2023-07-18 22:14:51
Culture is always the great absentee in electoral campaigns. Nobody is interested, although everyone tries to handle it and use it as they please. This occasion has experienced a rarity: culture entered the campaign in the worst possible way, in the form of censorship of plays, films and magazines in co-official languages by the PP and Vox governments in certain autonomies. This caused the world of culture to jump to ask for protection from censorship and the advance of the extreme right in the form of manifestos and associations that arose from an activist impulse that arises from anger.
A position that has caused, almost instantly, a reaction in the form of lies that have had Spanish cinema as the center of attacks, recovering forgotten hoaxes that are repeated over and over again to try to create a state of opinion against the artists. Politicians and the media have launched lies and fake news with Vox at the forefront. The far-right party did not present a cultural program, but announced an act to show its measures. There was no program there either, but Abascal took the opportunity to give a rally selling his Culture model.
A model in which bullfights, national heroes and good food were praised and in which he attacked Spanish cinema. Vox said that he wanted to rescue culture, which had been “kidnapped during the 45 years of democracy.” He ignored the kidnapping by censorship throughout the dictatorship, to which he did not refer. “And I don’t forget Spanish cinema. It must also be promoted and rescued from anyone who intends to appropriate it as a method of political propaganda or as a system to steal everyone’s money (…) The subsidy professionals abandon all hope,” he said, announcing “a general framework of tax reductions ”. Almost at the same time, the cultural representative of the party, Joaquín Robles López, called the cultural sector “paniaguados”.
He returned to the mantra of subsidized reds, a lie perpetuated by the right for decades. Spanish cinema receives subsidies as does any cinema in the world. Of course, the amount it receives is much less than that of other countries. In the 2023 budgets, the highest in history for cinema, the 100 million euros were exceeded for the first time up to 167 and thanks to European funds. Of those 167 million, 108 are those that belong to the Cinematography Protection Fund with which the aid to produce films is financed.
For the same year, France announced a game of 711 million euros for the National Cinema Center (CNC). In Germany, a law was passed in 2018 so that the money to defend that his cinema would never fall below 150 – this year, according to the economic development agency (GTAI), it stood at 193.6 million euros. Italy also approved a law in 2017, when the Cinema and Audiovisual Fund was created, so that the cinema would have at least 400 million euros per year. In addition, in 2022 a game of 53 million dedicated exclusively to young directors and complicated films was approved. This would have its equivalent in Spanish cinema with selective aid, which in 2022 had a budget of 20 million euros. Less than half. The subsidies that the cinema receives are also lower than those received by any other sector.
Abascal assured that Culture had kidnapped all democracy. He forgets that the current film law was approved by the PP and agreed upon during Mariano Rajoy’s legislature, during which he was a member of the party (he left in November 2013). He also said that he was going to encourage tax reductions, reductions that already exist in the form of tax incentives for filming – the current legislation says that the State returns 30% of the first million spent, and 25% of the following ones, until reaching a maximum return of 20 million – which has turned our country into a kind of set for international filming.
point out those who speak
His falsehoods were transferred in the form of news thanks to a publication by The Objective that once again perpetuated clichés against Spanish cinema with inaccurate and biased data. The headline read the following: “The LGBT film by Alba Flores collects only 67,000 euros after receiving a million in aid”; and in the text phrases like these were used: “The film starring Alba Flores and generously subsidized by the Government of Spain, through the Ministry of Culture, with one million euros (…) has raised only 66,896 euros in its first two days at the box office” or “The poor results obtained at the box office complicate the profitability of the film, which obtained a very high percentage of aid based on the budget”. It was compared to the latest hit by Santiago Segura, Summer Vacation, which in its first week raised 1,151,276 euros.
