Esteve Riambau is in his office on the second floor of the Filmoteca de Catalunya, in Raval. The grand finestral offers a picat view of the Marseille bar. In a racó a terra, on the coast of the taula, there is a emmarcat poster of Lawrence d’Arabiaalso n’ha despenjat one of Doctor Zhivago and also a series of images of patton. They are part of his second half, which will matter to both of them. Because Riambau (Barcelona, 69 years old, last 14 years, since March 2010, head of the Catalan film library), is leaving, leaving the job to Pablo La Parra Pérez, who will join on July 1. It is a good moment to celebrate a crucial stage of the Film Library (and of the city) that has passed through the wake of a radical change that has moved it to the center of one of the most complex neighborhoods in Barcelona. Riambau is not a particularly expressive man, more Bergman than Douglas Sirk, and not Jerry Lewis, but it is evident, and common, the emotional burden that he carries.
Ask. What do you remember about canvi?
Reply. It will be intense, there will be many delays. For the first time, I saw the building with the director, after winning the competition, from the terrace of a neighboring house. It was up to me to build, but you don’t have to believe the terms of the architects. And then it’s hard to wait for the square to finish. It will be two years until the official inauguration on February 19, 2012.
Q. But this new one, 7,515 quadrat meters, 6 plants, dues sales…
R. Without doubt, there was a total dispersion of the Film Library, the projections to Aquitània, the library to Santa Madrona, the archive to La Campana, the Trànsit building…
Q. Is he going to worry that they send him to Raval?
R. I am not going to consider whether it was the best building or the best barri. It wasn’t a personal decision. The potential was extraordinary, sens dubte, fos on fos. My focus was to serve this potential. La nova seu ens allowed us to double sales (dues), to create expositius spaces, to offer educational services that did not exist. I the archive of the archive, digital conservation. They are unexplored areas. Here is the congress of the Federation of Film Archives in 2013, a magnificent opportunity to show the new film library to international colleagues.
Q. Is it going to take a lot of pressure to add to such a complex barrel?
R. At first it was surprising and provoked suspicion, within 15 days of opening the new film there was a newspaper headline that the Filmoteca was unable to eradicate prostitution from the Raval. Some spectators expressly note that police protection is required at the end of the sessions. But the truth is that mai hi hagut major problem. The relationship with the neighborhood is very good. Hem col·laborat molt, in the measure of possible. We are also aware that we are not the ones who have to fix the problems of the Raval. It was absurd creure això. My favorite anecdote in this sense is that a habitual prostitute, a dona de l’Est, is going to come and be happy to see Mamma Rome, by Pasolini, with Anna Magnani precisely as a prostitute. Això for me symbolizes many of our integration.
Q. Who are the other moments in memory?
R. Molts. Intense and engaging. The celebration of the centenary of Orson Welles, which includes the screening at the Col·legiata of Cardona of the restored version of Bells to mitjanit, let’s finish all the plorant. Memorable sessions with the recent ones from the Béla Tarr cycle, with the present, or that one with Jean-Pierre Léaud who will pose tothom dret. It has been very emotional to walk through the film in the archives of the Filmoteca, with the 2018 series Catalan Cinema’s Radical Years, 1968-1978, at the Moma in New York, or the screening in Tangier in 2019 of the Moroccan film Lost De quelques évènements sans signification with the copy we had and we have restored it to us. The 2021 celebration of the 150th birthday of Segundo de Chomón, the first filmmaker to open an official commemoration of the Catalan Government. He supported Costa-Gavras’ candidacy for the Premi Catalunya in 2017 (the first filmmaker I won). I would also like to celebrate the success of the award and donation of funds from Catalan filmmakers such as Jaime Camino, Pere Portabella and Agustí Villaronga.
Q. How do they go out in public?
R. The pandemic is going to mean a downturn and a disaster, but in the end we have to recover forcibly. We had about a hundred spectators per session. They are very important. The film archives need to preserve the cinematographic arrival, the films, but they are also preserving a way of seeing them, typical of the cinema of the 20th century, to the forests, in the original version, with col·loquis, of vegades with music in directe, i això te el seu públic and donate a sentit to our feina. It is not worth preserving if it is not intended to be projected and distributed. It also attracts new generations, people who have seen this film on the big screen that they like. I have always opted for eclectic programming, to diversify, the Film Library cannot be turned into a specialized ghetto. It is a public equipment and must be open to different spectators.
