Miami

• UCLA, Los Angeles

• Harvard Film Archive, Harvard

• Northwest Film Center, Portland

• Hopkins Center Film, Dartmouth College

• UCSB Arts & Lectures, Santa Barbara

• International House, Philadelphia

Some of the films included in the program are: The Miracle of Candeal (Fernando Trueba, 2004), a documentary about the reconstruction of the favela Candeal Pequeño carried out by Grammy-winner musician Carlinhos Brown, The Basque Ball (Julio Medem, 2003), a controversial work about Basque terrorist group ETA, Balseros (Carles Bosch and Josep Maria Domenech, 2002), Oscar-nomminated documentary about Cuban emigrates, My Grandmother’s House (Adán Aliaga, 2005), Iberia (Carlos Saura, 2005), among others.

Festival of New Spanish Cinema

Traveling festival of contemporary Spanish cinema in several cities throughout North America (U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada), in a yearly basis, since 2008. One director per city presents his/her film and gives a lecture to film students at the local universities.

Some of the venues which host the Festival are:

• Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago

• AFI Silver Theatre, Washington D.C.

• Seattle International Film Festival

• Miami International Film Festival

• King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center - NYU, New York

• Northwest Film Center, Portland

• Auditorium Libray and Archives, Ottawa, Canada

The program included first-rate Spanish feature films, ensuring the diversity of styles, genres, filmmakers and content. Film programs include: Solitary Fragments (Jaime Rosales, 2007), Seven French Billiard Tables (Gracia Querejeta, 2007), Camino(Javier Fesser, 2008), Mataharis (Icíar Bollaín, 2007), In the City of Sylvia (José Luis Guerín, 2007), Me Too (Álvaro Pastor & Antonio Naharro, 2009), Rage (Sebastián Cordero, among others.

Spanish Women Behind the Camera

Retrospective of feature films made or produced by women, preceded by a short film. Annual event, since 2009.

Venues:

• King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center - NYU, New York

• University of Washington, Seattle

• Northwest Film Forum, Seattle

Some of the films included have been: 53 Days of Winter (Judith Colell,2006), Seven French Billiard Tables (Gracia Querejeta, 2007), The Best of Me (Roser Aguilar,2007), The Honor of the Injuries (Carlos Garcia -Alix, 2007), Excuses (Silvia Munt, 2008), among others.

Clandestí: Invisible Catalan Film Under Franco

A series focused in Spanish underground filmmaking under Franco’s regime. International Première of eleven Spanish clandestine films shot during the late dictatorship. Most of them were the first time that were seen abroad.

Clandestí: Invisible Catalan Cinema Under Franco focuses on a generation of independent filmmakers whose innate unwillingness to conform forced them to produce, distribute, and exhibit radical films, forbidden and prosecuted by Franco’s fascist regime. Their work is usually considered as the precedent of the Spanish underground cinema.

The films contain some of the most crucial, first-hand documents of the end of the Francisco Franco's dictatorship, revealing problems of housing and social services, immigration, the fate of political prisoners, and restrictions on expression and free speech. These filmmakers, members of a generation born after the Spanish Civil War, also chronicled the ongoing psychological, social, economic, and cultural effects of the conflict. Forced to choose between exile and intellectual annihilation, they instead expressed themselves, putting their art in the service of a political movement that altered the course of Spanish history right before King Juan Carlos I became the head of the State.

The series traveled to 4 cities and 5 institutions:

• The Film Society of Lincoln Center, NYC

• BFI Southbank, London

• Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin

• Istanbul Modern, Istanbul

• Babylon Kino, Berlin

The program includes, among others, the following films: El Sopar (Pere Portabella, 1974), Far from the Trees (Jacinto Esteva Grew, 1972), Sexperiencias (Jose Maria Nunes, 1968), Lock Out (Antoni Padrós, 1973) or Long Journey to Rage (Llorenç Soler, 1969).

The exhibits included Q&A's with filmmakers as Antoni Padrós, Llorenç Soler and Manuel Barrios, and panel discussions with historians and film scholars as Paul Preston, Vicente J. Benet and Martí Rom.