Berlanga Film Museum
The Berlanga Film Museum is a project developed as a result of an initiative
from the Council of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Generalitat Valenciana
through the Valencian Institute of the Audiovisual and Cinema – Ricardo
Muñoz Suay (IVAC). This project has been developed thanks to the
collaboration of important Spanish institutions belonging to the world of the
audiovisual industry and culture such as the Spanish Institute of
Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), through the National Film
Archive, the Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences, the
Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish General Association for Authors and
Publishers (SGAE), the Spanish Organization for the Management of
Producers’ Rights (egeda-filmotech), the Group Radiotelevisió Valenciana
RTVV and the Centro de Estudios de la Ciudad de la Luz.
Sponsored by
Collaborations
PRESENTATION
A Virtual Museum for Berlanga
In the last two decades, the expansion of the Internet and of the
Information and Communication Technologies has brought about dramatic
changes in the way we approach the audiovisual industry and it has favoured
the appearance of other means of broadcasting parallel to conventional
screens and the channels known until now for the cinema and the television.
The so-called digital culture, which establishes itself fundamentally
around the Internet, has also contributed to redefining the traditional idea of a
museum as a real physical space or as a container of scientific, cultural or
historical objects. In this new definition of museum, the concept of virtual
museum stands out. The main feature of this concept is a wider and more
universal dimension, because geographic borders and cultural barriers are
eliminated and infinite options for access, the promotion and spreading of
museistic contents are open.
All these transformations, which are bringing about a real technological
revolution, encourage us to make an effort to innovate constantly and find
new proposals for cultural information and audiovisual consumption.
The project of creating an on-line virtual museum about the life and
work of Luis García Berlanga answers precisely the need to attend to the
demands of this technological revolution and to integrate the Valencian film
maker into the digital culture of the 21st century. In this context, the Berlanga
Film Museum (BFM) is set up with the idea that all of Luis García Berlanga’s
films, literary and cultural works, as well as the lesser known aspects of his
biography and the theoretical and critical reflections that his film work has
generated can now be consulted on-line by both critics and historians, and
also by anyone who may be interested in knowing the Valencian film maker
better. As a documentation centre, the Berlanga Film Museum aspires to be
an international reference database about the Valencian film director, so that
it can be consulted by film researchers and historians, as well as film lovers.
The Berlanga Film Museum is, in many aspects, a pioneering project
because until now there has not existed an on-line museum exclusively
dedicated to the figure of a film maker in Europe. In addition to the data and
information offered by pages from cultural institutions, film institutions and
main international film databases (IMDB, Film Affinity, All Movie Guide, Movie
Review), you can find some monographic web sites about some film makers,
which have been created by cultural associations, fan clubs, relatives or
foundations related to great film masters. Despite its undoubtable interest and
usefulness, existing web sites about film makers have not been thought out
as a virtual museum, whose purpose is to include all types of information,
documents, images and film and sound so rigorously and exhaustively.
Among the topics about the figure of Berlanga there is the fact of him
not being a film maker who was really well-known beyond our borders and
that his films are difficult to understand for many foreigners. These topics can
be easily qualified, if one remembers his continuous participation, the tributes,
the retrospectives and the awards obtained by the Valencian film maker, not
only in the main film events (Placido’s Oscar nomination) and international
festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Montreal, Karlovy Vary), but also in film
archives and cultural institutions from all over the world. In any case, the
Berlanga Film Museum project has also been created to be the main
international platform to promote and spread Berlanga’s life and work in order
to keep his figure alive in the 21st century and the place of pre-eminence he
has had in the history of European cinema, together with other film makers of
his time such as Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Alain Resnais, Manoel de
Oliveira, Vittorio De Sica or other directors from Italian neo-realism and the
subsequent Nouvelle Vague.
Luis García Berlanga’s biography (his Valencian roots, his family and
his wide network of friends and professional relationships) is useful in
understanding his films and his contribution to the Spanish culture of the 20th
century better. In the Berlanga Film Museum project there are also included
all those written documents, testimonies, photographs, videos and sound files
that enable us to get a wider vision of what his life and his time were like.
The Berlanga Film Museum has been set in motion, but this project is
not closed to incorporating new materials about the Valencian film director. In
fact, the idea is to complete and update this virtual museum with any
additional pieces of information about his life and work that may surface in the
future. In that sense, the Berlanga Film Museum intends to be a live and
dynamic project, a permanently ongoing project.
