Interview with Alfredo Cohen, director of the
Parlante
and executive producer of La
GRAN pantalla
!
How did the idea of a Festival like this come about?
Participatory work session of La Gran Gent Gran
Since our beginnings, 10 years ago, in elParlante we have explored the possibility of working with older people, especially in intergenerational initiatives that put young people in contact with their grandparents and the territory. And 4 years ago we started working with several Senior Citizens’ Centres in Participatory video projects, where older people tell their stories, what affects them, what hurts them, while dismantling stereotypes and prejudices about the different ways they age. The results have excited us and have made us think that in cinema there is also the possibility of making this diversity known… and celebrate it.
Why do a Festival specifically about cinema of the Elderly?
And why not? The Elderly, is not a collective, it is not a monolithic, closed group. At least in our society, we identify older people from the age of 65 to 95… It is a very diverse 30 years!, and many ways of living them, however they are usually pigeonholed, spoken for them. The representations made by the media are full of stereotypes: that they are boring, conservative, that they no longer want to learn, that they do not participate, that they are dependent, that they do not bring anything new to society. A series of barbarities similar to those said about immigrants or about people with functional diversity or different sexual orientations. This Festival is to reflect on these oppressions, on how they intersect and on the role that we play as a society in their construction. Taking into account that in Spain in 2066 there will be more than 14 million elderly people, 34.6% of the total population, about 41,068,643 inhabitants.
Young and old in “Compartint Experiències”, the intergenerational project we do with APS
Is it also a Festival for young people?
Of course!
The BIG Screen
is for the whole family, and for all kinds of families and individuals. As well as other thematic festivals. This is not a Festival to close us but to open up. The best thing that can happen to us in life is to get old. The opposite is death. This Festival is the perfect excuse to go to the cinema with grandparents, but also to enjoy good films. A place to celebrate the beauty of gray hair and wrinkles.
Why do you think that there were so many Film Festivals in the city, there was not one like this?
I don’t know, it’s funny, because also, the independent cinemas of the city survive largely because older people attend the cinema a lot. I guess it speaks ill of who we are as a society and the place we give to seniors. But, the important thing is that it already exists and I think it has a lot of future.
The festival is free, but cinema costs…
Yes, and it costs a lot. It’s hard to write it, produce it, shoot it, exhibit it… This Festival is free for the public because the
Department for the Promotion of the Elderly of the Barcelona City Council
and other entities – including
Cinemes Girona
– fell in love with the idea and have supported it. It’s free because we want the rooms to fill up and for money not to be a problem to attend. But let’s hope the message isn’t wrong. Culture, despite being an intangible of great value, also has a significant cost of production, realization and promotion. For us, it’s a launch bet.
What will we see at the Festival and how are tickets booked?
We will see 8 top-level international feature films , which have won several awards at the most important festivals in the world. We will see about 16 short films in competition, selected from the more than 250 that came to us from all over the world, and that enter the Official Selection . With a luxury jury . We will have a very important honoree, which we will already tell you and there will be two Film Forums : Elderly + Feminisms, LGTBIQ+ Elderly People.
What will happen after the Festival?
Well, we’re going to have an audiovisual hangover-… (Laughter)
Because we hope that The Big Screen will be a kind of anti-ageism platform that from culture and cinematographic art generates new forms of expression and intergenerational encounter. We’ll probably be left wanting more.
Ticket reservations can be made through the website http://lagranpantallafestival.elparlante.es/entrades/