Translated Original text with Introduction
- Translated Original text with Introduction
Title
What Should the Role of official Institutions Be in Relation to the Use of Cinema as an Instrument of Culture?
Domènec Giménez
Botey Barcelona, May 6, 1933
In 1932, poet Ventura i Gassol was appointed head of the Public Instruction and Culture Department of the newly created Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Autonomous Government). Among the first projects undertaken was the creation of a Comitè de Cinema (Film Committee), officially constituted in April 1932. The committee was devised following recommendations from an inquiry commission formed by representatives of the university, amateur cinema, culture department, the film industry, film criticism, and tourism realms.1 The next step was to find a secretary and coordinator for the institution. An open call was announced in April 1933 in the official bulletin published by the Catalan government. Candidates had to prove knowledge of film history and aesthetics and present a memoir that answered the question: What should the role of official institutions be in relation to the use of cinema as an instrument of culture? Sixteen people applied from different realms of cinema—cinematographers, technicians, directors, critics, and industry.2
Although Domènec Giménez Botey's proposal was not selected—in the end the provisional secretary Miquel Joseph i Mayols won the competition—his suggestions do coincide strikingly with the final guidelines of the Film Committee. The document is illustrative of how prominent amateur-film culture was in interwar Catalonia vis-à-vis commercial cinema, and how the ideas and organizational principles of the amateur-film movement influenced the institutionalization of film by the [End Page 168] Catalan government in the absence of a strong film industry. The excerpts corresponding to chapters 4 and 5 of the document develop Botey's theory of cinema as an instrument of culture at the service of state institutions. The pedagogical potential of film—and amateur cinema in particular—is highlighted as the most important element of a medium, capable of solidifying a national cultural and social geography (note the frequent use of "our" throughout the document in reference to the Catalan identity and imaginary). The last section corresponds to the concrete "Plan of Action" that Botey recommends to the Catalan government, including the creation of a film archive, school, and state production of educational films.
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Translations
CHAPTER 4: CINEMA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CULTURE (pp. 15–16)
The work ahead of official institutions is fundamental if we want to complete the mission entrusted to them of organizing education in the most effective way possible, in order to improve the cultural level of our people. We can't afford to bypass any medium within our reach to accomplish this duty and, especially, neglect the formidable advantages of the medium [cinema], which gathers all necessary conditions to impose attention and interest on students and the public—spectators are also students—whatever the theme is.
It is not necessary to insist on the psychological elements that integrate the powerful suggestive force of cinema, which will solve, in both schools and universities, a difficult problem for the teacher: how to get real attention from students. The direct expression of images, their mobility and the way they follow each other, not only possesses the supreme ability to hold the attention of the student but also fosters a quick and precise comprehension, avoiding the mental fatigue of the pupil. The image synthesizes actions in such a way that it explains in ten minutes what literature or written pedagogy would only be able to do in a large volume. The saving of time and space, and the concentration of the student's attention, are the best guarantee of the pedagogical qualities of cinema for the educator.
The enormous social importance of cinema and its value as a pedagogical tool are facts so obvious that one is surprised by the slow pace with which government institutions have acted. It is for this reason that we must celebrate the initiative of the Generalitat Government, which has made such a positive move toward our spiritual improvement through the possibilities offered by cinema. [End Page 169]
