Thursday, November 6, 2008

Catalan Film

Last week we had a Catalan film festival and conference: Under the Magnifying Lens: Catalan Cinema of the Real. I was merely a spectator, hopefully we will get a more inside look later. Many of the leading Catalan film makers came to Stanford. While many topics were discussed, I came out with one basic one that I feel is yet to be answered: what is Catalan film? I understand that Catalan literature is literature written in Catalan. But language is the medium of books. Is there something special about the visuals and audios of Catalan film that defines it as different than say Spanish, French, or Italian film? Wikipedia was little help. I did find some information at the Lincoln Center, but neither of these sites talks about the film medium. I feel that theme and language are such a small part of film that they cannot define it. Maybe this leads to another question: is there such a thing as a national cinema or is cinema a universal medium?

3 comments:

toddkmack said...

Not so fast. What about writers like Marse and Carlos Ruiz Zafon who are from Catalonia and write in Spanish, but clearly deal with Catalan issues. Are they not Catalan writers? If they are Catalan writers, is their literature NOT Catalan?

Zach said...

Two example come to mind: Joseph Conrad and Mel Gibson. While Joseph Conrad was Polish he is considered part of the English literature because he writes in English. Mel Gibson is Australian and makes movies in dead languages, but they are still American. To be a Catalan writer you must use the medium of Catalan literature-el catala.

Enric Truñó Juanola said...

Hi, here a catalan writter, who writes in catalan language (well, catalan language was my ancestors' language after all). Catalan was forbidden some years ago, quite scaring... Well, here my free catalan ebook in catalan (never ever published):http://faustlimbecil.blogspot.com/. And don't forget the blog:http://bloblobloc.blogspot.com/.Not in facebook sorry ;)Thanks for thinking of us...