At a time when both the audiovisual sector and all fields of culture are
undergoing deep transformations, the Berlanga Film Museum project is even
more necessary to make Berlanga’s films known among the new generations
born in the era of the Internet, but also to keep his enormous cultural legacy
alive, and also the memory of his fascinating and complex personality.
Berlanga, a life of cinema
The History of the Cinema cannot be understood without the all
important contributions of Luis García Berlanga, one of the fundamental
figures of the Spanish culture of the 20th century, not only because of the
value of each of the films which conform his filmography and his long career
as a film maker, but also because of his active work as a promoter of many
different social, artistic and literary initiatives. Berlanga’s cinema, with its
sharp and caustic vision of the social reality of his time, plays an important
role in today’s Spanish cultural identity and at the time it contributed to driving
our country towards the course of modernity. Beyond the privileged place
they have within the Spanish cinematography and its historical and social
context, Berlanga’s films acquire a wider and more universal dimension,
because of their lucid reflections over freedom and the human condition, to
become one of the most important contributions to the history of worldwide
cinema.
Berlanga was immediately recognized by the critics as one of the most
promising and more talented film makers of Spanish cinema, since his
beginnings, as can be seen in "Esa pareja feliz" ("That Happy Couple")
(1951), a caustic and original comedy Berlanga co-directed with Juan Antonio
Bardem. It wouldn’t be long before the young Valencian film maker obtained
international recognition. In 1953, already working alone, Berlanga presented
“Bienvenido, Mister Marshall (“Welcome, Mr. Marshall") (1952) in the Cannes
Film Festival, which was well received by the specialized critics because of its
special sense of humour, the liking for costumbrist satire and the subtle irony
present in each of the scenes of the film. “Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall” didn’t
obtain the Golden Palm and had to make do with the Best Comedy Film
Award, but the second film by Berlanga has remained as one of the
unforgettable classics of all times, and as one of the most tender and humane
of Spanish films that portrays the personal dreams and collective hopes of a
whole town during the years in which Spain was starting to open up to the
world.
After that, Berlanga’s films started to obtain public favour and awards
and acknowledgements in international film festivals. For example,
“Calabuch” (1961), which was nominated for an Oscar from Hollywood’s Film
Academy. When he had already become one of the main renovators of the
Spanish cinema of the post-war, Luis García Berlanga directed “El verdugo”
(“The Executioner”) (1963), which has been considered as one of the best
Spanish films of all times by many critics and film makers, closely followed in
that category by “Plácido”. “El verdugo” obtained many awards, for example
the Film Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival, and ended up definitely
establishing Berlanga as one of the great European film makers. Even in the
films which did not get so many international awards and acknowledgements,
such as “Novio a la vista” (“Boyfriend in Sight") (1954), “Los jueves, milagro”
(“Miracles on Thursdays”) (1957) or “Vivan los novios” (Long live the Bride
and Groom!”) (1970), Berlanga always maintains his lucid and irreverent view
of Spain’s social reality, despite the ever-present shadow of censorship.
However, Berlanga’s films are not only defined by the causticity and irony with
which he approaches the criticism of the customs of Spanish society, as they
were already more clearly shown during the democratic transition in the
trilogy made up of “La escopeta nacional” (“The National Shotgun”) (1977),
“Patrimonio nacional” (“National Heritage”) (1980) and “Nacional III”
(“National III”) (1982) or later on in “La vaquilla” (“The Heifer”) (1985), “Moros
y cristianos” (“Moors and Christians”) (1987) and “Todos a la cárcel”
(“Everybody to Jail”) (1993). They also present a humanistic reflection which
goes beyond social satire and deals with topics such as the individual’s failure
and vulnerability before society, or the impossibility of beating death and
loneliness. These reflections are patent in his less celebrated and more
atypical films in his filmography. For example, “La boutique” (“The Boutique”)
(1967), “Tamaño natural” (“Life Size”) (1973) and, especially, the bitter-sweet
“París Tombuctú” (“Paris-Timbuktu”) (1999), his last film, which was defined
by Berlanga as his cinematographic testament.
