Ventura Pons always defended Catalan and believed in the value of local authors
Film director, screenwriter and producer Ventura Pons He has died at the age of 78. He filmed more than thirty feature films and produced thirty more. His long career in defense of cinema in catalan was recognized in 2007 with the Cree de Sant Jordi and in 2015 with the Gaudi d'Honor.
Ventura Pons He is the Catalan filmmaker who has made the most films throughout his five-decade professional career. For forty years, from 1980 to 2010, he almost made one film a year. Furthermore, he has been the filmmaker who has brought Catalan literature to the cinema, with adaptations of novels and short stories by Quim Monzo (The reason for all the folds y A thousand cretins) Of Josep M. Benet Jornet (Actrius and Amic/Amat), Sergi Belbel (Caresses, Die (or not) and Outsiders), and of Lluís Anton Baulenas (Anita doesn't miss the train), between many more.
Internationalization of Catalan cinema
Ventura Pons It also has another important milestone for Catalan cinema: it internationalized it. He debuted in 1977 with Ocaña, intermittent portrait, today and forever an icon. The film was selected by the Cannes Film Festival and Berlinale. In this way, his films had a constant presence in the main international festivals.
He had started in the world of theater. He went on to direct twenty works until he focused on cinema. But his theatrical training marked his cinematic aesthetics and the choice of actors from his cast and the authors he adapted, some of whom were playwrights.
Ventura founds his own production company
In 1981 he filmed The Vicar of Olot, his highest-grossing comedy. In 1985 she founded the production company Els Films de la Rambla, thanks to which he was able to carry out the works he wanted. Almost one every year for twenty-five years.
In the eighties his cinema was marked by the comedy genre, which made him very popular and they were all successful films. In addition to those already mentioned, he filmed: Fucking misery! , What are you playing, Mari Pili?, Aquesta nit o mai, Rosita, Please!.
In the nineties he left comedy and focused on bringing the aforementioned adaptations of Catalan authors to film. And he did not stop making and producing films until 2014, when he suffered an accident that caused two craniocerebral hemorrhages. And despite the accident, that 2014, leaving the hospital, he went to sign the contract to start the project of the Texas cinemas, a successful proposal that lasted five years and that with popular prices made many people return to the cinema. In 2019 he retired permanently.
Director of actors
Pons He was above all a director of actors. He worked with the most prominent artists of each decade and with the established ones: Rosa Maria Sardà, Núria Espert, Anna Lizaran and Josep Maria Pou They were some of his most faithful actors. But he also led Mercè Pons, Sergi López, jordi dauder, Enric Majó, Joan Monleon, Luis Homar, Carmen Elias, Francis Orella, Vicky Pena, Montserrat Salvador, Julieta Serrano, Laura Conejero o Roger Coma and a long etcetera.
During the independence process Ventura Pons It was one of the most visible and significant faces of culture. His career is linked to the defense of the language, of cinema in Catalan. He said: “All countries prioritize their language. And we, are we a second language? (being very critical of Televisió de Catalunya and the Catalan Institute of Cultural Companies). I have made films in Catalan, I have made bilingual ones, I have made one in Andalusian, I have made one in English, but the language of Catalonia is Catalan. It happens that my films in English, which is my second language, when they go around the world are Catalan. Like the French, who do a lot of production in English, and support, too."
