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Autumn has arrived in Barcelona and with it, loyal as every year since 1998, the cycle of Ambigú cinema. Every Tuesday, the film lover who suffers post-day of the spectator (on Mondays), are received by the family of 100,000 retinas in its peculiar home: the Apolo room, converting for a few hours into a type of extension of the lounge room at home. You hang with friends, have a drink, listen to music ... and you see a film on a big format scrreen. Carlos R. Rivers, that programmes the cycle along with Amaia Torrecilla, is satisfied because the public makes use of this opportunity to see unpublished films in Spain, which are "unknown or considered minors in its place of origin".
Independent cinema has a big number of followers in the city, they give us proof with the activities that this collective have built with diverse events: the Barcelona Asian Film Festival, Primavera Sound Festival or the recent Cine sin techo (Cinema without roof).
Until December we have, in only two only sessions (8:30pm and 10:30pm), films proceeding from Germany, United Kingdom and of the "nice child" of the organisers, France. What are some of the criteria of the selection of 100,000 retinas?The first criteria is that the films have not had distribution in Spain. Also we have interest in the innovation, the quality, the new directors...
But although many of them are not released here they have already appeared in festivals, like the Berlinale...We are present at festivals and try to see the biggest possible number of films. Yes they could have been show in festivals in Gijón, San Sebastian or Cannes but we only select those who will not be released to the Spanish cinemas.
The programming is selected by a group of 100,000 retinas, how do you all agree bearing in mind what to value in a film and be especially subjective?100.000 retinas were born for a question of affinity of pleasures and interests. In one day we discover what would happen if there was a stable programming of cinema that is not distributed in Barcelona. From here, the criteria is sometimes clearly divergent and there are films that perhaps one of us do not like and we try to look for the balance. It is like an unspoken pact. For us it is important that the films have quality but we especially give priority for the right to see, the public has to right to decide if they like it or not... And in a certain way this is what it weighs. Often you do not like a film completely but it seems interesting to you to programme it because many people may like it.
As it is cinema that is not known by habitual circuits, do you believe that the public goes there with references of the films or rather they rely on your criteria?Normally you do not find references of these movies unless you look in the Internet. It is a combination between that they trust us or they remember the film from some festival. They find with everything, from a film that they have not liked at all, which is what could happen when you go to a normal cinema, as well if they didn't go, they would not have discovered it. If they are interested in the topic or the synopsis, they repeat. The public is mainly young, and movie buffs... Also there are the people who come for a certain innovation or modernity, but perhaps they do not repeat because if they are not minimally interested in cinema, the truth is that Ambigú is a harder exercise than the commercial cinema. Anyway we have also have shown films of the very well-known directors and actors, but what we haven´t had till now is an advertising support.
The difference between the Ambigú cycle and any other of alternative cinema is...Ambigú contributes more films to the Barcelona offer and continues during the whole year. One of the innovations of this cycle is that every Tuesday you find a film; it is not a question of a festival that has a limited duration. We show alternative or independent films because we opt for a quality cinema that has not been released here but that in their country of origin they are known or minor films. In our selection we would not enter, for example, a German film that costs 1000 millions because although it can be of an author or one of cult, it is not an alternative cinema, it is a big production.
Why do you select Apolo for improvised cinema?When we began it was not easy to find a venue that could lodge a cycle of these characteristics because the cinemas were not ready to close for one or two sessions for the Ambigú cycle. We already knew the Apolo and really it was a wise move as we able to make use of this recreational space with a big screen and projections of 35 mm. Another claim is that the place is very attractive to people.
You don't show Spanish films…why?Spanish films although they all are released very badly they do have commercial exit and therefore they do not enter already our selection. In one occasion there was some interest in a film but the distributors preferred not to exhibit them because then they would interfere in the normal channel distribution.
Is there any particular country that is especially of interest?France, for its quality and variety and because it has very good directors. It is our nice child because it has a very elegant cinematography. Also we really like the Asian countries and to these we already dedicate them a completed festival.
How did you pass to organize the Barcelona Asian Film Festival?It was organised because we already saw for some time that the Asian continent had a very high presence and quality in some countries, so we decide to open their doors and to say "we have to do something ". It was jointly a proposal of an exhibition so we could contribute a part of cinema and we already decided we were going to do a first sample, that's what we started working 5 years ago. Last year the BAFF already did the big change and now an epoch of stability arrives because it has grown double the amount with the budget, in activities ... and now we have already achieved our targets.
Have you thought about organising more festivals?Not for the time being. The truth is that the activities of 100,000 retinas are already a lot: Primavera Sound Festival was created and I believe that it is sufficient. This year we have inaugurated the programming of summer cinema, Cine sin techo (open air cinema), with the collaboration with the film producer 'My Left Arm and a Restaurant'. This was something that we were felt like organising long ago and this year we have finally done it because there was been a sponsor who paid it because if not, it would not be impossible to produce all the activities. It has had a lot of success, it was free and it is going to continue along this line.
What is the balance through the six years betting on independent cinema?Positive, although the beginning was hard and to support it is not easy at all, but for us it is a satisfaction to have projected about 40 films a year during all this time. There was a moment, in which we thought that the cycle would not last so long, but the people keep on coming back, it has a stable public and simultaneously the new people join every year. We have managed to create a mark, to support a stable programming and the public have admitted that the selection of the films is good.
María Marquéz López :.
Monday, 27 October '03