Alberte Pagán Explained

Birth Place:O Carballiño, Spain
Occupation:writer and filmmaker
Known For:Experimental film
Notable Works:Bs. As., Tanyaradzwa, Eclipse, Percorridos por unha teoría do desexo

Alberte Pagán, born in O Carballiño in 1965,[1] is a Galician filmmaker and writer.

Film criticism

Alberte Pagán is a recognized theorist and researcher.[2] Writing in Galician, Spanish and English, he has published many articles, chapters and books on experimental cinema. His Introducción aos clásicos do cinema experimental was published in 1999 by the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea. He authored Imaxes do soño en liberdade. O cinema de Eugenio Granell, a monograph on the film work of surrealist painter Eugenio Granell. In 2014 he published Andy Warhol, a "complete and rigorous" monograph which vindicates the materiality of the artist's films.[3] He has collected his in-depth interviews with Peter Kubelka, Malcolm Le Grice, Ken Jacobs, Taka Iimura, Phil Hoffman, and Bill Brand in Emotional Materials / Personal Processes. Six Interviews with Experimental Filmmakers.

Political filmmaking

Alberte Pagán is a key figure among Galician filmmakers.[4] His films have a strong political bent,[5] but are also concerned with "signifier-signified explorations" and "seriality, metanarration, hybridization of materials and subversion of codes",[6] as in Pó de estrelas (2007) or in the films from his series "Surfaces" and "Film Studies". His cinema combines "formal research with political implications".[7]

The whole of his work can be read as a "manual of resistance", from agit-prop to the deconstruction of inherited codes.[8] The political strand of Urgent Film for Palestine (2012) is rooted in the anticolonialism of films like Afrique 50 (René Vautier, 1950). Among his influences are Andy Warhol, Michael Snow and Chris Marker. His films "generate controversy" and "provoke analysis and reflection" "while still achieving attractive and genuine visual results".[9]

He has filmed in Nicaragua (Os waslala, 2005), Western Sahara (Asahra hurratun!, 2009), Zimbabwe (Tanyaradzwa, 2009) and Colombia (A realidade, 2012), but has also reflected on the political problems of Galicia as in Faustino 1936 (2010) and A quem se lhe conte... (2011), which deals with the environmental disaster produced on the Galician coast by the oil spill from the Prestige tanker.[10] The inverted chromatism and the "depressed landscapes" of A quem se lhe conte... remind us of the aesthetics of the paintings by Anselm Kiefer and Daniel Richter.[11] His political films are "a lucid anthology of the chronic evils of today's world".[12]

Bs. As.

His first film to receive recognition was the minimalist and conceptual[13] Bs. As. (2006), awarded at the Play-Doc Film Festival[14] and winner of the Román Gubern Film-Essay Award.[15] Bs. As., modelled after Chantal Akerman's News from Home, is "a forceful and, at times, enigmatic work", a collage of past and present, of Europe and America, of documentary and experimentalism,[16] in which Pagán recovers the oral history of his family, broken apart by emigration.[17] The film intertwines family progression with political history.[18] Its final 14-minute-long tracking shot in Buenos Aires metro has been interpreted as a "descent into the hell [...] of identity".[19] Bs. As. is the forerunner of the New Galician Cinema (NGC).[20] [21] [22] Its dual composition, which would be retaken in other NGC films like Tanyaradzwa, Todos vós sodes capitáns (Oliver Laxe, 2010) and Costa da Morte (Lois Patiño, 2013), also helped shape Xurxo Chirro's Vikingland (2011).[23] The film turned Pagán into a reference, a "touchstone"[24] and a pioneer[25] of the NGC. As Martínez writes, "without any doubt, Alberte Pagán embodies the figure of the patriarch of this group of creators."[26]

