Only 30 days to accomplish a collective media project
Is it possible to introduce a new concept into society?
What is hidden beneath a speech?
Can the world be changed with words?
Of course: reality is determined by the words we use to define it. The Brave Class is a social experiment that explores the impact language has on the way we perceive the world.
George Lakoff, Owen Jones, Íñigo Errejón, Iñaki Gabilondo, Christian Salmon, Estrella Montolío and Berta Barbet are specialists in different fields of politics. Alongside many more experts, they have contributed to the making of this documentary while trying to answer all these questions.
During the 2015 presidential campaign we –Víctor, Borja and Jan–, university students at the time, tried to introduce a new concept in the usual discourse of politicians, journalists and media experts. Through public intervention, urban art and social activism, we were determined to uncover the manipulative techniques that are used every day in political speeches.
The concept of the brave class, both in Spanish, “Clase Valiente” and Catalan, “Classe valenta”, started to appear in newspapers, walls, banners, demonstrations, and also in political speeches, next to future political leaders, in protests, in the media… And all of these actions and mentions were captured and recorded by our cameras.
Once the filming concluded and having shared our work only with our close technical and artistic staff and with our university mentors: filmmakers such as Isaki Lacuesta, Javier Rebollo, Mar Coll, Jordi Balló and Elías León Sminiani, we sought a production company that would help us finish the documentary in the most professional way possible and with the widest distribution we could manage.
We chose to work with a group of old friends, the Compacto group, that has already produced El camino más largo para volver a casa (The longest way back home) by Sergi Pérez, that won the Gaudí award for Best Picture, and Metamorphosis by Manuel Pérez, that tells the story of the creation of the political party Barcelona en Comú.
With their help, our feature film is ready to be shown in excellent conditions. And at this point, to reach the largest audience we can, we encourage you to contribute to our distribution process.
Why use a crowdfunding campaign?
The aim of this documentary is to explain the methods of political language and political discourse in an attempt to build a society that is better prepared and armed to fight manipulation. For this reason we want to reach as far as we can and give the whole world the chance to watch The Brave Class. We want our film to be shown in cinemas, at universities and other associations, and then we want it to land on digital platforms and be edited for DVD. We must make some noise to reach television networks.
The Brave Class is a project that has not slept since we started it three years ago, and that has been made possible through the help and collaboration of many.
Now we need your help to increase the list of the brave.
Contributions will be used towards making the DVD, purchasing hard disks, and promotion supplies, hiring venues and other media expenses. We also intend to organize a university tour, to start the year in the best possible way.
# Our protagonists
Iñaki Gabilondo is a well-known Spanish journalist. He has worked as News Director at both the radio station SER and the Spanish national television network TVE, as Director of SER radio station and as Presenter of Hoy por hoy, a high-audience radio program in Spain. He has written many books and has been awarded several prizes for his journalism work.
Íñigo Errejón is a Spanish political scientist and politician, Member of Parliament for the region of Madrid. He works as Secretary of Politics, Strategy and Campaign for the political party Podemos, for whom he has been campaign manager. He has been part of many political debates on television, such as La Sexta Noche. He is coauthor, together with Chantal Mouffe, of the book In the Name of the People.
Owen Jones is a British commentator, columnist and author. He has written Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class and The Establishment: And How They Get Away With It. According to the media, Jones is a key figure among British progressives.
George Lakoff was one of the founders of Generative Semantics, a linguistic research programme in the 1960s. He later founded Cognitive Linguistics in the 1970s, and he was one of the main researchers of The Neural Theory of Language in the 1980s. Currently he works as a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Don’t Think of an Elephant and Metaphors We Live By.
Christian Salmon has focused his work as a writer around the uncovering of the great lies that surround us. The result is his book Storytelling, subtitled Bewitching the Modern Mind. His complete bibliography places him among the most influential social analysts of modern times.
Our team
Víctor Alonso Berbel, director
He has been praised in over 40 international festivals for his first short documentary film Puño y Metal (Fist and Metal). He is currently studying a postgraduate course in Film Production at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles.
