The island institution pays tribute to the Mallorcan filmmaker on his birthday and organises a colloquium with people who participated in the filming of the movie
The Consell de Mallorca is paying tribute to Agustí Villaronga with a screening of his unreleased film Mallorca at Palma’s Sala Augusta this Monday, 22nd April, at 6:30 pm. In this way, the island institution will show the unreleased short film to coincide with the birthday of his birth. The island’s promotional film was commissioned forty years ago by Fomento de Turismo in 1985, but it was not used because the result was not liked.
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Agustí Villaronga’s unpublished film
The vice-president of the Consell de Mallorca and councillor of Culture and Heritage, Antònia Roca, explains that the event organised for this Monday will include the screening of the 20-minute film Mallorca, which has not been released, and a very interesting colloquium with Catherine Alcina, Eduardo Gamero, Cate Moyà and Francesc Bonnín. Roca assures that it is a way of paying tribute to one of the most international directors the island has ever had.
The vice-president and councillor detailed that Catherine Alcina, who participated in the filming of Mallorca, will talk about her experiences and curiosities about the filming; journalist Cate Moyà will explain how the journalist found the film; the president of Fomento de Turismo de Mallorca, Eduardo Gamero, will analyse tourism promotion; and the director of the Sound and Image Archive of the Consell de Mallorca, Francesc Bonnín, will evaluate the conservation of the island’s audiovisual heritage.
The short film is called Mallorca, is almost 20 minutes long, and is a blown-up copy in standard format for theatrical projection from the original film, which was shot in 16 mm. Roca pointed out that the film is in the custody of the Archive of Sound and Image of the Consell de Mallorca and that it was found by the journalist Cati Moyà a few months ago. Roca recalled that the process of digitising the tape has already begun, as announced in February.
It was commissioned by Fomento de Turismo, with the sponsorship of the Consell de Mallorca, in 1985. It was in line with other commissions that had been made to film directors to give a new or unprecedented vision of the island. The film conceived by Agustí Villaronga was a montage of images with a soundtrack by composers Philip Glass and Win Mertens.
The short film begins with the silhouette of a boat crossing the sea. Meanwhile, a voiceover says that “all Mediterranean routes lead to Mallorca, where placidity welcomes travellers at the end of all odysseys”. This is followed by a play of light and shadow on the Serra de Tramuntana, Bellver Castle and the Coves del Drach.
The film did not convince those in charge of Fomento de Turismo de Mallorca, who decided to commission the writer Valentí Puig to write a script to add a voice-over, with a more clearly touristic message. Villaronga did not agree, and this second version did not convince the tourism organisation either and ended up in a drawer. It is precisely from that drawer that the film has now been recovered.