A Pedra do Lobo

A Pedra do Lobo (2010) was Pagán's first foray into fiction filmmaking. Filmed in Galicia, Panama and Malta, it is "a raw, visceral and rough film". It is a "spacial" remake of the "temporal" Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen, Bergman, 1968). The filmmaker constructed the film from eighteen hours of improvised filmed material. It is a montage film, in the sense that it was not filmed to illustrate a story, but was improvised, so that the autonomous scenes, when spliced together, trigger the narration.[27] It was the first film by Pagán to receive financing (€10,735.33 net, €18,000 gross) from the Galician Agency of Cultural Industries.[28]

Tanyaradzwa

His three-hour-long, double screen Tanyaradwa, filmed in Zimbabwe, was defined as "anti-anthropological"[29] and "antiethnographic", so as to avoid any temptation of an orientalist reading.[30] It is divided in two parts: "Scenes of country life" and "Scenes of city life". Tanyaradzwa, influenced by Andy Warhol's cinema, opts for "disintermediation" and direct communication with the audience, outside of commercial modes of production and established distribution circuits.[31] Its double screen, which removes narrative causality,[32] is also a materialist device that serves to defuse emotion, as in the sequence where, on one screen, the actor and co-author Tanyaradzwa recounts parental abuse, whereas on the other she laughs and talks inconsequentially while smoking weed. In the film, the protagonist is not the object of the camera, but rather a subject in possession of a discourse that challenges our ethnographic gaze.[33]

The filmmaker made a four-screen version for Play-Doc Film Festival (where it won the Best Galician Film award), "redoubling its commitment to experimentation in the field of random editing".[34]

Other films

Pó de estrelas, hailed as one of the best short films of the year by Cahiers du Cinéma España,[35] is film of "montage as organizer of discourse and of cinema as a militant and critical tool, but never as a pamphlet".

His short Eclipse (2010) was one "of the most emblematic films of the NGC".[36] In Eclipse Pagán does not use the video camera in a realist way, but rather plays with it "as something much richer in nuances, capable of playing with the textures and effects derived from the incidence of light on the analog mechanism of the camera".[37]

Puilha (2010-2020) is a double-screen film which combines and compares two recording of a ruined house seemingly empty. On the left we see the images recorded on January 17 at 3:33pm, on the right the images recorded exactly to the minute ten years later. The decay and apparent abandonment of its façade contrasts with the smoke coming out of the chimney, which reveals life inside the ruins.[38] Uluru, winner of the Galiza Award in the Curtocircuito International Film Festival,[39] connects with the cosmopolitan vocation of the New Galician Cinema, but can also be read as a vindication of the right to self-determination of both the Australian aboriginal peoples and those of Galicia.[40]

His award-winning Elefante is the shortest film possible. It consists of a single frame which lasts 1/60th of a second (16.7 milliseconds). "Elephant proves the essential difference between photography and cinema, the radical difference between a frame and a photograph – cinema is not movement (a single frame cannot reproduce movement) but visual time. Elephant imposes its (minute) duration, which simultaneously shows and hides."[41] The film is a denunciation of everyday fascism.[42]

Film Studies

Walsed (2014), an interpretation of Eugene Deslaw's Visión fantástica (1957), inaugurated the series "film studies",[43] in which Pagán uses found footage to deconstruct the original films and subvert their meanings. But the found footage Pagán reuses in Walsed, as in Quim.com (2014) and Frank (2015), is already constructed from previous found footage, hence we can call these films "third generation" pieces.[44] Both Walsed and Frank are "a reflection on the vampiric power of images".[45]

Also a found footage film, but made outside the "film studies" series, is A mosca (2017), a brief film made by cutting up every single frame of an anonymous trailer and randomly reordering them. Part of the ongoing Proxecto Remolque (Project Trailer) coneived by Cris Lores, A mosca proves "the impossibility of replicating what has disintegrated".[46]

Surfaces

In his series "Surfaces", started in 2014, Pagán investigates the behaviour of images once they are projected onto "unusual" surfaces, which achieve a "tactile feeling".[47] His film Forgoselo creates a petrified sky through the projection of the image of a rock onto the same kind of rock; but it nevertheless has a "sociopolitical and cultural subtext", as ganite is traditionally used in Galician stonemasonry. Pagán consists of a single overhead shot, filmed in Pagan, projected onto a flat plate of slate. Gongoriin bombani hural constains two shots filmed in Mongolia, one urban, the other rural, projected onto wood. Its "conceptual and formal complexity" alludes to "the memory of space".[48] In Berbera, filmed in the Somali city of the same name, the projection surface (the leaves of a camphor tree) stands out against the projected image; the contrast between the two images causes a "strangeness in our gaze" that, all the same, "balances beauty and tension".[49]

