Why are there suddenly two mythological film festivals in Pallars Sobirà?

BarcelonaThe Catalan film festival scene is one of the richest and most powerful in Europe, so much so that it includes up to 140 exhibitions of a richness and variety unheard of anywhere in the world. This is not only due to the uniqueness of the theme, but also because last year a mythological film festival from the Pyrenees, the Tabaca Film Fest, was successfully held in this municipality. This year it has moved to Gerri de la Sal, another town in Pallars. In 2021, a meeting between a tourism technician from Sort and two actresses (Ivana Miño and Cristina Vidal) gave rise to the idea of creating a festival to showcase the legends and folklore of Pallars and around the world. mythological cinema in a broad sense, from an ancestral tale to Greek mythology, a superstition or a reinterpreted legend -says Miño-. (Yolanda Mas) put them in touch with her son, Joel Baró, who had been elected mayor of Vall de Cardós and was sick of mythology. Puig de Tabaca, the mountain that is said to have been the last refuge of the enchanted, a mythological figure from Pallars From September 27 to 29, 2024, they held their first edition in which twenty-one short films were screened and various parallel activities were held, such as a concert by Xarim Aresté, a children's route... The main prize went to Although it is night, by Guillermo Galoe, who this year released his debut film at Critics' Week in Cannes, City without sleep.

Everyone agrees that the first edition of Tabaca, which attracted a thousand attendees, was a success, although this was also when the story began to unravel due to tensions and disagreements between the festival organizers and the Vall de Cardós City Council. The split became concrete when, in November, the council informed the Gat Negre association that they would receive a smaller subsidy than agreed for the previous edition. Disappointed, Miño, Vidal, and Arnau decided to move the festival forward in a new location, which they found in Gerri de la Sal. But in February, without warning, Vall de Cardós announced the celebration of the Cardós Film Fest, the Mythological Film and Literature Festival of the Pyrenees, from September 26 to 28, organized by the City Council and the Cultural, Civic, and Sports Association of the Cardós Valleys.

The story of the divorce between the festival and the City Council varies depending on the interlocutor. From the Cardós Film Fest, Jordi Torner speaks of a "split" in the organization and compares the situation to that of a "musical group" in which the members "don't understand each other and some go one way and others another." They also claim in a statement that the City Council "co-organized" its first edition. Tabaca, on the other hand, categorically denies this story and asserts that the Gat Negre Association was the sole organizer of the first edition, and that the City Council limited itself to hosting the festival and performing some communication tasks. According to ARA, this is stated in the agreement between the City Council and the Gat Negre Association, in the report of the first edition, and in reports published in the press.

A similar case

Joaquim Roqué, director of the Transhumante Festival and president of the Catalunya Film Festivals sector network—a label to which none of these festivals belong, because at least three editions are required—points out that "diversity always favors the cultural offering of a region" and believes that we should avoid creating "two identical projects," because that "not only harms both entities." However, he is not surprised by the situation. He himself experienced a similar situation as the driving force and first director of the Gollut Festival in Ribes de Freser. "The association that owned the brand said it didn't want to continue doing it, and I set up another festival, Terra Gollut. When we had that set up, they decided to continue with Gollut in the same location," he explains. Roqué ended up converting Terra Gollut into Transhumante "so as not to confuse people," but he recalls that it was all "very unpleasant."

It is not a pleasant situation for those in charge of Tabaca, who are preparing the second edition to be held from September 11 to 14 at the new headquarters in Gerri de la Sal. On Monday they will present the program at the Lleida Provincial Council, with new features such as the project Myth, camera... action!, which will recover the oral memory of the myths of Pallars through film, and the Farrera Scholarship, which offers a residency at Pallars Sobirà for professionals with a mythological script. Meanwhile, the Cardós Film Fest has announced the rules for its short film competition and its intention to program literature-related activities, scriptwriting workshops, and themed tours.

The fact is that a theme for which there was no festival in Europe has now had two, both at Pallars Sobirà and in September. Torner maintains that the project of both festivals "is not the same" and that the Cardós Film Fest "will not last just a few days," but will program "activities throughout the entire year" (it is worth mentioning that this was already the proposal envisioned by the Gat Negre Association in the report on the first edition of Tabaca). Tabaca assures that they would prefer to avoid controversy. "We understand that the Tabaca Film Fest could inspire another cultural proposal, provided that this new initiative is based on respect and dialogue and is created to contribute rather than create confusion," says Miño.