Despite his liking for the comical grotesque and foolishness, Berlanga’s
films have a deeper and bitter interpretation. An interpretation which is less
obliging and which supports itself on the film maker’s own disenchanted
existential reflections. In addition to his undeniable talent and experience as
a film director and his mastery of all the registers of comedy, the deep
humanity Berlanga reflects in each one of his films has been essential for him
to be considered one of the great figures of the history of films, not only by
the critics and scholars of Spain, but also beyond our borders. In a voting
session carried out among the international critics present at the prestigious
Festival of Karlovy Vary in 1973, Luís García Berlanga was already chosen
among the ten most important film directors of all times.
Recognitions, Teaching and Initiatives to favour the Spanish Cinema
The value of his film work has not only been awarded by the great film
festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Montreal and Berlin, but it has also been
distinguished in the main awards given in Spain and Europe. From the
beginning of the eighties, the figure of Luis García Berlanga never stopped
being awarded with numerous official and academic distinctions. Among the
most important ones there are the National Cinematography Award in 1980,
the Gold Medal of Fine Arts in 1981, the Commendatore Order of Merit from
the government of Italy in 1982, and the Principe de Asturias Award for the
Arts in 1986. His mastery within Spanish cinema was highlighted in many
occasions by our main academic and cultural institutions, because Luis
García Berlanga was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San
Fernando and Doctor Honoris Causa by different Spanish universities.
As well as directing his films, Berlanga had a distinguished teaching
career. In addition to being part of the first class at the Institute of Cinematic
Investigation and Experience, together with Juan Antonio Bardem, Berlanga
was one of the most highly valued teachers at the Official School of Cinema
from 1958 until a little before its disappearance, during the early seventies.
His lessons are still remembered by acclaimed directors of today’s Spanish
cinema such as José Luis Borau, Carlos Saura, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón or
Mario Camus.
The one time he held public office, Luis García Berlanga showed
himself to be an enterprising and tireless manager. In 1979, while the UCD
(Union of the Democratic Centre) was governing, the then general director of
Cinema, José García Moreno, appointed him as president of the Spanish
National Archive, a post for which Berlanga barely received any money and
which, at the beginning, had a status which was more honorary than
executive. However, Berlanga refused to be content with enjoying the benefits
of an honorary distinction and devoted himself actively to the objective of
increasing the funds of the Film Archive and encouraging the retrieval,
conservation and spreading of the until then scattered and badly kept Spanish
film heritage.
In 1986, when the Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences
was created, all the professionals of the film industry backed Luis García
Berlanga’s appointment as honorary president of the institution. It was the just
recognition to his undeniable mastery and authority in the Spanish film
industry from his trade partners.
If the work carried out by Berlanga to favour the retrieval and
conservation of the Spanish film heritage was essential at the beginning of
the eighties, his involvement in the promotion of Valencian cinema and the
creation of an audiovisual industry in the Comunidad Valenciana (Valencian
region) was driven by his commitment with strengthening and consolidating
the Spanish presence in the main international cinematographic forums.
During the mid-eighties, Luis García Berlanga was one of the main promoters
of the Valencian Film Archive and of today’s Valencian Institute of the
Audiovisual and Cinema (IVAC), which was set up and directed by his great
friend Ricardo Muñoz Suay. Berlanga’s role in the development and setting
up of the Ciudad de la Luz (a Film Studio he helped to build in Alicante) was
also decisive, because the project to create big film studios in the Comunidad
Valenciana was his. As a token of gratitude for all that work, the Generalitat
Valenciana (Valencia’s regional government) awarded him with the Grand
Cross of the Order of James I the Conqueror in 2008, which was added to the
Great Honour of the Generalitat Valenciana granted in 1993. Also, in 2008,
the Generalitat agreed that the renovated cinema of the Rialto building,
headquarters of the Film Archive of the IVAC, was named after Luis García
Berlanga.
Despite his intense film work, Berlanga always had an intense
relationship with literature, which showed in many different ways. In 1996 he
filmed a television series commissioned by Television Española about the life
of the novelist Vicente Blasco Ibañez, whose personal and political career
had a lot of influence on the Berlangas at the beginning of the 20th century. A
self-confessed bibliophile and erotomaniac, Berlanga also played a crucial
role, together with Beatriz de Moura, in the creation in 1977 of the collection
of erotic narrative, and the Award, called “The Vertical Smile”, which is
published by Tusquets.