Long Face and Sonho bolivariano, which inaugurated the series "surfaces", are projected onto a carbon portrait and onto a layer of mold, respectively, to highlight "the physicality of the image". Nyaungshwe projects the image of a woman onto her own naked body; its pictorial nature and its "close and inaccurate sensuality" are reminiscent of the paintings of Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud.[50]

Glitches

In his diptych "Glitches" Pagán tries to find the materiality of the digital image. The manipulations in the hexadecimal code of the video files caused glitches which the filmmaker had to fix by capturing the computer screen, as every video would stumble at differente moments on different glitches. As a result, "the photographic image serves as a documentary base to then be dismantled into painting" and "triggers different sensations through texture, color, concealment and unconcealment of form".

A Fundamental Error is a retake on his Peter, a portrait of Peter Kubelka which is part of the "Surfaces" series. Noite de rodos is reminiscent of the abstract paintings of Gerhard Richter.[51]

Literary Works

Alberte Pagán has translated the first two chapters of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake[52] [53] and the first and last sections of Andy Warhol's novel a[54] into Galician. Contrary to what is usually thought, Pagán has argued that "to say that [''Finnegans Wake''] is untranslatable is to say that it is illegible", and as it is legible, it follows that it can be translated.[55] His chosen translation for the title of Joyce's novel is Velório de Finnegans, suggesting "a funeral wake for plural Finnegans".[56] His "meticulously annotated" translation appeared in 1993 and "still remains the most substantial Galician rendering of any part of FW." It was the first complete translation of the first two chapters in any of the languages of the Iberian Peninsula".[57]

He self-published the poetry book Prosopagnosia (2013), a combination of "poetic avant-garde and political manifesto",[58] and the novels Percorridos por unha teoría do desexo (2015) and Jalundes (2022). Poem no. 37 from Prosopagnosia, “Vim mais do que esperava”, was dramatized by AveLina Pérez in her theatrical production of Campo de covardes in 2016.[59]

Percorridos was heralded by critic literary Isaac Lourido as one of the ten best Galician books of the previous decade.[60] It combines essay with fiction and short story with novel. Each chapter can be read as an independent story or as part of the global development of the main character.[61]

Works

Filmography

Literary works

Non-fiction

Sound art

Pagán's sound sculptures were used in AveLina Pérez's play Os cans non comprenden a Kandinsky.[62]

