Illegal_Cinema

Films are an everyday need. At Illegal_Cinema films flash on and off once a month in Bulegoa z/b’s office, as a type of cinema that doesn’t finish until we meet following the screening. It takes shape through words, when we share opinions and we find that we have experienced the film in the same or in different ways. Illegal_Cinema believes that the filmic experience should be an open one, hence we pose the following questions:

Where does critique emerge from and what type of critique do we want? One that affects us or one that sets limits?

Is it right to show films with the aim of demonstrating something one already knows?

Is this is a film? And if it isn’t a film, what is it?

At Illegal_Cinema you can propose a session that can take any form you want: as a series of shorts, a classic gem, as a television space, a lost family archive, as a gesture, or as a screen that extends out onto the street… The only condition is that the material shown isn’t something you have produced yourself. Illegal_Cinema is an image that once had a very strong impact on us and that, in sharing it today with a friendly community, becomes a story.

Illegal_Cinema emerged in 2007 in Belgrade on the initiative of Marta Popivoda, a member of the platform Walking Theory – TkH, as a form of community self-teaching. This was followed by special editions in Zagreb and Istanbul between 2008 and 2009, and in 2010 TkH sponsored another Illegal_Cinema in Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers in Paris. In December that same year, Marta Popivoda visited Bulegoa z/b to present Illegal_Cinema. Since then the program has been organized in Bilbao as well. Jorge Núñez, Cristian Villavicencio, Leire San Martin, Marion Cruza Le Bihan, Ainara Elgoibar, Pablo Marte, Aizpea de Atxa and Akane Saraiva have coordinated the sessions of Illegal_Cinema in the past. At present, Julia Martos is carrying out this task. If you want to propose a film or audio-visual material, you can get in contact with Julia at any of the Illegal_Cinema sessions, or by sending an email to: bulegoa@bulegoa.org or to j.martosramirez@gmail.com