Jordi Évole and Màrius Sánchez, on the Ternera documentary: “The viewer is treated with little respect, they are told what they have to see” | Cinema | EUROtoday

When the three days of recording completed in May 2022, Jordi Évole (Cornellá de Llobregat, 49 years outdated) and Màrius Sánchez (Barcelona, ​​41 years outdated) requested themselves: what had been they going to do with that interview with Josu Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea, Josu Ternera, chief for many years of ETA? “We needed to reflect on what was recorded and how to present it,” says Évole. About Évole. Yes, we shortly understood that it was materials that didn’t expire, with better historic worth than journalistic exclusiveness.” They kneaded the consequence little by little; They searched, contacted and recorded Francisco Ruiz, sufferer of the assault with which ETA murdered the mayor of Galdakao (Bizcaia), Víctor Legroburu, in 1976. Ruiz was the municipal police officer who was escorting the councilor that day, and the commando (through which Josu Ternera was) riddled him with 12 pictures.

All that materials turned Don’t name me Veal, a documentary that has bought out all its tickets for its 5 screenings in San Sebastián (as we speak are the first two for the public, after the first press screening this Friday), and will likely be seen on Netflix on December 15. There are 101 minutes that have raised super expectations and even better controversy: a letter from 515 signatories requested that he withdraw from the contest (even with out seeing it), and has additionally been criticized by Sortu, the guardian occasion of EH Bildu, and by the Josu Urrutikoetxea himself, sad with the consequence. By the means, Francisco Ruiz is in San Sebastián, accompanying the documentary, though Évole and Sánchez sit down to discuss to EL PAÍS early on Saturday even with out having had time to greet him. “There was magic with him, an immediate connection on a recording day in May 2023,” Évole remembers, “and we have continued to see each other. We showed it to him a long time ago, he was one of the first to see the documentary, because we wanted to see his feelings; Depending on them, we would have done one thing or another.”

Ask. How a lot time did it take to full it?

Mario Sanchez We recorded in 2022, however we began working in 2020. A little in anticipation that 2021 would mark the tenth anniversary of the finish of violence. We had been clear that there was no rush, that we had to ask ourselves the proper questions and then be calm when presenting it.

Jordi Évole In uncooked there will likely be about 9 or 10 hours of recordings ensuing from three days of filming.

P. And given the pressure, was there by no means a worry that Josu Ternera wouldn’t return someday?

J. Yeah. In reality, we had this worry that it may occur, as a result of the interview was not a pleasant interview in any respect, irrespective of how a lot was mentioned with out seeing it.

M. S. There was a really humorous second from the second day onwards, which was ready in the morning for him to return… We had been hesitant, and he all the time did it on time, 10 minutes early, in his go well with, with out saying something. Although sure, it is true that the interviews had been very tense.

J. Yeah. It was one in all the most tough issues I have executed in my life, as a result of it required quite a lot of preparation. Luckily, I do a sort of journalism that not everybody can do anymore. I have an incredible staff behind me: script, analysis, manufacturing and post-production. Although in the finish you are the one who reveals your face, the one who has to be very attentive to what the interviewee tells you, how he says it to you, what phrases he makes use of. Well, we had been fairly shaken from different interviews. A present evil is that the interviewer is examined greater than the interviewee. And I do not know if it is necessary. You have to demand sure minimums from the journalist, having studied the character very properly. Then comes the reside present, the tikitaka… When I end the interviews I’m exhausted, it is the coconut that exhausts you. Anyway, we did it with full freedom, Netflix got here in later. It was the first time {that a} state-level tv (and then when the worldwide platform arrived) had in entrance of an ETA chief prepared to discuss every thing with out situations.

Without having the ability to decide him an excessive amount of as an individual, as a result of I do not know him, I do suppose we anticipated a extra conciliatory speech. “He spoke more internally, to the ETA prisoners or his audience, than to the outside.”

P. Were you anticipating this Josu Ternera, completely anchored in his beliefs?

J. Yeah. Without having the ability to decide him an excessive amount of as an individual, as a result of I do not know him, I do suppose we anticipated a extra conciliatory speech. He spoke extra internally, to the ETA prisoners or his viewers, than externally. He is a militant. That narrows his message so much. After a lot time, we anticipated extra. There is some trace, like when he talks about the kidnapping and homicide of Miguel Ángel Blanco, and falls into that definition of the lack of empathy on each side. Or after we talked about Yoyes, and I requested him about his homicide in his city and with his son by the hand, I assumed there could be yet one more step there. He says that he mentioned goodbye to his good friend at the airport on the means to her exile, that he visited her in Mexico… and finally ends up saying that the group, utilizing his terminology, had an issue with the doable reintegration of ETA members in society, and may lead to a flight of militants. And he justifies that they search for the first individual they come throughout, who is additionally Yoyes, with nice symbolic which means, and kill her. Josu Urrutikoetxea continues as a militant. That second got here again to me…

P. Did you see the criticism coming?

J. Yeah. We anticipated some noise, however not this one, nor a letter asking for preventive censorship, nor the response we have skilled today, as a result of it reveals that they have no idea us in any respect. I imply, they have no thought who I’m. This interview is a journalistic responsibility. I really feel nice delight in the work of my staff and the consequence. One day in a restaurant the proprietor of the institution asks me to take a photograph with Arnaldo Otegi, and if from that picture it follows that I’m from ETA… Sorry for saying it in these phrases, but it surely is absurd, it is idiotizing the viewer. The viewer is being treated with very little respect, as a result of they are being told what they have to see and what they do not have to see. But who are you to resolve that? What form of ethical guardians are they? It’s okay to present a product and let the viewer draw their conclusions, which will likely be very legitimate. We have a really ready citizenry, way more than we predict. We had been extra involved about the victims, and that is why we had been meticulous with the pictures.

P. Is the finish of the documentary the finish of the interviews? With Ternera’s imaginative and prescient of her life devoted to his militancy indisputably.

J. Yeah. That’s the place his self-definition as a militant ends, for me he is a fanatic, he has no regrets. How is he going to say that his life hasn’t been value it, as a result of if he hesitates, I do not know, he would shoot himself. I really feel that he responds from survival.