Borja Barrera Allué, co-creator
He graduated in Media Studies while participating in a Scriptwriting, Directing and Distribution programme at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is partner and cofounder of Fractal 7, a film production company.
Jan Matheu, co-creator
After graduating at Pompeu Fabra University, with an international placement at the University of Cinema in Buenos Aires, he has participated in scriptwriting and production of the works of young filmmakers and education through media.
Aritz Cirbián, productor
He studied at the prestigious ESCAC school of cinema and media of Catalunya. He was awarded the title MEDIA Emerging Producer in 2014 and the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepeneur in 2013. He has produced films such as Todos los caminos de Dios (All of God’s ways) and the winner of the Gaudí award for Best Picture El camino más largo para volver a casa (The longest way back home).
The cast members Meritxell Termes, Adrià Olay and Txema Escorsa, in the first rehearsal.
What was the reach of the experiment?
During the first stage of the experiment we managed to get coverage in different Spanish media networks and newspapers: El País, El Periódico, La Vanguardia, Telecinco, TVC, Cadena SER, RNE, El Jueves, 20 minutos, ...
Rewards
By collaborating with the project not only do you help us reach further, but you or your group can also be generously compensated.
The first rewards are stickers to help us expand the concept The Brave Class, a limited edition fanzine with exclusive content, or the DVD.
If you contribute in a larger way we will invite you to a premiere in Barcelona or Madrid with many surprises, you will be able to choose one of the books for further reading that are listed below, or you will even be able to get your hands on a stencil (a graffiti pattern) like those used in the experiment.
For now, you can choose book from the following list:
Moral politics by George Lakoff, edited by Capitán Swing.
Chavs by Owen Jones, edited by Capitán Swing.
Calendar and reward distribution dates
We plan to release the documentary on June 2nd. The special reward premiere with the director, the producer and some of the personalities interviewed will take place on the week before the release (May 29th to June 2nd).
Deliveries of the remaining rewards (DVDs, books, fanzines, stickers, stencils…) will begin in September.
What happens if we exceed our initial goals?
If we reach 11.000€ our minimal goal, we will be able to show The Brave Class in movie theaters, non-commercial venues, DVD and digital platforms.
If we reach 20.000€, we will be able to improve the DVD to include two versions of the documentary and an A3-sized poster.
If we reach 28.000€, we will be able to edit fragments of extra material and exclusive unpublished interviews that we will include in the DVD and digital platforms.
If we reach 36.000€, we will be able to edit practically all of the extra material we have gathered and more exclusive unpublished interviews and include it all in the DVD and digital platforms.
You can follow us on Twitter y Facebook, any kind of distribution will be of great help!
5 comments
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Clase valiente
Author
¡Hola! Sí, puedes escoger el libro de Owen Jones. Muchas gracias por tu colaboración! Un saludo.
HENAR ALONSO
Buenos días:
¿Podría comprar el libro de Owen? y de este modo aportar a vuestro proyecto.
Un saludo,
Eva Ramírez
Buenos días, estoy escribiendo un libro sobre escritura persuasiva que ya tengo casi terminado. Sí en otra ocasión realizas un documental que se relacione con esta temática, me gustaría poder colaborar. Recibe un cordial saludo
Clase valiente
Author
¡Hola Miguel!
Muchas gracias por tu interés. Así a primeras, se nos ha ocurrido que uno puede colaborar
Siguiéndonos y compartiendo en las redes sociales.
Organizando un pase para tu asociación, colectivo o alumnado.
Adquiriendo el DVD.
Leyendo un poco sobre el tema con uno de los libros que ponemos a tu disposición.
Saliendo a la calle con el Stecil que podemos a tu disposición.
Asistiendo a uno de los pases especiales.
Sugiriendo a tus amigas y amigos que nos sigan.
Y si además tienes más ideas, por favor ¡no dudes en sugerírnoslas!
Miguel
Estoy muy interesado en este tema, en particular en la transformación de la sociedad mediante ideas y el mal uso de éstas para manipular a la gente. Podría colaborar en esta iniciativa de alguna forma a parte de aportar dinero o publicidad? Gracias.