Franco´s Settlers

Press quotations
Palacios and Post have closely
inspected a huge amount of old
photographs and films and included them in their film, interviewed
former high-ranking cadres of the
fascist Falange and met with the
Social Democratic prime minister
during the transition years. Their
film doesn‘t comment too much,
instead the protagonists and the
material get to talk. A convincing
method. Franco‘s Settlers could
be an important contribution to
how Spaniards deal with their
dictatorship.
Andreas Fanizadeh (TAZ)
Franco´s Settlers is an important
and highly recommendable film.
Walter Haubrich (Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung)
Franco‘s Settlers is a fabulous
film. To me it was an eye opener
and a first class history lesson.
The little I had learned in school
and the little I knew from the
media (the military coup in 1981
was on German TV) gave me
only a small glimpse of Spanish
history. The film brilliantly fills
this lack of information. And it is
absolutely amazing how the film
at the end takes us right to the
current political situation in Spain.
Very creepy.
Dominik Wessely (filmmaker &
professor of documentaryfilmmaking at Cologne Film School)
Congratulations on this rigorous
and emotional film. In Spain this
revision of history never has been
made and it is never too late to
revise history. It is you as filmmakers who do it from the ground
up, from life itself, from reality.
The best achievement of the film
is unveiling how Spaniards keep
ignoring what really occurred.
Spanish public TV has to broadcast this film so that people know
about it. And the film should be
nominated for a Goya.
Sergi Doladé (director of the
MEDIMED DocsMarket)
A magnificent work, serious and
objective. This is the kind of film
which truly democratic citizens
need to watch.
Thank you for your effort.
Óscar Rodríguez (Association
for the Recovery of Historical
Memory)
Franco´s Settlers
Los Colonos del Caudillo
play loud! productions | 2012 | 112 min | Germany, Spain | HD
Directed & produced by Lucía Palacios & Dietmar Post
Narrated by Juan Diego Botto
Edited by Karl-W. Huelsenbeck
Synopsis
Somewhere on the high plains of La Mancha in Spain resides a village
that carries the name of its creator, Francisco Franco. The translation for
the village’s name Llanos del Caudillo is The High Plains of the Caudillo.
Llanos del Caudillo was one of over 300 settlement villages built during the
dictatorship of General Franco between 1939 and 1975. The ideological
goal of these communities was to create the new fascist man.
The film portraits this unordinary small town as if we were looking through
a magnifying glass, reviewing the Spanish history since Franco took power
until the present days, when judge Baltasar Garzón, famous for having
prosecuted Augusto Pinochet, is declared incompetent by the National
Court to conduct an investigation of the crimes committed during Franco´s
dictatorship.
Franco’s Settlers is a contemporary evaluation of the figure of the dictator
Franco; a discreet and calm attempt to dissect recent Spanish history and
to review how some Spaniards deal with the cruel heritage of their past.
Sinopsis
En un lugar de La Mancha existe un pueblo cuyo nombre rinde homenaje
a su creador. Llanos del Caudillo es uno de los 300 asentamientos construidos por Franco en los que el nuevo hombre fascista habría de nacer.
En el año 2008 los autores de esta película son testigos de un fabuloso
descubrimiento: decenas de cajas con documentos sobre la creación y
administración de Llanos del Caudillo son salvados de ser destruidos en el
último minuto. En esos documentos está, tal y como el alcalde del pueblo
afirma, “la historia de un pueblo sin historia”.
Y lo que comienza como la revelación de un capítulo desconocido de la
historia de España acaba convirtiéndose en un espejo de la sociedad
española en el presente. Un presente en el que se impide que un juez
investigue los crímenes del franquismo.
La película hace un retrato de esta pequeña población como si de una
lente de aumento se tratara y va diseccionando los hechos históricos
desde que Franco llegó al poder hasta la actualidad.
“Los Colonos del Caudillo” es una revisión del legado de la figura de
Francisco Franco, una mirada hacia el pasado que nos ayuda a encontrar
las claves
del presente y entender un país en el que la figura del dictador
aún persiste.
Featuring
Felipe González, José Utrera Molina, Santiago Sánchez,
Eugenio Bascuñana, Juan Aranda, Wenceslao Chamero, Cleofé Serrano,
Joaquín Romano, María Josefa Serrano, Ana Romano, Antonio Rubio,
Ana M. Parrilla, Javier Isla, Manuel Romano, Karin Romano-Brandt,
Cristóbal Gómez, María Esther Almarcha, Isidro Sánchez
y Francisco F. Goberna.
Quotes from the film
“Irrigated land, irrigation ditches, roads, rural population rescued from
poverty and formed spiritually healthy; white and smiling villages with
churches in which God is praised; chests torn from Marxism in which the
ideals of our Crusade beat.”
