Culture

The XX performed last week at the Poble Espanyol in Barcelona. The band from London played songs from their hit albums ‘xx’ and ‘Coexist’. Besides their great performance, Barcelona-based producer John Talabot also put on a great show with his first album ‘ƒIN’. Talabot’s music can be labeled as melodious techno, with a dark and creepy atmosphere. The Catalan producer played for less than an hour after which the stage was rebuilt for The XX.

The 15th edition of the International Short Film and Animation Festival of Barcelona, known as Mecal Pro, has ended after 350 short films were selected from over five thousand and were projected for a month. An increase in participation, the extension of the festival’s length and the importance given to the animation genre were the main features of this year’s edition. This year’s biggest winners were ‘El otro’ (‘The other’) by Jorge Dorado and ‘Misterio’ (‘Mistery’) by Chema García Ibarra. The FX Animation new award goes to the Dutch film ‘Junkyard’ and the best international short film award to ‘Solitudes’, by French director Liova Jedlicki.

‘Primavera als Bars’ is a pre-festival date of the city with one of its main music events, the Primavera Sound. This free show will bring 22 international and local music bands to fifteen bars, restaurants and hotels around the city of Barcelona. These concerts kicked off on the 24th of April and will finalize on the 18th of May. All these concerts are free and offer the chance to get to know young local artists like Núria Graham or to international bands such as the Americans Purling Hiss.

Victus, the historical novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol, has triumphed on the Catalan National Day of roses and books both in the Spanish and Catalan language. In the category of media-friendly writers, the biggest-selling book has been Brúixoles que busquen somriures perduts by Albert Espinosa, the scriptwriter known for his hit TV series Polseres Vermelles (‘The Red Band Society’). Barcelona’s streets were filled with bookstalls where the most popular authors signed their books in front of huge queues of excited fans. For bookshops it is also a great chance to bring in some much needed revenue as it is estimated that on Sant Jordi’s Day they invoice between 8% and 10% of the whole year’s profits, a figure of around 18 million euros.

The 19th edition of the Latin American Film Festival in Lleida ended last weekend after showing 117 films from 14 different countries. Argentine film director Gustavo Garzón’s movie 'Por un tiempo' (‘For a time’) had its world premiere while honorary awards were delivered to Spanish actor José Coronado and Mexican actor Damián Alcazar. 'Porcelain horse' (Mejor no hablar de ciertas cosas), directed by Ecuador’s Javier Andrade, won the Best Film Award. The budget for this year’s edition had been reduced by 24% and the Festival was forced to remove documentary and retrospective sections from the programme.

The Festival ‘Jardins del Palau de Pedralbes’ will take place between the 20th of June and the 8th of July in the Catalan capital. Josep Carreras, Julio Iglesias, Antony and the Johnsons, Natalie Cole, Roger Hodgson, Earth Wind & Fire and Crosby, Stills & Nash are some of the artists that will play at the first event. The private company Concert Studio is behind the initiative, which has the support of Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Government. Public funds will only cover 2% of the festival’s budget. Concert Studio have already organised the Cap Roig festival and the Festival del Mil·leni. According to them, they wanted to fill “an empty space” in Barcelona’s musical season.

Dubbing is deeply rooted in Spanish and Catalan television and cinema but it is now dealing with a crisis of demand. At the same time, voices have been raised against dubbing by those defending original language versions of movies. In Catalonia, dubbing is not only a way to access films easier but also to normalise the use of Catalan language. CNA has talked to several members of the dubbing industry in order to understand what it is and to portray how it works.

The 13th edition of the Festival de Cap Roig will run from the 20th of July until the 16th of August, and it is one of the main milestones of Catalonia’s cultural landscape during the summertime. The music event takes place in the Cap Roig gardens, a green promontory overlooking the sea, located in Calella de Palafrugell, at the centre of the Costa Brava. This year, the budget has been reduced by 20% and the average ticket price will be reduced by 16% due to the economic crisis. The Catalan bands Manel, Gossos, Antònia Font and Blaumut will play at the festival that will be kicked off with a concert by Elton John, making the only stop in Spain of his 'Rocket Man - Greatest Hits Live' tour. Other important artists are Katie Melua, Fito & Fitipaldis, Vicente Amigo, Melendi, Malú, Rosario and Ainhoa Arteta.