It is not easy to assess the enormous influence Berlanga has had on
the cinema and culture of our country and even on Spanish society itself. In
fact, the Valencian film director is one of the few creators who has the honour
of having coined an adjective, the “berlanguian” neologism, which José Luis
Borau has proposed to add to future editions of the dictionary of the Real
Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy of Language), offering a
definition: “Typical and characteristic of Luis García Berlanga, or that it has a
resemblance with the work of the said film maker". Although the term has not
been approved yet, the adjective “berlanguian” has gone beyond Berlanga’s
figure and work to enter the Spanish language as a colloquial term which
defines all types of everyday situations considered to be between surrealist,
absurd and tragicomic.
Berlanga’s complex and contradictory personality, not only as a film
maker but also as a human being, has created a lot of topics, legends and
anecdotes. The “berlanguian” term itself has been used very often to define
Berlanga’s personal experiences, as well as his likings, beliefs and views.
Despite the chaotic, untidy and anarchic personality that has always been
attributed to Berlanga, despite his confessed wish to devote himself to
indolence, Berlanga always took his job as a film maker very seriously, as can
be testified by all those who worked for him. Behind his so-called liking for
improvisation, there was really a thorough, perfectionist and reflexive creator
who thought out each of the shots in his films and their staging.
Berlanga always tried to minimize, through his ironic slyness and his
complex human simplicity, his leading role in the European cinema of the
20th century because he was a little wary and sceptical of awards, tributes
and public recognition. Despite his efforts to mislead and go unnoticed, like
an extra without lines in one of his well-known sequence shots, despite his
declared wish to become invisible, Berlanga is one of the central characters
not only of today's Spanish culture but also of the worldwide film industry. In
this sense, the Berlanga Film Museum is born with the intention of keeping
Berlanga’s figure present and visible in the context of art, culture, and the
cinema and spreading his work outside Spain.
DESCRIPTION AND BASIC FEATURES OF THE
BERLANGA FILM MUSEUM (BFM)
Domain
The two main domains have been registered: berlangafilmmuseum.com and
berlangafilmmuseum.es, to which the web site responds, as well as all those
necessary to protect the brand.
Languages
The web site is in Spanish, as the main language, but it has been
initially translated into English and Valencian. Other European languages may
be added later on. Its translation into English is fundamental to be able to
spread Berlanga’s work internationally.
Graphic Identity of the Project
A graphic identity has been created with a typographic composition
based on the surname Berlanga. The typography chosen is reminiscent of
that used in the credit titles of some of his films. Together with the Berlanga
surname, an icon has been created to accompany the user during browsing:
a turned over “B”, to which two small dots have been added to make it look
like glasses or the eyes of a film director.
Structure of the on line museum
The BFM is structured in two fundamental sections, that is, Berlanga’s
biography and his filmography. However, to understand his figure better it is
necessary to have other additional information. For this purpose, the web site
has two sections designed to cover the personal aspect (“Dimension”) and
the bibliographic one (“Archive”).
The different sections of the web site are explained below.
About the Home page
The Home page is the starting page of a web site, the starting point for
many users to get immersed into the museum. It is also the window to the
most important contents of the web site and an invitation to start browsing
through the site.
The Home page is structured with a central carrousel of images,
accompanied by sentences which define the director in well-known actors’
and Spanish film directors’ words. This carrousel uses a few words to
introduce Berlanga to all the users and especially to those who do not know
his figure and his relationship with the film industry and with the history of
Spain.
A space has also been reserved to include highlights about the new
items which may be added to the web site, whether they are new items or
sections.
The rest of the structure of the Home page is completed with:
1. The identity of the project.
2. The general browsing menu: elements which enable the navigation through
the whole of the web site. The same elements will appear on every page.
3. The presence of the graphic identity of all the sponsoring and collaborating
institutions.
Biography
The BFM presents Berlanga’s biography (Valencia, 12 June 1921Madrid, 13 November 2010) in connection with the corresponding historical
moment. To do this section, all the most important events in Berlanga’s life
have been chosen and they have all been referenced with dates and
descriptions, including images in those events for which they were available.
This biography has been presented in the form of a chronological line.
The events have been placed in their corresponding years. Both the years
and the events can be navigated through by the user, so that he/she can
have a general view of the biography or stop at each event to read the
descriptions.
In some instances, the biographical files have been linked to the
corresponding film files.
Filmography
Berlanga’s 22 films and the television mini-series he directed about
Blasco Ibañez are included. Each one of them has a complete file with a
description of the most important data of the film. This is so that the user can
have the most complete view possible of the film director’s work. It is
important to point out that the user will be able to have access to see the film
through the Filmotech payment platform from the file itself.
