Family, friends and officials said goodbye to filmmaker Ventura Pons at a ceremony held at Les Corts funeral home in Barcelona this Thursday. He emphasized his contribution to Catalan cinema and her “cinema life”, as his brother Josep Pons and friend Miquel Rei point out.
The oration ceremony is presided over by a casket decorated with posters of his films, accompanied by projections of photographs from Pons’ personal and professional life, and live music by Carles Cases, the composer of his films’ soundtracks. Listen throughout the ceremony.
Isabel Torra, childhood friend and Art director of Pons projectsHe, who was also responsible for decorating the casket, began the speeches by lamenting the loss of an extraordinary and tireless “author of much of the history of cinema in this country.”
He was followed by Josep Pons, who assured him that the filmmaker’s life had come to an end. “Love for your country, family, friends and cinema”Sharing some of his childhood memories and admitting that his brother “liked performing when he was little,” this anecdote sparked laughter among the attendees.
‘Ignasi M.’ Ignasi Millet, a museologist and close friend of the director who dedicated the film to him, said, “Friends cook on low heat, but Ventura was like a pressure cooker due to its ‘intense’ character.” while adding “extensive” and “impatient” one of his biggest supporters in difficult times.
Millet also underlined Pons’ commitment to the LGTBI community, noting that she has appeared in all of his films, albeit “impactfully”; This is something that people in the field of cinematography, such as actor Francesc Orella, appreciate. he described it as “brave”.
Producer Miquel Rei regretted but wanted the “unfair end” of his partner, who died on January 8 at the age of 78. We commemorate his positive spirit with these words from Pons: In the book he started but never published, he wrote: “Maybe life didn’t give me everything I wanted, but it never managed to make me smile.”
In the reminder to those attending the ceremony, this vitalist and combative attitude is emphasized with a poem written by Catalan poet and playwright Pere Quart to the director, to whom he praises his work as a theater director, to whom he dedicates the beginning of cinema. career. career.
President Catalan Cinema Academy, Judith Colell, In his statements to EFE, Ventura assured that the loss of Pons was “an irreparable loss for one of the great filmmakers” and recalled that “he shot in Catalan when no one else did”, but noted that “we were left alone with him”. films and his works.” .
Orella agrees, describing Colell as “one of the strongest directors of Catalan cinema.” In his own words, he “gave so much life”.
Important names from the world of cinema and theater, such as actors Joan Pera and others, also attended the ceremony. Carme Sansa, directors Mario Gas and Rosa Vergés In addition to director and producer Isona Passola, there are also names from the cultural field such as journalist and writer Pilar Rahola.
According to the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, “the country is losing a great filmmaker and a person who devoted himself to the country and our language with 40 years of work in which he made us laugh and cry.”
Among the politicians who wanted to fire the filmmaker were names such as the former mayor. Barcelona City Council Cultural Council Member Barcelona Xavier TriasXavier Marcé, former Minister of Culture of Àngels Ponsa, and Pere Aragonès, president of the Generalitat, visited the funeral chapel yesterday.
Next Monday, January 15, there will be a tribute to the filmmaker at the Filmoteca de Catalunya, organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Catalan Film Academy, which awarded him the Gaudí Honor Award in 2015.
An action appropriate to your request Josep Pons to institutions so that his brother “may receive the recognition he deserves as one of the most important figures in our country’s culture.”