A universal tribute to Pere Portabella

BarcelonaIt seems to show Jordi Balló explaining the Portabella Action, a worldwide proposal to celebrate the centenary of Pere Portabella (Figueres, 1927) which will begin in 2026 and have its main course in 2027. Behind it, on the screen of the Filmoteca's Laia room, unfolds a constellation of names and arrows. Among many others, there are the MoMA in New York, the CCCB and the CaixaForum; the Toronto, Buenos Aires and Jeonju Film Festivals; the Amsterdam, Brussels and Prague film archives; the Tàpies Museum, the Miró Foundation, the Reina Sofía Museum and the Vila Casas Foundation; the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Girona; the CIDOB and Òmnium Cultural; the Dom Omladine Cultural Center in Belgrade and the Catalan Federation of Film Clubs.

To date, more than sixty institutions have confirmed their participation in an initiative coordinated by Jordi Balló and promoted by the Catalan Government's Department of Culture and the Spanish Ministry of Culture. The Filmoteca de Catalunya plays a particularly important role, as it houses Pere Portabella's film and documentary archive. "Pere has done many things, even worked as a vampiric expert, but he has always defined himself as a man of cinema," says Pablo la Parra, the Filmoteca's director, who celebrates that "the values embodied in his films are still very much alive." His cinema combines formal avant-garde and political commitment, art and imagination. A legacy that includes titles such as Vampire Quadruped, Shade, Dinner, General report, Warsaw Bridge, The Silence Before Bach... "It's exciting to understand the radical contemporaneity of Pere Portabella," says Balló. "He has had the ability to create works that endure over time, with relevance and power today," notes Valeria Campressi, the director of the Spanish Film Archive.

"There can be different cultural policies"

“He curses the catastrophe of museums as mausoleums,” adds Pablo la Parra. That's why Acció Portabella shuns conventional programming. It doesn't have a curator, but rather a coordinator, a position more suited to Portabella's collaborative nature. “There isn't a single program; each institution will present its own,” explains Balló, who defends a proposal made “with a sense of community, without competition,” and, on paper, with an unusual and enviable spirit of collaboration. “There can be different cultural policies,” Balló muses aloud, having spoken after Daniel Tarrida, founder of the Bachcelona Festival, performed a piece by Bach on the piano.

One of the first events will take place at the Joan Brossa Foundation's Centre for Free Arts, which addresses the role of the provocateur. MoMA will dedicate a major retrospective to him. The Filmoteca de Catalunya will offer “an expanded approach to his filmography” and premiere “restorations,” in addition to an exhibition. The Spanish Film Archive will focus on Portabella the producer. The CCCB is preparing the exhibition for 2027. Portabella mutationsThe MNAC will use the centenary to reflect on how to integrate film into its permanent collection. In Brussels, there will be an exhibition focusing on the architecture of short films. Moving (2008). The MACBA will celebrate his friendship with Carles Santos. The Museu Tàpies will reflect on "friendship in dissent," a relational strategy that Portabella put into practice without losing sight of his political commitment. At the Les Abattoirs Museum in Tolosa, at the end of 2026, they will delve into Miró's iconoclastic side through his relationship with Pere Portabella, which included filming the destruction of the mural the painter had just completed at the headquarters of the College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC). The Toy Museum in Figueres will commemorate Portabella's childhood. Retrospectives will be held in Ankara and Istanbul with the support of the Institut Ramon Llull. A tribute will be paid at the 2026 edition of the Òmnium Film Festival. CIDOB is preparing an event with the Fundación Alternativas, which Portabella helped to found; an event consistent with the pro-European spirit of the director of Warsaw BridgeThese are just a few examples of everything the Portabella Action will offer.

"An extremely high level of consensus"

This Friday the room is packed to the rafters, and at the event led by journalist Antoni Bassas, there is a palpable sense of the consensus surrounding the film's director. The silence before Bach (2007), from the producer of Luis Buñuel's film ViridianaFrom the architect of Josep Tarradellas's return to Catalonia, to the PSUC member of Parliament, to the organizer of the suquet in the Empordà region... "An overwhelming consensus," confirms the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar. "Seduction and challenge," says Bassas, to define Pere Portabella's character. To recall his political involvement, she reads the police report that the Francoist police wrote at the Via Laietana station, where Portabella was taken after being arrested in October 1973 for participating in a meeting of the Assemblea de Catalunya, along with 113 other people, one of whom was the musician Carles Santos.

The consensus is both artistic and political. The Minister describes him as "one of the essential names in our cinema." "The strength of Catalan cinema today cannot be understood without figures like Pere Portabella," adds Hernández Almodóvar, who highlights "the sustained democratic commitment throughout his career." The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, participating in an event in Barcelona for the second Friday in a row, admits to feeling "especially moved" and recalls "the radical will for freedom" of a man he met in the late 1990s. At that time, Urtasun was a young activist with Iniciativa per Catalunya, and Portabella was the president of the party's national policy committee, "with the authority that comes from the weight of culture and history." Carla Portabella, the filmmaker's daughter, explains that her parents are at home, happy that this event is taking place. "The shadow of his centenary has been looming over the family for some time. He has always said that what's important is that he not be the protagonist, but rather those who will benefit from his legacy in the future," reports his daughter, who describes her father in three words: "loving, demanding, and passionate."