Barcelona’s Liceu Opera Theatre aims to attract philanthropic funds from the United States and establish cultural, social and economic links between the institution and American civil society to strengthen the image of the Liceu, one of Europe’s main opera houses. The Liceu Barcelona Opera House Foundation in New York plans to raise $100,000 in the first year. Other European opera houses and festivals such as the Paris National Opera, the Royal Opera House in London get between $200,000 and $700,000 each year. The project is launched by the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Levante Capital Partners with the participation of Baker & McKenzie.

The President of the Parisian centre, Alain Seban, compared Albert Serra’s work to that of Salvador Dalí, who he said was “another brilliant Catalan”. The Pompidou Centre will show Serra’s films, including his most recent one: ‘The three little pigs’ (2012), which is an experiment on Goethe, Hitler and Fassbinder and lasts 101 hours. ‘Honor de cavalleria’ (‘Knighthood honour’ in English, from 2006) and ‘El cant dels ocells’ (‘Song of the birds’, from 2008) will also be shown. The exhibition will run in the French capital from the 17th of April to the 12th of May. In addition, the Parisian museum will organise debates, such as the one on bullfighting with Serra and the painter Miquel Barceló.

Barcelona-based Iranian writer, journalist and teacher, Nazanin Armanian, presents the second edition of her animal story book compilation. This book sets out some basic principles about the relationships between animals and human beings and can be seen as a starting point for comparing international relationships, especially between Iran, Middle Eastern countries and the West. Armanian graduated in Political Science at Universitat de Barcelona and is preparing her doctoral thesis in Philosophy. She talked to CNA about how humans relate to animals and the relationship between Iran, the Middle East and the West.

Classic and contemporary authors from Catalonia, writing in Catalan or in Spanish, are one of the main attractions of this year’s Salon du Livre in Paris, which is one of the main book fairs internationally. Running from Friday the 22nd to Monday the 25th of March in the French capital, this year the book fair has Barcelona as its guest city under the title ‘Barcelona, ville des prodiges’. The Institut Ramon Llull, the public body in charge of promoting Catalan culture abroad, is organising the presence of Catalan literature at the fair. During the first day, the visitors were mainly interested in Eduardo Mendoza, Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Josep Pla, who wrote ‘The Grey Notebook’ which has just been translated into French.

The David Campos Ballet company, famous for combining classical ballet with contemporary dance, is the latest victim of the crisis that is asphyxiating cultural projects and, in particular, those related to classical dance. On Sunday, the company created and directed by David Campos performed its last show on stage, after 25 years of work at an international level, a representation of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ in Terrassa, Greater Barcelona. The ballet director lamented that dance is “the last echelon of culture” in this country, despite it being “an active genre” that fills up theatres with rejuvenated audiences.

15 days of top-level piano competition are coming up in March in Barcelona. To promote one of the world’s most prestigious international piano competitions, organised in Barcelona since 1954, 10 grand pianos were installed last Saturday in the middle of the street, on the Catalan capital’s Passeig de Gracia boulevard. The pianos could be tried by the pedestrians for free. In addition, a huge variety of concerts in different places all over Barcelona are being held. 91 pianists from 26 countries are participating in the 2013 Maria Canals International Music Competition. The winner will be known in two weekends from now.

The Hasselblad Foundation has awarded its 2013 prize to the Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta. The jury highlighted the fact that Fontcuberta “is one of the most imaginative contemporary photographers” today. This is the most prestigious award at international level in the field of photography. It comes with 1 million Swedish crowns (around €110,000). The award ceremony took place in Barcelona on Thursday evening. In October, Gothenburg’s Art Museum will hold an exhibition on Fontcuberta’s work. His creations “adopt original and playful conceptual perspectives, which particularly explore photography conventions, means of representation and claims to truth”, stated the jury.