The news emphasized its LGTB theme and its ‘protagonist’, Alba Flores. Anyone who had seen the film would know that Alba Flores has a rather secondary role, and that the protagonist is Ana Wagener, but that did not prevent her from being pointed out and taking the opportunity to question her anti-fascist speech in the pride proclamation in the same news story. When including these data in the text, it slipped that both reasons (its theme and its actress) had been the reason for the “generous subsidy” of Culture. What was not said in the news is that the aid from the Ministry of Culture is granted by a system of objective points that what they value is precisely the economic viability of the film, and never the theme of a film. It doesn’t matter if he is LGTBI or talks about the dystopian future. Nor does it provide who its protagonists are; only the award and box office successes of directors and producers. Therefore, the fact that Alba Flores acts in it is only a way of marking it as subsidized. In addition, the actors do not receive a single euro of ICAA aid, but are the producers.
It was not the only data that was omitted or was not correct. The film was said to have grossed €67,000. The day the news was published, the film had already more than doubled, although they have not updated the data. The “generous subsidy” accusation is another biased statement. Of the 43 titles with a subsidy in their call, 32 received that amount (the usual amount in these aids and amounts established in the ministerial orders that govern each call) and another eight received more (1.4 million). Therefore it is not a generous subsidy, but the one that corresponds. It also points to a possible difficult profitability due to its success at the box office, without pointing out that currently sales to other windows represent a fundamental leg for its financing. This in a film that has money from RTVE, Movistar Plus+, Canal Sur Radio and even from Netflix. Data that were in the film’s press release, but that did not seem interesting when talking about its financing.
Lastly, the comparison with Santiago Segura is worth noting, undoubtedly the redoubt of success in Spanish cinema. What they don’t say is that Summer Vacation opened in 435 theaters and I am madly loving you at 106. They could also have pointed out that Segura is not infallible. His previous film as an actor and producerFrom Caperucita to wolf, was released in April and in its first weekend in 207 theaters (double that of I am madly loving you) collected 54,840 euros, less than the film by Alba Flores. The film has said goodbye to the billboard with 120,000 euros. I am madly loving you It already accumulates 186,000 euros in less than two weeks. The film produced by Santiago Segura through his company Bowfinger received aid of 1.2 million, more than the film of discord, from a budget of 2.5 euros.
Of all the Spanish releases that go through theaters, most of which unfortunately don’t work, The Objective has only made news of two of them. I am madly loving youa film about LGBT rights whose protagonists gave an anti-fascist speech and mercy, directed by Eduardo Casanova. The news about his fiasco came, coincidentally, after the actor and director insulted José Luis Martínez Almeida in a program, causing a campaign of harassment and demolition in said medium.
A veto without showing
The same medium -among many others related to the right such as El Mundo or ABC- have also been the ones that have also spread the news that the Ministry of Culture has vetoed, censored or prevented the premiere of a documentary critical of the figure of Pedro Sánchez . Is about The autocrat, by Carlos Hernando. The director sent a statement assuring that Miquel Iceta had “prevented the theatrical release before the electoral call of 23-J”, and that therefore he released the rights of the documentary so that any website could post it. No media, as reported by the Ministry of Culture, contacted them to confirm whether what Hernando said was true or not.
You could also go to consult the ICAA database, where you can find all the films that have obtained the rating by age, the essential requirement to be able to be released in theaters, and where you can see the official document in which it is said that the autocrat He submitted his request on June 20 and it was granted on the 30th of the same month. The text and the director’s statements do not provide any further information that demonstrates this alleged censorship, nor statements from the alleged theaters where it was shown. The film does not even have a distributor, a fundamental tool to get a work to be screened in a commercial theater.
‘Fake news’ and threats
This campaign has also suffered the actor Juan Diego Botto, who denounced through his Twitter account the terrible insults and threats he is suffering from the extreme right due to false news published on a website in which he was attributed to Botto a statement in which he said that he would be happy if ETA returned in the face of a VOX victory in the elections. A link that, as soon as the actor denounced the hate campaign that he was suffering, was withdrawn announcing legal actions.
The user who published the hoax also wrote a message in which he insulted the actor and threatened him by referring to his father, who was assassinated by the Argentine dictatorship. “This Montonero Argentine, the son of a terrorist, is very nervous about the arrival of Vox and the loss of the subsidies with which cocaine and young girls are paid. This son of a bitch is crying out to get him on a helicopter for a ride like they did with his father’s terrorist,” the user’s message read. An earthquake of lies and accusations that make it clear that Culture will be singled out if it shows opposition.
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