Pere Portabella: the critical gesture and poetic resistance

The exhibition invites visitors to rediscover the unique figure of Pere Portabella, a filmmaker who sees cinema, art and politics as inseparable forms of creation and commitment.

His films challenge conventional storytelling and reflect a constant search for new artistic languages. By collaborating with people beyond the film industry, Portabella developed a body of work that is innovative, dissident and unmistakably modern.

As a producer, he helped bring to the screen landmark films such as Los Golfos by Carlos Saura, El Cochecito by Marco Ferreri, Viridiana by Luis Buñuel and Tren de sombras by José Luis Guerin.

Portabella also played an active political role as an elected senator for Girona, helping organise Josep Tarradellas' return to Catalonia and conceiving the event as a cinematic sequence.

The exhibition presents materials from Portabella's personal archive and his production company, Films 59, while also exploring his relationship with Joaquim Jordà, celebrated in the exhibition Joaquim Jordà, Through the Looking-Glass, marking the twentieth anniversary of his death.

Visitors can also enjoy excerpts from Portabella's films, including his first feature, Don't Count on Your Fingers (1967).

The exhibition aims to encourage a renewed appreciation of the unique legacy of an incomparable filmmaker.

This initiative is part of Acció Portabella, an international programme of activities marking the centenary of Pere Portabella. Production: Museu del Cinema. Curatorship, coordination and communication: Jordi Dorca. Exhibition design and installation: Rafel d'Arquer. Documentation and conservation: Jordi Vidal (Films 59) and Montse Puigdevall (Museu del Cinema). Audiovisual editing: Jordi Vidal. Exhibited materials: Documentary archive of Pere Portabella, deposited at the Filmoteca de Catalunya. Exhibited cameras: Museu del Cinema. Audiovisual materials courtesy of: Films 59. Acknowledgements: The Pere Portabella family, Jordi Vidal (Films 59), Jordi Balló, and the Territorial Museum Network of the Girona Region. Acció Portabella is an initiative of the Ministry of Culture of Spain, the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya), the Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies (ICEC), the Filmoteca de Catalunya, and the Spanish Film Archive (Filmoteca Española).