Gaudí

“Gaudí” is an unusual work of “faction” made up by fragments of imaginary old film – that is to say by film that the architect’s contemporaries could have made had they had the opportunity and the authentic documentary material. “Gaudí” provides glimpses of imaginary moments in the life and work of the architect who, by being a historical figure, has also become a ficticious character to some extent. This film is in fact a representation of how we would imagine a contemporary documentary would have been and as a result it shows that our idea of historical reality is not necessarily based on what actually happened. “Gaudí”, by using disturbing fragments of unreality, looks at Gaudí from all sides in order to unravel his enigmatic personality and at the same time investigates the very beginnings of cinematic styles and techniques. The story revolves around the year 1931, a key date in the development of Catalan cinema, the year that silent films were replaced by talkies. A team of pioneers decide to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Gaudí’s death by looking into his life and work. Their material consisting of images without sound and interviews with people of the day, is scattered during the Civil War and lies forgotten until another team (our own) rediscovers the cans of film and decides to go back in time. The story goes full circle by creating an additional fiction on the life of the architect – his work, his childhood and his early experiences. “Gaudí” is, then, a “fiction-documentary” but also a documentary of what a 30’s documentary would have looked like.