2013_10_08_COM_Entrevista-Javier-Ocaña

Javier Ocaña preparing one lecture PHOTO: L. Fraile

The style has changed, it seems that now in Spain they are producing differentiated film products.

We critics now have to prove that we know more about cinema than others.

According to Miguel Ángel Barroso and Fernando Gil Delgado, authors of the book Cine español en cien películas (Spanish Cinema in a Hundred Films, 2002), the history of cinema in Spain is defined as follows:"The history of Spanish cinema is an integral part of the history of the 20th century and not a mere 'cultural ornament'... the chronology of our cinema is part of the history of our country." Last week a talk on Spanish cinema took placeat the School of Communication of the University of Navarra. As a special guest in a subject elective subject directed by Professor Alberto N. García, came Javier Ocaña, film critic of the newspaper El País. Ocaña was explaining the guidelines by which cinema is governed in Spain, what has been his relationship with the industry, as well as his vision of how he sees the Spanish panorama. He also answered the most controversial questions about the official document of being a film critic.

Knowing the frenetic activity of journalists at essay of a newspaper or any other media, what is your day-to-day life like at El País?

In the ten years that I have been working in this newspaper, writing a film review every Friday, I have beento the newspaper only twice, once when I was going to go on a trip to Cinemanía to talk to one of my bosses at El País, and the other, very recently, to shoot a video about the Oscar gala. I never go, work at home, for better or worse. We have a list that notifies us of the premieres and, from there, is when we set up the critique. We divide up the reviews and then everyone goes to the cinema with their own accreditation to see the film they want to see. I have not suffered the frenetic activity of the journalist, but the quiet life of the journalist, and the truth is that I am very happy with this way of working.

In his Twitter bio he mentions that it is not contradictory to be graduate in Law and be a film critic....

And not only that, I'm also a soccer player, a theater lover and a rugby fan [laughs]. All this conglomeration of hobbies is not contradictory: I am a person who has been lucky enough, and not everyone is, to have liked many things since I was a child, I have played soccer all my life, I have always liked reading, I have always liked going to the theater.... All thathuman training that I have been acquiring since I was four or five years old until now, is what sometimes helps me to grasp certain things in a film, also to understand what is happening in the world, what is happening in the Syrian conflict, what has been the last trick of Berlusconi... This training is what has helped me to understand the world, and this has ended up dragging me to be a film critic.

With the irruption of the Internet in the world of communication, anyone can give their opinion and set up their own film reviews in a blog, forum, etc. What impact has this phenomenon had on your official document?

It affects in the sense that it is now when professionals, those of us who get paid for this, have to prove that we do it better than those who do not get paid. That is, if someone with a blog at home or from Twitter, is getting that with less 'weapons' of performance manages to be at the same level as a film critic, is that we are doing something wrong. We have to prove that we know more about cinema than the others, that we have seen more cinema, that we write better than the others, that we have more punch when it comes to presenting concepts. We have to give that plus, if we really demonstrate this, it is that we are really earning our salary.

Regarding Spain, what is your relationship with the film industry?

Me, none, honestly. Fortunately or unfortunately, since I didn't come from the world of cinema, the relationship I have is with the press officers, who are the ones who send me the information to see a certain film. Beyond that I don't have any relationship, I don't even know the producers. The few directors I have met have been short filmmakers. If I have done things that have been to the liking of these people, yes I have received some e-mail as sample of thanks, but beyond that... I have no commitment with the top people, and that gives me total freedom in my work. I have only two commitments: one, to myself; and one, to the reader. If that works, it's all clear.

The lack of criteria and independence in Spanish cinema has often been blamed. Is this a correct statement?

Spanish cinema can be blamed for many things, but lately they are doing very different things, it is no longer that homogeneous cinema in which one film is exactly the same as another in content, spaces, actors, etc. The style has changed, narrative, aesthetics, it seems that now in Spain they are producing differentiated products. The style has changed, the narrative, the aesthetics, it seems that now in Spain differentiated products are being made. The film Black Bread (2010) is absolutely nothing like the films of Álex de la Iglesia, and vice versa. I'm talking about a stretch of about seven or eight years in which this lack of criteria has changed for the better. Every year four or five Spanish films are released that are moderately good. It is also true that of the approximately one hundred and fifty Spanish films that are published during a year, there are many that do not even deserve a accredited specialization in this interview. A peculiar case that comes to my mind is Torrente, which seems to me to be garbage, but if it brings a considerable issue number of people to the cinema, I think it's a good idea.

It is well known that in Spain there is not a very cordial relationship between Cahiers du cinema and El País, specifically between Cahiers du cinema and Carlos Boyero, who also works with you as a film critic. What is the reason for this conflict?

They are totally opposite styles. Carlos is a blunt person, one of those who says directly if he likes a film or not and why. And Cahiers du cinema is the exhaustive, academic, detailed analysis, much less direct but more complete, and that clashes a lot with such a marked and peculiar personality as Boyero's. I, personally, have nothing against the colleagues of Cahiers du cinema . In fact, I know several people within this magazine with whom I maintain a good relationship and we write e-mails to each other exchanging opinions and impressions about the world of cinema. More than a fight of El País, it is a little battle of pulallas between Carlos Boyero and Cahiers du cinema .

In his youtube video Los siete pecados capitales del cine español, he mentions that there are no ethical and intellectual references left. Why?

Here I explain that there are no longer known referents in Spanish cinema like Fernando Fernán Gómez, that essence or intellectual source in which the instructions of Spanish films were established has been lost. Fernán Gómez was a leader of the old school, who shaped the film industry. A person who lived through the different eras in Spain and knew how to adapt and understand the circumstances of each moment, something that other directors, no matter how good they were, did not know how to do. Pedro Almodóvar could have been this ethical or intellectual reference for Spain, but he preferred to follow a path much more staff than collective, he cared about making his cinema, and this attitude does not have much room to be a reference. He is a good director , but here he lost a unique opportunity to be at the same level as Fernán Gómez. But let's not dramatize, the fact that there are no referents in Spain does not mean that good films are not made, but that's another story...

How do you see the current situation in Spain?

The panorama in Spain is moderately good. I have already mentioned before that Spanish cinema has changed a lot in recent years, and that has been reflected in the films that are released every year. Other themes are raised, there are different objectives, with a variety of visions and opinions, and that does a lot of good to the collective, it is no longer just 'Civil War'. If we continue in this line, it is possible that people realize that the cinema made in Spain is a good cinema, but we must not lose the north and continue to improve, there comes into play the role of director, who knows how to adapt to the circumstances of the moment.