Anyone who follows Juan Lebron’s official accounts on Twitter or Facebook, and there are several thousand who do, will already know by now that the Antequera-born producer of Sevillanas, Semana Santa and Flamenco, an essential trilogy of our non-fiction cinema, It’s not exactly going through its best moments. His bloody health and debts harass and punish him twice in his Roteño refuge after years of dedication and personal struggle to claim the fair price, economic but also emotional and patrimonial, of his productions made from Andalusia but always with an international vocation, which have counted on the best professionals and the most advanced resources of an industry that has kept its ideas but that perhaps has not been able to sufficiently recognize its pioneering character and its unbribable commitment to quality when quality still meant something in this sector, long before the new standardized formats and global platform content destined to conquer 190 countries at the click of a button, as Nanni Moretti reminded us a week ago in a scene from The Sun of the Future.
Lebron laments and gets angry from his corner, he does not hide the fact that some battles are almost lost, but he insists on his particular and sustained civil war against unfulfilled commitments (essentially by Canal Sur and its directors) and the disregard or lack of support institutional, knowing that what he has in his hands, what has already been done, delivered and recognized but also his impressive unpublished archive awaiting digitization, is not only of vital importance to settle his financial debts but also to be able to preserve in the best conditions technological possibilities an audiovisual image of Andalusia increasingly constricted in the syrup of tourist promotion or the topical and inconsequential postcard.
Because, apart from its heterodox character and its innovative, flexible and versatile format, films like Sevillanas, Flamenco or Andalucía are cinema, directed by Carlos Saura and Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and with professionals of the caliber of Vittorio Storaro, José Salcedo, José Among their credits are Luis Alcaine and José Manuel Caballero Bonald, who transcend the field of cinema to achieve, apart from their numerous international awards, critical recognition or the always warm and enthusiastic reception of the public, both in their commercial editions and in their reproductions. and visits on the internet, like authentic museum pieces, heritage films that attest, with the presence of some of the main figures of the genre, most of them already disappeared, from Rocío Jurado to Lola Flores, from Pareja Obregón to Paco de Lucía , from Enrique Morente to José Mercé, from Manolo Sanlúcar to Camarón de la Isla, the History and legacy of essential manifestations of our cultural identity that have become known, prestigious and revalued internationally especially thanks to these titles.
Stubborn and tireless, brave and feisty, wounded but never defeated, Lebron has never been content with crumbs, he has not lowered his quality standards one bit or rested on his laurels. Talking to him on the phone is to confirm that he continues to dream big with always attractive projects, permanently up to date and in contact with the new technological and aesthetic reality of the medium in which he was a pioneer in our country since the days of Man and the Earth. or Verano Azul, a reality that he himself forged with his formats more than thirty years ago and in which he continues to trust despite the circumstances and limitations.
From here we can only join their just and stark demands that are more than a mere SOS of personal rescue for those who one day imagined, when no one else did, ambitious productions that have forged that image of Andalusia that today is sold by the politicians on duty and the peddlers and audiovisual managers appropriate it. We share them and we join their cry for help so that their catalog and archive do not end up in the markets and bargain auctions and are fairly valued and incorporated into our cultural and educational heritage as is done with a Velázquez, a Picasso, a Falla or the art of Flamenco itself, which it has contributed so much to dignify, enhance and spread throughout the world. It is justice.
2023-09-28 09:07:43
#Opinion #Manuel #Lombard #Lebrons #cinema #heritage
