“La Mina has generated its own complex and opaque microcosmos. Lack of knowledge... makes understanding and progress more difficult'
(Josep Maria Monferrer Celades, la Mina neighbour and president of the Historical Archive of La Mina housing estate.)

15 Years in Venus is a documentary film, shot in the ** La Mina** housing estate during 2015. It tells the story of the serious housing problems that the neighbourhood suffers since it was first created, accompanying several neighbours who are directly affected by the situations during their *plight for dignity *.

The film stems from the belief that we should be aware of the different realities that exist in our societies in order to be able to change our errors, which are repeated time and again in the most impoverished neighbourhoods, and to know the social reality of Barcelona, which is a far from the image that we are usually sold.

At present ** we have practically finished our film*, but we need your help to **complete the postproduction* and promotion so that our film may see the light! We would like your collaboration to be able to finish our project, and in exchange we you can *be the first to enjoy it *.

Here’s some more information:

The documentary Project

SINOPSIS

La Mina housing estate was designed and constructed between 1969 and 1975 to re-house shack dwellers in Barcelona. The recessionof the 1980s and drugs degraded the social tissue of this community which, up to the present, ** is still considered a ghetto.**

In the year 2000, a plan to transform the area was initiated, foreseeing urban and social interventions. One of these was to demolish one of the main blocks in the neighbourhood, and re-house its occupants in newly constructed buildings. This block is called ‘Venus block’. The re-housed neighbours had to pay the difference of 30.000 € for the newly constructed flats, but not everyone could or wanted to pay.

Finally, the local administrations withdrew their original proposal and decided not to demolish the block at all, but by this time the building had become seriously degraded due to lack of maintenance. In 2014, two new lines of action were open, to be executed during 2015. On one hand, the newly constructed blocks, originally destined to re-house the neighbours from Venus, become available to other families as social housing. On the other hand, a process was opened to re-house families in emergency situations in the apartments that had been emptied in the Venus block when some of the neighbours originally left.

Throughout 2015, the neighbourhood seethed with contradictory news. The tension and confusion increased.

15 Years in Venus accompanies some of the neighbours during this situation during a whole year, until the situation becomes defined. In this way, we get to know three different situations: some of the neighbours in Venus are organized and are fighting for an ‘apartment for apartment’ deal with the local administration, as they can’t, or are not prepared to pay the 30,000€ difference for new housing. Others, want one of the apartments in the new housing blocks, and finally, we follow the plight of a family who is in an urgent situation and is eligible for one of the emergency housing apartments, despite the fact that this may in the degraded ‘Venus block’.

WHY SHOULD WE BE INTERESTED IN THIS STORY?

• Because it narrates the story of a hard-hit and stigmatized neighbourhood from a previously unknown angle that has been hidden by the administration and media.

• To allow the neighbours to be heard.

• Because without knowledge it is impossible to advance as a more inclusive and just society.

WHAT WILL WE LEARN?

• The social consequences of a badly managed ‘Transformation Plan’ that is considered to be exemplary in other countries of the world.

• The real difficulties, for professionals and administrations as well as for the neighbours that are involved in achieving a minimally dignified situation in an advanced society.

• What roles the administrations, individuals and local organisations play in the neighbourhood’s present situation.

What we’ll destine your contributions to:

This project has been possible due to the joint effort of Mariona Giner and Sergi Pujolar. It’s an independent venture, filmed exclusively with our collaborator*Olympus*’s cameras, with no public or private funding.
It has been a year and a half of intense work: finding and consulting documents and audiovisual archive material, contacting people in the neighbourhood, producing and preparing the script, interviewing and filming in adverse conditions... In order to finish the project we need 5.000 €. This money will not cover the total cost of our needs, but it will be vital to complete the film.

YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL BE USED FOR:

• Translation and subtitles, from the original in Catalan, to Spanish and English

• Archive material expenses

• Colour and sound post-production

• Original soundtrack

• Promotion

• Rewards

IF WE OBTAIN OVER 5OOO€ NET

Our technicians have worked long hours during a year. They will be able to receive part of the time they have invested in earnings.

We will be able to recover expenses that we have already invested in the project.

YOU CAN ALSO COLLABORATE BY RE-SENDING OUR INIIATIVE TO YOUR CONTACTS AND FRIENDS.

Information on our rewards

We want our rewards to help people in La Mina housing estate, so as well as contributing to the film, the rewards you collect will be directly helping other people as well.

We understand that if you collaborate with our project then you are interested in the subject-matter of our film, so we have prepared the following: depending on your contribution, you can access online viewing of the film or watch the film on a film-house screen; we have two series of photographs of the neighbourhood, one by a local photographer and the other by one of the film’s directors; we also have a selection of three books that give you more information on what existed in the area before the ‘Forum’ zone was built as well as a very interesting guided tour of its little-known history.

ON-LINE VIEWING

With this reward you will receive an exclusive link to be able to view the film on-line, before the official preview, during a limited period of time only.

