Premiere: La voz de concejo

The voice of the council
A documentary film by Bambara Zinema, Laboratorio Bambara and A.C. Faceira. With the collaboration of Confederación Española de Centros y Clubes Unesco and Fundación Cerezales Antonino y Cinia.

Saturday, 16 July
21.30
Foundation Courtyard

The voice of the council is a web-doc project that aims to raise awareness of the historical figure of the councils, a representative, millenary and democratic institution that is an essential part of the history of the peoples of the north of the Iberian Peninsula.
The neighbourhood council is nowadays in a situation of danger that threatens its existence, due to rural depopulation, the economic crisis and the administrative reform that during 2012 and 2013 tried to eliminate the Entidades Locales Menores (although it finally respected their administrative personality).

The main objective of the documentary is to shed light on what councils are, how they are organised, what their history is, where they exist and why it is important to defend them and try to prevent their disappearance, since they even serve as a model for a society increasingly lacking in collective values.

Councils are governed by direct democracy. The villagers meet as a council to take the most important decisions. In addition to this, there is a whole series of uses and customs that constitute a very important intangible cultural heritage, such as communal work, the "suertes de leña", the "becera", etc.

The recordings have been made mainly in the province of León, Portugal (Cicuiru, Tierra de León), and Portugal (Cicuiru, Tierra
de Miranda), Cantabria, Álava and Navarra, and interviews with representatives of different associations and villages from Galicia, Asturias, Palencia and Burgos.

Parallel to this documentary work, the necessary work is being carried out to apply for the declaration of the councils as Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

The course of this ongoing project has led him to participate in:

– Sendas ’13 Cycle - Cerezales Antonino y Cinia Foundation - 2013 - Cerezales del Condado (León)
- Made in Colmenar - 2014 - Colmenar Viejo (Madrid)
- Presentation of the project «La voz del concejo» at the Casa de León in Madrid - 2014 - Madrid
- Educating to preserve heritage - Summer Courses University of León - 2015 - León
- León goes to the movies - Home of León in Bilbao - 2015 - Bilbao
- León Film Rural - MUSAC - 2016 - León (Several villages still to be assigned)

Technical sheet
Starting year: 2012
Format: HD
Approximate duration: 60 minutes
Gender: documentary
Script and directionIsabel Medarde and Teresa García Montes
AssemblyIsabel Medarde and Miriam Vera
PhotographyTeresa García Montes, Isabel Medarde and Sergio González
SoundTeresa García Montes, Isabel Medarde, Sergio González and Ricardo Chao
ProductionTeresa García Montes and Isabel Medarde