The most important data compiled about all the films for the web site
are listed below:
 Original title
 Year
 Year of release
 Synopsis
 Credits
 Cast
 Awards
 Poster
 Filming locations
 Photographs
 See trailer
 Link to see film through Filmotech
To make the spreading of these contents easier, each one of the film
files is linked to the option of sharing in social networks.
The possibilities this section has for growing are varied and are open to
incorporating new material that may surface and to Berlanga’s collaborators’
participation through the provision of production details.
Dimension
This section includes the writings, personal testimonies and research
carried out about Berlanga by film critics, writers, actors, film makers and
collaborators who worked with or met Berlanga. The objective is to
reconstruct the figure of Berlanga’s through writings from people who met him
or have studied his work. Each one of these texts is completed, in some
instances, with audiovisual elements such as photographs, videos or
animations.
On entering this section the user finds a gallery of images which refer to
the texts collected, especially photographs of their authors, so that they are
easier to recognise.
Archive
This section has been designed like a digital library about Berlanga.
The objective is to collect and organise the existing materials about the life
and work of the Valencian film maker and make them available to the users to
be consulted in an organised way.
The materials in this section are photographs, videos, sound files,
posters, books and written documents.
The contents are classified according to the nature of the material,
although some terms have been introduced to allow users to find the contents
through a specific subject matter. The general categories of the archive are:
 Photographs about both his life and his work, organised in albums by
subject matter.
 Posters of his films and other graphic materials, such as programmes.
 Books about his work, referenced and, in some cases, digitized.
 Documents about both his life and his work, referenced and, in some
cases, digitized.
 Screenplays of his films, only those which are digitized.
 Berlanga’s own writings (speeches, press articles, contributions)
referenced and, in some cases, digitized.
When they access the Archive, users go straight to the section called
Photograph, but they can browse through the rest, selecting the type of
materials they wish to consult.
Participation of collaborating institutions in BFM
Several institutions have taken part in the set up of the Berlanga Film
Museum and they have contributed to the project in many different ways.
The Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences has
provided digitized copies of the graphic, documentary and audiovisual
documents related to Berlanga kept in its archives to be added to the BFM.
The Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), through
the National Film Archive, has digitized non filmic, graphic and documentary
materials related to Berlanga from its archives to be included in the BFM. It
has also contributed with a copy of “El Circo” (“The Circus”) (Luis García
Berlanga, 1950) and “Paseo por una guerra antigua” (“Stroll through an old
War”) (Luis García Berlanga-Juan Antonio Bardem, 1949), both from the
collection at the Official School of Cinema (IIEC/EOC).
The Organization for the Management of Producers’ Rights (EGEDA)filmotech.com has carried out the management of rights so that Berlanga’s
filmography is accesible on line and in streaming in BFM. It has also digitized
the Valencian film maker’s films licensed and restored by the IVAC and the
National Film Archive. EGEDA offers Berlanga’s films in the original version
and in a version with English subtitles, when the subtitles are available. It also
includes Berlanga’s films in the catalogue of titles offered with a FLAT RATE
in filmotech.com
The Instituto Cervantes supports the international spread of the BFM
through its virtual platforms and the insertion of a link to the BFM web site in
its own web site. The said link will also be included in the webs of the Instituto
Cervantes centres abroad in which they may be going to carry out activities
related to Berlanga.
The Centro de Estudios de la Ciudad de la luz has created a teaser
lasting about 45 seconds as an introduction for each one of Luis García
Berlanga’s films, or those the BFM has about him. It has also contributed
with graphic material about the film maker’s visits to the studios.
The group Radio Televisió Valenciana (RTVV) has given all the audiovisual
material it has in its archive related to Berlanga to the IVAC.
Staff
General Director: Nuria Cidoncha
Director of the Museum: Rafael Maluenda
Coordinator: Jorge Castillejo
Assistant Coordinator: Marisol Carnicero.
Press: Lucas Soler (soler_luccab@gva.es. Mobile number: 682130511)
Legal Advice: José Luis Moreno and Carmen Buedo
Research/Documentation Service: Nieves López Menchero and Alicia Herráiz
IVAC’s Computer Services: Ángel Cayuela
Web Site Design and Development: Filmac
Contact: info@berlangafilmmuseum.com