The Cerdanya Film Festival faces its 17th edition at a critical juncture due to the Puigcerdà City Council's blocking of the use of the Municipal Theatre of Casino Ceretà on the usual dates of the event. The conflict affects the main screening venue of a festival that qualifies for the Goya Awards and leaves the organization of the final week and the closing ceremony in limbo.
The tension centers on a direct contradiction. The council admits in writing that the facility has structural limitations to comply with the Public Spectacles Law and occupational risk regulations, but at the same time proposes moving the programming to the Museu Cerdà and altering the historical calendar around August 15th, despite the reach the festival achieved in its last edition.
The city council admitted that the theater does not meet technical and safety requirements
Mayor Joan Manel Serra and culture councilor Núria Laura Muñoz signed a resolution in which they acknowledge that the technical and safety requirements exceed the structural capabilities of the available spaces. This admission affects the facilities of the Municipal Theatre of Casino Ceretà, the usual venue for the event.
Furthermore, the city council refuses to grant the use of this space on the usual festival dates. The Cerdanya Cinema Foundation maintains that the council also systematically denies access to the current homologation certifications for stage machinery, the load study, and the updated Self-Protection Plan.
Jordi Forcada, director of the Cerdanya Film Festival, frames the clash with the city council within this context.
"It is unacceptable that, given our willingness to collaborate and even assume the necessary technical adjustments, the City Council opts for obstruction and opacity" - Jordi Forcada, director of the Cerdanya Film Festival
The foundation adds that it will not accept a reduction in technical and prevention standards to maintain the activity in a facility it considers key for Puigcerdà. Forcada also denounces that the lack of municipal maintenance affects the viability of the festival in its current format.
The proposal to move the closing ceremony to the Museu Cerdà alters the festival's historical dates
As an alternative, the Puigcerdà City Council has proposed holding the final week of screenings and the closing ceremony at the Museu Cerdà. This change would force a modification of the festival's historical dates, usually set around August 15th.
The scope of the problem goes beyond a simple relocation. The previous edition closed with 25,000 spectators and participants in record numbers, a volume that places the conflict over essential equipment for the cultural programming of the capital of Cerdanya.
In parallel, the organization links the current blockade to the municipal refusal to sign a multi-year agreement. The council alleges that the intensive use of the space requires a tender, but this lack of agreement is causing the loss of supramunicipal aid intended to repair the Casino and establish a stable film program.
During its 17 years of activity, the festival has received only 10,000 euros from the Puigcerdà City Council, allocated to the Grup de Recerca de Cerdanya. The organization emphasizes that the event does have the support of other regional, provincial, autonomous, and state administrations.
Forcada maintains that the entity is exhausting all avenues to keep the edition in Puigcerdà, although he warns that it cannot organize an event of that magnitude under doubts about technical safety and with what he defines as continued institutional contempt.
The Cerdanya Cinema Foundation demands an immediate rectification, an urgent contingency plan to guarantee the safety of the Teatre Casino Ceretà, and a formal resolution on the dates and requests made. It also warns that, if the council does not act diligently, the future of the festival could leave Puigcerdà.