Respected industry figure Angela Bosch has been removed from her job as director of Catalan Films and TV as part of a reshuffling within the Catalan government’s film body ICIC.
Alex Navarro, director of the EU’s Media Program in Catalonia, has replaced Angela Bosch as head of Catalan Films And TV, a government-backed organization in charge of promoting the Catalan Audiovisual industry to the international market.
The move comes as a blow to the region because Bosch is a well respected figure in the local film industry with a great number of international contacts, but it is not a total surprise as the new ruling CIU party in Catalonia had recently announced that they are attempting to cut 15% of culture ministry jobs.
Officially in Spain, public workers cannot be fired, but private sector employees under the service of the state can lose their jobs and so are feeling the brunt of the cuts.
Bosch joined Catalan Films and TV in 2003 having previously worked as head of international sales at Lola Films, one of the most respected production companies in Spain, whose catalogue includes The Day Of The Beast and Jamon, Jamon.
During her reign at Catalan Films and TV the regional industry has flourished with a great number of exciting local new directors having emerged on the international scene, including Juan Antonio Bayona and Guillem Morales, and a high success rate of Catalan titles at the festivals and good performances at the box office. Plus an increasing number of high profile international films shooting in the region, including Rodrigo Cortes’ Red Lights, starring Robert De Niro, and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu’s Biutiful, starring Javier Bardem.
Navarro will now have to multi-task as he is not only director of Catalan Films and TV, but also heads the Catalan Film Commission and Catalonia’s Media Office — which has worked on projects including The Milk of Sorrow and The Orphanage.
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