A Red Nose for Alex de la Iglesia

The director’s profile picture was taken at the last Venice Film Festival by El País photographer Xavier Torres-Bacchetta.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte has made this his Twitter profile picture in imitation of Alex de la Iglesia.

A Red Nose for Alex de la Iglesia
El País: Una nariz roja por Alex de la Iglesia
Arturo Pérez-Reverte encourages the filmmaker’s protest against La Ley Sinde on Twitter. Gerardo Herrero believes the director of “Sad Trumpet Ballad” has “lost his mind” because of the social network.
Álvaro P. Ruiz de Elvira reporting from Madrid, January 28, 2011

Two bombs have fallen on Twitter in recent months that have animated the panorama of Spanish Internet culture: Alex de la Iglesia (38,700 followers) and Arturo Pérez-Reverte (65,200). Through their profiles and commentaries of 140 characters, the filmmaker and writer have come into contact with their followers and detractors, for better or for worse. Other artists, like Nacho Vigalondo, Santiago Seguro, Alejandro Sanz, and Miguel Bosé have also given their opinions on different topics through the network. The latest action: in support of De La Iglesia’s announcement that he will resign from the presidency of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences after the Goya Awards gala in protest of an anti-piracy law, Pérez-Reverte has imitated the filmmaker in posting a photo of himself on Twitter with a clown’s red nose.

“I would blindly support @AlexdelaIglesia” and “I support @AlexdelaIglesia. I don’t like La Ley Sinde, either” are the writer and journalist’s latest messages in support of the director. The agreement which the PSOE and PP parties reached at the beginning of the week to reactivate La Ley Sinde has generated a great debate on social networks which provoked De La Iglesia to announce, through a letter sent to El País, that he would leave the presidency of the Film Academy after two years as its head. Pérez-Reverte posted a red-nose photo last night and encouraged his followers to do the same. #todosconalexdelaiglesia is today one of the most followed themes on Twitter, and many users have posted pictures of themselves with red clown noses.

De la Iglesia began to use his Twitter account more assiduously since the opening of his latest movie, Balada triste de trompeta (its two protagonists are clowns, hence the red nose on his profile picture). Publicity for the movie – which has 15 nominations for the Goya Awards granted by the academy over which he presides – coincided with the political and media debate and the latest congressional vote on the anti-piracy law (which would allow the government to close websites that have download links to copyrighted content).

But the director’s decision has also met some opposition. Producer and director Gerardo Herraro has said that De la Iglesia “has lost his mind because of Twitter,” according to today’s edition of ABC. For Herraro, who has also been president of the Academy, there is “no big difference between the law that was proposed and the text which has been produced.” The producer calls attention to the change of opinion by De la Iglesia, who as a result of interaction on Twitter over Congress’s vote on the law, began a debate which has caused him to change his mind. “He’s caught Internaut (Internet + Astronaut) syndrome. It would be like the Minister of Public Health negotiating with cocaine traffickers about how to make a law and whether the coca needs to be of better quality. He’s talking about the law with the people for whom it causes problems.”

Another series of protests to the anti-piracy law have propagated on the Web. One of them is connected to the Goya gala this February 13, when De la Iglesia will still be the president of the Academy. The objective is to assemble at the Royal Theater, where the awards will take place. There is an official announcement on the Internet to enroll people to travel to Madrid that day and participate in the protest.

Explore posts in the same categories: Movies and TV, Politics, Spain, Translations

Tags: alex de la iglesia, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, goya awards protest, ley sinde, spain copyright debate, spanish antipiracy law, twitter in spain

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