Propagandistic text from the National Settlement Institute
The idea of “ambulant cinema”
The filmmakers and winners of the Adolf Grimme Award, Lucía Palacios and
Dietmar Post, are searching for screening possibilities in movie theatres,
youth or cultural centers, German-Spanish or neighborhood run associations
and schools and universities. They plan a “movie tour”, an “ambulant cinema”, that leaves the common ways of distribution and that acts in the style of
the “Pedagogic Missions” during the Spanish 2nd Republic in the 30s. Together with the local people they would like to organize locally oriented round
tables. To help this “ambulant cinema” to stand on its feet, the help of many
people and organizations is needed. Please contact the filmmakers directly if
you wish to colaborate ([email protected]).
La idea del “cine ambulante”
Los autores y ganadores del Premio Adolf Grimme, Lucía Palacios y Dietmar
Post, buscan cines, centros culturales, asociaciones de vecinos, escuelas
y universidades, que estén interesados en mostrar la película. Planean
organizar un “cine ambulante” en el estilo de las Misiones Pedagógicas de la
Segunda República en los años 30, saliéndose de las vías convencionales
de distribución. Para poner este ambicioso proyecto en marcha necesitan
el apoyo de personas e instituciones que deseen colaborar. Si tiene interés,
por favor, póngase en contacto con ellos ([email protected]).
Citas extraídas de la película
“Tierras regadas, acequias y caminos; poblaciones rurales rescatadas
de la pobreza y formadas espiritualmente sanas; pueblos blancos y
risueños con iglesias en las que se alaba a Dios, y pechos arrancados
del marxismo en los que laten los ideales de nuestra Cruzada.”
Texto propagandístico del Instituto Nacional de Colonización
“Franco should have lived another 100 years.”
Pioneer settler
“Franco tendría que haber vivido 100 años más.”
Colono pionero
“This was like a concentration camp here. You had to shut up. You couldn‘t
do what you wanted to do. We had to do what they ordered us to do.”
Pioneer settler
“Esto era un campo de `reconcentración ,́ porque aquí no podía abrir el
pico nadie, ni hacer lo que te parecía. Teníamos que hacer lo que ellos
nos decían. Eran los amos.”
Colono pionero
“In Germany there are no streets named after Hitler. In this region we have
approx. 800 streets named after José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was a
fascist. There are approx. 500 streets named after Franco.”
Isidro Sánchez (Castile-La Mancha University)
“A village can‘t honour a person that revolted against the established
democratic order, provoked one million deaths and for 40 years kept us
in the darkness of the middle ages. Words and language have an importance. A community‘s name can‘t honour a person who has provoked
such things.”
Former school director in Llanos del Caudillo
“I live in Llanos del Caudillo. I know what Franco did for me. I don‘t care
about the good or the bad he has done elsewhere. I have to appreciate
what he has done for my village.”
Settlers‘ grandson
“I could never call Franco a dictator.”
José Utrera Molina, Minister under Franco and member of the fascist
organization Falange
“We were patient with those we thought had a distorted conception of
history, of what was a coup d‘état. Some of the conservatives won‘t
recognize that.”
Felipe González, Spain‘s President between 1982 and 1996
A film supported by
Silk screen prints designed and signed by Daniel Richter (100 x 140 cm, limited edition)
Crowd-funding campaign
“Franco‘s Settlers” has been produced independently, without the help of television or funding agencies, by the two filmmakers over a period of10 years.
In the Spring of 2012 a successful wide crowdfunding campaign generated
20,000 of the missing 50,000 euros. The German painter Daniel Richter had
created four Franco-collages in the style of Dada for the campaign.
You can still support the film project financially directly through the website
of the filmmakers, for example by the acquisition of screen prints that have
since been purchased by a number of renowned collectors and museums.
Campaña de micromecenazgo
“Los Colonos del Caudillo” es una producción independiente en la que los
directores han trabajado durante 10 años, sin el apoyo de cadenas de televisión y con muy poco apoyo institucional. En la primavera de 2012 organizaron una campaña de micromecenazgo con la que recaudaron 20.000 de los
50.000 euros que faltaban para terminar la película. El pintor alemán Daniel
Richter creó para tal campaña cuatro collages con el rostro de Franco como
motivo central. Todavía pueden adquirirse serigrafías de Daniel Richter a
través de la página web de play loud, y apoyar al mismo tiempo la película.
“Las palabras tienen mucha importancia y el nombre de una comunidad no puede homenajear a alguien que ha causado un millón de muertes y que mantuvo a España 40 años sumida en el obscurantismo.”
Ex-director del colegio de Llanos del Caudillo
“Yo vivo en Llanos del Caudillo, sé lo que Franco ha hecho por mí, y
el mal o el bien que haya hecho fuera no me interesa. Yo tengo que
apreciar lo que ha hecho por mi pueblo.”
Nieto de colono
“Yo no podría jamás calificar de dictador a Franco.”
José Utrera Molina, Ministro bajo Franco y miembro de La Falange
“Hemos tenido paciencia para entendernos la gente que creíamos que
se había tenido una visión distorsionada de lo que fue un golpe de
Estado -que todavía hay una parte de la derecha que no quiere reconocer que fue un golpe de Estado.”
Felipe González, Presidente de España entre 1982 y 1996