Política, manual de instrucciones

Politics, instructions manual
In Spain in 2011 a citizens’ movement known as Movimiento 15M (15 May Movement) was founded as a reaction to the banking crisis and in protest against unbridled neoliberalism. In 2014, this movement gave birth to the Podemos party which soon after in 2015 entered parliament as the third strongest party in the country. Fernando León de Aranoa enjoyed unrestricted access to party leaders Pablo Iglesias, Íñigo Errejón and their fellow campaigners as he followed on camera the party’s journey to become a new force in Spain’s traditional two-party system. Aranoa has distilled 500 hours of material into a film that provides incisive insights into the party’s internal crises and their efforts to put an end to an ossified Left-Right dichotomy and promote transparency with regard to declining poll ratings and accusations of corruption and populism. The resulting film is an impressively honest instruction manual describing the strategies and the media that were used to mobilise a whole new electorate within the space of just one year. The documentary also shows how it was possible to galvanise the momentum of street protests to pursue more contemporary means of political participation.
by Fernando León de Aranoa Spain 2016 Spanish, English 120’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Written and Directed by Fernando León de Aranoa
Cinematography Jorge Abusada
Editing Yago Muñiz
Music Antonio Sánchez
Sound Design Daniel de Zayas
Producers Jaume Roures, Fernando León de Aranoa
Executive Producers Javier Méndez, Patricia De Muns

Produced by

Mediaproduccion

Fernando León de Aranoa

Born in Madrid, Spain in 1968, he worked for many years as a screenwriter before making his directorial debut with Familia (Family) which screened in the 1997 Panorama and won the Spanish Film Academy Award Goya. His films have successfully screened at international festivals including Cannes and Toronto and have won numerous awards. He is also an artist and illustrator, writes short stories and lectures at various film schools. In 2004 he founded his own production company Reposado. He last took part in the Berlinale in 2011 with Amador (Panorama).

Filmography

1996 Familia (Family); IFB Panorama 1998 Barrio (Neighborhood) 2001 Caminantes; documentary 2002 Los Lunes Al Sol (Mondays In The Sun) 2005 Princesas (Princess) 2007 Invisibles; documentary, director of the segement “Buenas Noches Ouma” 2010 Amador; IFB Panorama 2015 Un Día Perfecto (A Perfect Day) 2016 Política, manual de instrucciones (Politics, instructions manual)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017