Awards and recognitions

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sande . José Manuel . Sinais: Alberte Pagán . (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico . gl.
  2. Villarmea 2016, p. 236.
  3. Web site: Lombardo . Manuel J. . April 20, 2014 . La materia recobrada: Andy Warhol. Alberte Pagán . Diario de Sevilla . es.
  4. Web site: Delgado . Mónica . March 30, 2013 . De Alberte Pagán a Alberto Gracia: cine gallego, un aire de renovación . Desistfilm.
  5. Martínez 2015, p. 213.
  6. Web site: Sande . José Manuel . Otros estrenos: A realidade (Alberte Pagán) . Caimán Cuadernos de Cine, p. 48 . Spanish . December 2013.
  7. Escudero, Antón (February 6, 2014). "Alberte Pagán, cineasta e escritor: 'Warhol foi un auténtico investigador e explorador da mecánica do cinematógrafo'", Sermos Galiza, p. 27.
  8. Xestoso, Manuel. "Alberte Pagán. Cine desde as marxes." Sermos Galiza, November 11, 2021. p. 11. "O conxunto das súas películas é case un manual de resistencias que abrangue desde o agit-prop máis urxente (Película urgente por Palestina) até o desvelamento do discurso sistémico a través da súa deconstrucción (Frank)."
  9. Donoso 2018, p. 221.
  10. Villarmea, Iván. "Políticas de representación no novo cinema galego. Do modelo Zeitun á estética da resistencia". Nogueira 2021, pp. 100-101.
  11. Donoso 2019, p. 57.
  12. Gil, Avelina R. (March 13, 2014). "Como ser Alberte Pagán". Faro de Vigo, Faro Cultura, p. II.
  13. Castro de Paz, José Luis; Cerdán de los Arcos, Josetxo, "Razonables huellas documentales (2000-2006). Un variado, fértil y alentador panorama”. Rodríguez, Hilario J. (2006). Miradas para un nuevo milenio. Fragmentos para una historia futura del cine español, Festival de Cine de Alcalá de Henares. ISBN 84-87153-87-9
  14. Web site: 26 May 2015 . Pagán, Alberte . Experimental Cinema.
  15. Web site: 3 May 2007 . Alberte Pagán - Bs. As. - Andy Warhol . Visionary Film.
  16. Web site: Oroz . Elena . March 2, 2007 . Bs. As. . Blogs&Docs . es.
  17. Web site: Rams . Maribel . March 2018 . Documental autoetnográfico de posmemoria. Una aproximaciónal al pasado franquista desde la perspectiva de género . Scholar Works UMass Amherst . University of Massachusetts Amherst . 75 . es.
  18. Pérez Pereiro, Marta. "Filmar a tribo, filmar o íntimo no cinema galego contemporáneo". Ledo 2019, p. 200.
  19. Domínguez, Daniel. "Bs. As. de Alberte Pagán: A memoria dunha fenda". Tempos Novos, August 2007. p. 77.
  20. Martínez 2015, p. 210.
  21. Nogueira, Xosé (2023). "De la trabajosa artesanía a la artística autoría: el proceloso caso del documentalismo gallego" [From laborious craftsmanship to artistic authorship: the turbulent case of Galician documentary filmmaking]. Torreiro and Alvarado 2023, p. 178. Bs. As. [...] opera todavía hoy como obra seminal y referencial para la acuñación de la marca NCG.
  22. Redondo Neira, Fernando; Pérez Pereiro, Marta, "Identidades buscadas e construídas: imaxes da emigración galega no cinema". Ledo 2018, p. 126. "Vense considerando [...] como un título, en certo xeito, inaugural, ou cando menos pioneiro ou inspirador, do que finalmente callou na marca coñecida como Novo Cinema Galego."
  23. Redondo Neira, Fernando; González, Xurxo. "As marcas do procesual nos límites da experimentación do Novo Cinema Galego". Nogueira 2021, p. 83.
  24. Salgado, Daniel (October 29, 2010). "A imaxe exploradora". El País, Luces, p. 9.
  25. Sande, José Manuel. "A década prodixiosa. O NCG en dez fitos." Nogueira (2021). p. 278.
  26. Martínez 2015, p. 210.
  27. Salgado, Daniel (December 2, 2011). "Imaxes en colisión. O cineasta Alberte Pagán estréase na ficción coa 'áspera' A Pedra do Lobo." El País, Luces, p. 7.
