On Wednesday the 22nd of November the film series “Cinema en Valencià” will premiere in Gandia. The series includes the screening of three films for the general public and a special morning screening for primary school students in the city. The campaign was presented this morning in a press conference.
Councillor of Education, Political Linguistics and Early Childhood Ester Sapena, top Linguistic Promotion Specialist of the Gandia Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) Josepa Costa, Head of the UV International Centre of Gandia, Carme Melo and Vice-President of the la Safor Commonwealth Jordi Puig presented the programming for the 17th edition of the Valencian Cinema Series.
The initiative was started in 2006 by the Valencian universities based in Gandia as “a tool to alleviate a lack that still exists today, because cinemas do not offer films in Valencian,” recalled Costa.
This year the programme will start on the 22nd of November with the original version of Miquel Romans’ Un cel de plom (Sky of ashes) and will continue exactly one week later with the French film by Andréa Bescond Quand tu seras grand (Big kids). Lastly, on the 17th of January there will be a screening of the Italian film Il signore delle formiche (Lord of the Ants). All of the films will be shown in Valencian at the Serrano Theatre at 8pm and will be free of charge for those who have a university card or a Gandia Library Network card, and will cost 2 euros for the general public.
There will also be a showing of the Norwegian animated film Titina on the morning of Friday the 15th of December for second and third grade primary school students. The Councillor of Education and Linguistic Policy would like to remind the primary schools that the to apply to the AVIVA Agency for the Promotion of Valencian Language is the 30th of December. “I am very pleased that this programme has reached the schools because this guarantees that the children, regardless of whether or not their parents take them to see the other sessions, can enjoy cinema in Valencian.” Furthermore, the Councillor highlighted the “enriching character” of the initiative that, since its origins, has shown a variety of films such as King Kong and Harry Potter.
During the presentation of the film series, the head of the International Centre of Ganda, Carme Melo, explained that the UV has always pushed for the promotion of the Valencian language in order to “develop all of the sociolinguistic functions of a modern language.” The Vice-President of the La Safor Commonwealth re-emphasised the importance of film in normalising language and encouraged all of the residents of the commonwealth to take advantage of this film series.
