Public policies and strategies to foster access to films in a minority language. Catalonia and film subtitling 2015-2017

ABSTRACT

In 2016, following the partial repeal of Catalonia’s Cinema Act (Llei del Cinema, 2010), the ‘Digital Levy’ (taxa tecnològica, 2014) and the serious economic crisis, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya decided to subsidise dubbing and subtitling to ensure that Catalans could have access to films in their own language. This decision was taken with regard to new distribution platforms (VOD, Smart TV, etc.), film festivals and traditional exhibition formats. After three years in force, the combination of aid and bilateral agreements has proven to be effective for normalising access to audiovisual content in Catalan, encouraging diversity and exiting the legislative logjam that had, since 2010, been affecting public policy on the film industry in Catalonia. This article analyses the public policies, strategic plans, outcomes of agreements and production figures by means of case studies, data analysis, and in-depth interviews.

KEYWORDS:

• Subtitling policies
• small cinemas
• films in Catalan
• Catalonia
• legal conflict

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. 57.4% of theater spectacles has been in Catalan, Catalan is the majority language in radio and TV3 – Catalan television – is the lider television (14% of share).

2. The criterion behind the interviewees selection is related to: (a) their expertise in the Catalan audiovisual field; (b) the representation of a diversity of sectors, experiences and tasks in order to embrace the maximum of different point of views depending on their sector position (film festivals, movie theatres agents, subtitlers, film policies specialists. VoD projects agents, television subtitles’ responsible, etc.); (c) the criteria established by the methodological team of the i + D + I project, from which this article emanates, in order to obtain a balanced panel to proceed with a Delphi (not only in Catalonia but also in other Spanish and International film communities).

3. This fact reveals how ‘in a shifting landscape is hard to isolate policies to a specific region or locality’ (Singh 2010, 9).

4. The choice between promoting Catalan OV films or subtitling in Catalan any film depends on the cultural policy scope; it's said: more autochthonous  production or any production with Catalan subtitles depends on the government ideas to foster their own culture or to foster industrial culture but translated into Catalan (Villarroya 2012, 38).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ERDF-European Regional Development Fund/Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Spanish Government – Spanish State Research Agency/ R+D+i Project ‘EUVOS. Intangible Cultural Heritage. For an European Programme for Subtitling in Non-Hegemonic Languages (ref. CSO2016-76014-R).

Notes on contributors

Mª Soliña Barreiro

Mª Soliña Barreiro holds a PhD in Social Communication. As a researcher, she specialises in avant-garde, documentary, silent film and cinema in minority languages. She has gone on various research stays at ARIAS (Atelier de recherche sur l’intermédialité et les arts du spectacle, CNRS, ENS, Sorbonne III). In fact, she has published several articles on these issues, including one titled ‘Public Policies, Diversity and National Cinemas in the Spanish Context: Catalonia, Basque Country and Galicia’ (Communication & Society 30 (1), 2017). She has also shared her ideas at conferences such as IAMCR 2015 or ECREA 2014. She is a full professor at Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and a researcher at Estudos Audiovisuai (USC).

Judith Clares-Gavilán

Judith Clares-Gavilán is a lecturer at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya’s (UOC) Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences. She holds a degree in Journalism and a PhD in Communication from the URL; her thesis looked at European videos on demand (VOD) from the viewpoint of industry and audiovisual diversity (2014). She is an expert on new audiovisual distribution models, VOD and connected television and her main lines of research focus on the audiovisual industry’s structure and policies, particularly on the changes that took place with the emergence of the Internet. A member of the GAME research group, she coordinated and co-authored the books: The revolution over the top: From Video on Demand (VOD) to television via Internet (Editorial UOC, 2019); Audiovisual distribution on the Internet. VOD and new business models (Editorial UOC, 2013); and Cultural and communication policies. Public intervention in cinema, television and press (Editorial UOC, 2013). She writes periodically for COMeIN.