Q. Check the balance.
R. This is the repte. Cal escape from the old concept of endogamic cinephilia. Don’t be reductionist. Cinema is an eina to open to the world. An exchange of experiences and cultures. Among the last guests were Annie Ernaux and Sarah Moon, writer and photographer, respectively, but they both have interests, and work, in cinema. Examples of the transversality that we have sought. We have also sought collaborations with other institutions, the Macba, the TNC, the Lliure… Finally, we are the Filmoteca de Catalunya, and we are faithful to start with the Bigas Luna retrospective and in the end we have held the session of Behind the glass from Villaronga.
Q. Were you sad not to continue?
R. I don’t know if I will ever feel sorry. No one sent wreaths of flowers, the Film Library continues, I continue, I’m not going to the retirement club, I won’t stop, I have many projects and I will continue very active. I have offered my collaboration to my successor. I didn’t disappear like the one I know, a film historian. I ended up due to a series of factors, including age, at 70 I ended my contract with the university, on which I depended. For the Filmoteca, the Marxist law practically coincides with the approval of the law created by the Institut Filmoteca de Catalunya, which places it at the national level. Això està fet, encara que s’ha endarrerit un ano, i will not wait. It was time to complete a stage. This is the end of a project that will begin with the new project in 14 years and will end here.
Q. They felt satisfied, doncs.
R. Absolutely.
Q. Any spinet stuck?
R. We have not been able to rescue the darrer photochemical laboratory, the Image, which will launch in 2017. We will try to incorporate it into the Film Library with the current consideration. But we will not find political support. The time will donate the reason that it is essential to preserve the material. It would also be nice to see the approved law, but in fact, it is just an amendment.
Q. It would seem that in the new film library there will be a phase in which it will radiate more, and then it will tancat on itself, a diastole and a systole.
R. No ho veig aixi. It is certain that we are going to have a first expansive phase, there was a lot of expectation and we are going to start strong. And then you will have the limitations inherent to the one we are in, the country we are in. We cannot compare both the great film archives of the world. But it is not bad, both of our limitations are pressupostaris and human resources, all of which we have. We celebrate anniversaries and we rebut many visits from great filmmakers; Per cert, de vegades amb menys media repercussions than they deserve. The bar, La Monroe, has been a first-class aliat. He has changed the image of the square, he has donated life. Estic molt content d’aquesta symbiosis.
Q. Does it seem like what part of the citizenry faces has to discover the Film Library?
R. It’s hard to say, we don’t have any resources for publicity. But the Film Library sounds. Just ask the taxi drivers, which is always a good indication.
Q. Això is a parany, because most are from the Raval.
R. Haha. It is certain. It is always possible to aspire for more. Sens dubte remains molt per fer. A good way to appropriate people has been the thematic cycles for the summer – we may decide to keep them open in August – and the films chosen by popular personalities – Colita, Lluís Homar, Eduardo Mendoza, Nazario …—. We have col·laborators and interlocutors many fidels also, the French, German, Italian institutes, the Liceu, the Grec, the festivals… We always have apostat for the col·laboració and for profiting synergies.
Q. You have not been asked any questions, as you have passed to the Macba with the extension.
R. No, it has not been possible in doubt. He spoke at other locations, such as Born, for example. When we reached the cella, “aneu al Raval?”, he said “yes, 200 meters from the Liceu”. Mai vaig qüestar the decision. As you will remember, you see all of that cultural route from the time of Pasqual Maragall, “From the Liceu to the Seminari”. We are the smallest, the most difficult to reach and the most complicated. But the experience has not been generally painful. Hi, it’s important to collaborate with the neighborhood, but I understand, repeat, escape from the mistake. It is not about programming Bollywood cycles and everyone will come here. It is not so simple and schematic. Hi, there are many problems that are very complicated because the temptation to say “això ho will fix the Film Library” is tingui.
Q. It is recommended with a book from the Filmoteca, Filmmakers (Lunwerg), a band that will appear on May Challenge the rulesboth texts by Pere Portabella on art, cinema and politics edited by you (Galàxia Gutenberg).
R. Filmmakers It is a memory of those 12 years of the new year through the photos of the filmmakers who have visited them, celebrations for Óscar Fernández, and with the dedications that they will leave at these guests. The photos hang on the walls of the Film Library in various llocs. Capturing this expression of friendship in a very opportune and practical book. It is a testimony of complicity between friends, some of whom have already died. Among the 210 portraits are Saura, Bellocchio, Schlöndorff, Coixet, Erice, Tavernier, Schygulla, Léaud, Guerín, Loach, Paolo Taviani, Schroder, Peter Brook, Herzog, Gitai…