  28. Web site: A Pedra do Lobo . Alberte Pagán.
  29. Oliveira, V. (June 24, 2009). "O ollar 'antiantropolóxico'". Galicia Hoxe, Maré, p. 36.
  30. Oter, Jorge; Miquel Gual, Joan. "Miradas hacia el exterior: construcciones de una otredad alejada." Torreiro and Alvarado 2023, p. 392.
  31. Smith 2012, pp. 113-114.
  32. Web site: Ledo . Ramiro . November 12, 2009 . Tanyaradzwa . Blogs&Docs . es.
  33. Rozados, Lara. "O suxeito atravesa a pantalla: Tanyaradzwa". A Nosa Terra, June 25-July 1, 2009. p. 36.
  34. Web site: Abruñeiras . Iván G. . May 9, 2010 . Play-Doc 2010 de Tui. Jay Rosenblatt .
  35. Reviriego, Carlos; De Predro, Gonzalo (December 2007). "Cuando el cine pequeño se hace grande". Cahiers du Cinéma España, p. 47.
  36. Book: Colmeiro, José . Peripheral Visions / Global Sounds. From Galicia to the World . Liverpool University Press . 978-1-78694-030-8 . 2017 . 179.
  37. Donoso 2018, p. 230.
  38. Donoso (2019), p. 58.
  39. Web site: November 8, 2018 . Palmarés de Curtocircuito 2018 . Otros Cines.
  40. Villarmea, Iván. "Fóra de campo. Traumas históricos e persoais no cinema galego". Ledo 2019, p. 244.
  41. Web site: Elefante . Alberte Pagán.
  42. Web site: Veiga . Laura . December 8, 2022 . Alberte Pagán: "O filme 'Elefante' é unha metáfora do que ocorre co fascismo cotián do nacionalismo ucraíno" . Nós Diario.
  43. News: March 1, 2021 . Alberte Pagán preséntanos os seus últimos traballos: "estudos cinematográficos" e "superficies" . ZigZag Diario . RTVG . gl.
  44. Tenreiro Uzal, Cibrán. "Entre illas. Reciclaxe e arquivo no cinema galego." Ledo 2020, pp. 64-65.
  45. Bernal, Fernando (junio 2016), "Walsed/Frank", Caimán Cuadernos de Cine.
  46. Web site: Paris . Yago . May 30, 2018 . Sinais en curto 2018. Un salto a otra realidad . Cine Divergente . es.
  47. Donoso 2018, p. 224.
  48. Donoso 2018, p. 225.
  49. Donoso 2018, p. 226.
  50. Donoso 2018, p. 227.
  51. Donoso 2018, pp. 227-9.
  52. Web site: 1996 . Contos contados de Finnegan e HCE .
  53. O'Neill, Patrick (2013). Impossible Joyce: Finnegans Wakes. University of Toronto Press, p. 28.
  54. "a, de Andy Warhol". Barbantia. Anuario de estudos do Barbanza, ano 2019 nº 15. pp. 269-314. ISSN 1889-0946
  55. O'Neill, Patrick (2012). Impossible Joyce. Finnegans Wakes, University of Toronto Press, p. 4. ISBN 978-1-4426-4643-8
  56. O'Neill, Patrick (December 2019), "Translators, Titles, Texts: Reading the First Two Words of Finnegans Wake", QORPUS, volume 9, No. 9: Especial James Joyce, p. 19. ISSN 2237-0617
  57. O'Neill, Patrick (2022). Finnegans Wakes. Tales of Translations, University of Toronto Press, p. 187. ISBN 978-1-4875-4199-6
  58. Arén, Román (February 28, 2014). "Prosopagnosia. Compromiso e vanguarda. O mito da alma", La Voz de Galicia, A voz de Barbantia, p. 3.
  59. Web site: Dopico . Montse . December 10, 2016 . Lina Pérez: "Esta sociedade está totalmente domada e somos nós os que nos poñemos as cadeas" . Praza.
  60. Web site: April 22, 2023 . Día do libro: estas son as dez mellores obras publicadas na última década, a ollos da crítica galega . Nós Diario . gl.
  61. Lopo, Mónica V. (October 28, 2018). "Cine experimental de la mano de Alberte Pagán. Do cinema á literatura". La Región, Vida, p. 3.
  62. Web site: Pérez . AveLina . Os cans non comprenden a Kandisky . AveLina Pérez.
  63. Web site: Arte sonora . Alberte Pagán.
  64. Xestoso, Manuel. "Alberte Pagán. Cine desde as marxes." Sermos Galiza, November 11, 2021.
  65. Web site: Mención Honorífica: Alberte Pagán . Primavera do Cine . Galician.
  66. Web site: Alberte Pagán . Novo Cinema Galego . Galician.
  67. News: November 19, 2021 . Entrevista con Alberte Pagán, Premio Cineuropa 2021 . ZigZag Diario . RTVG . gl.