PREVIEWS

We are offering two types of preview:

• Font de la Mina Library: the first preview, in La Mina neighbourhood. You’ll be able to view an HD projection with the presence of the filmmakers.

• Filmoteca de Catalunya: preview at a cinema. It will be one of the only occasions that the film will be shown in a fully equipped film house with the presence of the filmmakers, followed by a debate.

On both occasions there will be a table where you’ll be able to collect the rest of your rewards.

POSTCARDS

Postcard of the documentary, with a special acknowledgement for having participated in the film:

PHOTOGRAPHS

José Sánchez Raz is a photographer who lives in the La Mina neighbourhood. He usually works documenting social projects, but this time he’s prepared a series of urban photographs of his neighbourhood especially for our crowdfunding campaign.

Mariona Giner is a documentary photographer who bases her work on transmitting the dignity of people who face the adversity of social inequality. During the last few years she has combined photography with designing and teaching photography workshops for the social integration of people who in severely underprivileged situations. She is also the codirector of this documentary film. For our crowdfunding campaign she has prepared a series of urban landscapes from ‘Dikela la Mina’, a project that was produced in La Mina in 2006 with local youth.

BOOKS

The three books are written by people who appear in the documentary film, and who have also contributed in other ways. It will enable you to know the La Mina area and neighbourhood in-depth, through its history, as well as helping us to think about social conflict from a new perspective. These books are available in Spanish only.

Some of the rewards include one or two books, and you can choose from the following:

Mierda de ciudad. Una rearticulación crítica del urbanismo neoliberal desde las ciencias sociales(Crap City. A critical re-articulation of neoliberal urbanism from the social sciences.)

Giuseppe Aricó, José A. Mansilla, Marco Luca Stanchieri

During the last few decades, the logic of the market has penetrated into the field of urban planning and the political and economical discourses that regulate the urban governing processes of our cities.

The texts found in this publication propose a critical approach to the re-articulation of a particular kind of urbanism that belongs to a neoliberal style.

El Campo de la Bota

Josep Maria Monferrer i Celades

Many people imagine the shack dwelling community of ‘El Camp de la Bota’ as dirty, miserable and socially marginalised. Certainly, this is not a totally unreal idea, but it is only half of the picture. This book tells the story of a neighbourhood that is important and symbolical for the history of Barcelona, from the inside.

Història Del Barri De La Mina 1969-2000

Josep Maria Monferrer i Celades

Step by step we will know the history of the first 25 years of La Mina neighbourhood, which was conceived as an ‘absorption housing estate’, to re-house shack dwellers. Throughout the book we will discover the fight for dignity as well as the badly administered politics, party interests and the corruption that eventually destroyed local social rights movements and the dreams and hopes of the neighbours.

"An historical narrative written in a quiet tone, which gives a voice to those from whom it was taken away."

Paco Marín

GUIDED TOUR

The tour is in Spanish only. It answers important questions such as what existed before the Fòrum and the brand-new university campus were built. After a walk around the area to visit the sight of Franco’s execution wall, the old shack locations and the Romany gypsy schools, you will be able to visit the archive where many photographs and other material are kept. The tour is guided by Josep Mª Monferrer, president of the Historical Archive of the Camp de la Bota i la Mina.

**Can you think of any other awards? Would you like to combine them differently? Let us know and we can work something out for you!

Our team

Director and script: Mariona Giner, photographer and workshop designer and teacher for social integration. Projects: I Spy (2013-2016), A Family Portrait (2009), Dikela la Mina (2006).

Director, camera and montage: Sergi Pujolar Castillo, photographer and photographic postproduction. He is a member of Collective Krasnyi, and collaborates regularly with different media such as La Directa. Projects: GLORIA (2015), Mirada Alternativa (2011).

Sound technician: Sandra Ramionet Formatger, direct sound. Projects: The Invisible Guest (2015), Sonata per a Violoncelo (2014), Dos a la Carta (2013), El Club de los Buenos Infieles (2013).

Second camera technician: Sergi Rubio Grandia, freelance photographer, member of Collective Krasnyi, collaborates regularly as a photojournalist with La Burxa y La Directa. Projects: Multituds (2013), Cuatro casas cuatro realidades (2012).

Assistant camera: Miguel Cortés Carrasco

Still photography: Eva Parey

Graphic design: Carla Lloret Puig, is a freelance designer and works at DiseFoto S.A.

Sound postproduction: Anxo Villar

Colour postproduction: Juanan Platas

Sound production: Martí Sales Sariola

Sound design: Ilya Martí

Correctors: Jose Antonio Merín Andía (Spanish), Lourdes Barcelò Mestre (Catalan)

Calendar

All rewards will be delivered in January- February 2016

August- November 2015: documentation

November- February 2015: production, casting

February- September 2015: filming

September- December 2015: postproduction

January 2016: special preview at La Mina public library

February 2016: preview at La Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona

During 2016, the film will participate in the documentary film circuit. From there onwards, we will consider showing it in different locations before making it available on-line.

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