"Films such as the one about Casaldàliga give meaning to public television stations"
Journalist Francesc Escribano, director of "Minoria absoluta", has dedicated many years of his life to the audiovisual sector. He was director of Televisió de Catalunya and created different television formats which have changed the way TV programmes are made. The film "Descalç sobre la terra vermella", based on his book and co-produced by him, has received several international awards.
The main purpose of a public TV station is to explain these type of stories, something private channels wouldn't dare to do.
Francesc Escribano returned to the UAB a few months ago as lecturer to give classes in the degree in Audiovisual Communication. Although he had been teaching for many years, Escribano had taken time off for other projects. Now he's returned to the university, to share his knowledge and years of experience in the world of audiovisual communication with students of the UAB.
-Did you write the book about Bishop Casaldàliga thinking it would be made into a film?
No, not at all. I met Casaldàliga in 1985, when I went to Brazil to do a report on him for the series "30 Minuts". Meeting him was such an experience and it made a long lasting impression on me. It is not something that only I perceived, many people who have met him feel the same. And in 1998 I returned to Brazil to write the book, but in no way did I intend for it to become a film.
And after the success of the film on political activist Salvador Puig Antich (a book I did write knowing it would be made into a film), I was asked to prepare a film based on the book about Casaldàliga. I consulted Bishop Casaldàliga, thinking he would not agree to it, but he finally responded that he accepted the making of the film under one condition: that the film not focus on him, but on the causes he was fighting for. And truth be told, the focus on him was relative; we worked more on highlighting his causes, but also on his life; it's impossible to do so without talking about him.
-What do Puig Antich and Casàldaliga have in common?They are two extraordinary stories. Casaldàliga is a person prepared to give it his all, even if that means dying for the causes he defends. Life is what justifies the magnitude of him, while in the case of Puig Antich, death is what gives dimension to the character. I believe Puig Antich was not looking to be a hero or a martyr, but in the end he became a martyr of the fight against the death penalty and against Franco's dictatorship.
And after the success of the film on political activist Salvador Puig Antich (a book I did write knowing it would be made into a film), I was asked to prepare a film based on the book about Casaldàliga. I consulted Bishop Casaldàliga, thinking he would not agree to it, but he finally responded that he accepted the making of the film under one condition: that the film not focus on him, but on the causes he was fighting for. And truth be told, the focus on him was relative; we worked more on highlighting his causes, but also on his life; it's impossible to do so without talking about him.
-What do Puig Antich and Casàldaliga have in common?They are two extraordinary stories. Casaldàliga is a person prepared to give it his all, even if that means dying for the causes he defends. Life is what justifies the magnitude of him, while in the case of Puig Antich, death is what gives dimension to the character. I believe Puig Antich was not looking to be a hero or a martyr, but in the end he became a martyr of the fight against the death penalty and against Franco's dictatorship.
-Could a private TV station have produced "Descalç sobre la terra vermella"?
-Yes, I think so. The person and his story is so powerful and so universal that we could have produced it for a private TV station. However, these types of productions are what give meaning to a public TV station, both in Brazil, which is where the whole story takes place, and in Catalonia, because Casaldàliga is a well-known Catalan figure. And proof of this is the very good level of audience it had, which goes to show that if it works in a public TV station it can work in a private one.
-Can the same be said when promoting a product before it has been made?
-I don't think it's the same. It's not the same if you watch this film on TV3 (a public TV station) than if you watch it on a privately run channel such as Tele5. The film, when aired on TV3, gives meaning to the channel. The main purpose of a public TV station is to explain these type of stories, something private channels wouldn't dare to do. But what is wonderful is to realise that it can also work at a commercial level. So, basically: do I imagine it in a private channel? Yes. Would I produce it for a private channel? No, because I believe there are other more direct ways of attracting an audience.
-What should a quality public TV station look like?
It must cater to citizens more than to spectators. Private TV stations consider that their clients are the advertisers because they aim to make money and obviously they want companies who pay to air their ads.
For a public TV station, the client should be the people. What often happens is that the clients end up being the politicians, or the workers themselves (something which happens in all public television stations, in which the workers have more power over internal logistics than the institution does). Public channels are absolutely necessary because they offer elements a commercial channel would never offer, since they are more profit-driven. What public channels must do is win over viewers by making quality programmes.
-In a moment of crisis in which everything is affected by the cutbacks, the TV stations are also affected.
-Sometimes, when we reduce spending, the last thing we should cut back on is culture. If you cut back on culture, you're cutting back on your spirit. The spirit of a people is made up of its culture, its language, etc. That is what needs to be guaranteed by a public television station, whether it be Catalan, Spanish, or of other areas.
-Given the unstoppable role taken on by the internet, social networks, mobile phones and the like, in what direction should television go?
Television is everything. Before we talked about the big screen and the little screen; now we can talk about the hyperscreen. The smaller the screen, the larger it is in reality, because it can take you everywhere. In fact, it is the device that has democratised society the most: before it was available only to a very few and now everyone can use it. You can record videos with your mobile, upload them on the internet and maybe even have more people watch it than any cultural programme on TV, such as those aired on La2. What is more similar to television, these types of videos or the shows that they air on Divinity or La2?