From Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark we have invited a group of artists and historicians, who are using different medias. We have classic documentaries, animation, radio feature, books, contemporary music, photographs and experimental social media projects on board.
The cooperating autors and their projects are:
Lovech NORWAY
thereon “The Volunteer”
Photo courtesy of the Schei family
Documentary film ( 7 minutes ) about a young Norwegian student Martin Schei, who died in Spain in 1937 at the age of 19.
Kieran Kolle and Turid Rogne, directors
Elisabeth Kleppe, producer
“Alcoi”
5 short documentary films about the Alcoi Hospital (Total 20 minutes)
The short documentary films tell the story of the Swedish-Norwegian hospital through a wide selection of photographs from 1937, documenting Scandinavian solidarity. Interviews with relatives of the health workers and new footage from Alcoi supplement the archive photos.
The single episodes cover the following themes :
- those who left Scandinavia and went to Spain.
- the work at the hospital
- the importance of the solidarity health workers
- the leaving and travel back home
- the life of the volunteers after Alcoi
The point of departure for the films are these books:
“A Hospital for Spain! Scandinavian Solidarity in a Time of Civil War”
(Jon Olav Myklebust and Àngel Beneito, Alcoi 2009.)
“Escandinavos en Alcoi. Solidaridad Internacional en Tiempo de Guerra”
(Àngel Beneito and Jon Olav Myklebust, Alcoi 2011.)
Sebastian Holsen, director
Gunnar Strøm, producer
Special thanks to professors Jon Olav Myklebust & Gunnar Strøm and art director Thomas Lewe at Volda University College, Spanish historian Àngel Beneito and translator Gemma Ballester.
SWEDEN
“Love & Solidarity!”
Photography by Bernt Lindgren
Experimental animation, based on the protests against Franco in Stockholm, 1975.
Nils Claesson, film director
“La Violencia De Las Horas”
Sounds, images and memories of Jews who served in The International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
Thousands of Jews from 53 countries went to fight and die opposing Franco, firing the first shots against fascism. Some went openly as Jews, others took aliases; some fought in the battalions of their country of birth, others with other national groups; some went via a third nation, others went direct to Spain; some were refugees from anti-Semitism or political oppression already, others went freely from the democracies. In addition, thousands more Jews worldwide were active in solidarity campaigns, fund raising and refugee rescue, on behalf of the Republican Democrats. This project is dedicated to them.
Dror Feiler, composer, artist and political activist
“From Arvika to Alcoi”
Interactive documentary based on the story of nurse Bertha Olofsson – the grant-aunt of the author – who went to Spain to fight fascism in 1937.
Tinna Joné, documentarist
“Prepared”
A video art installation – a dialogue with the author and her children about the Spanish Civil War.
Karin Hansson, visual artist
FINLAND
“Radio Dolores”
Scenographical sketch Agata Gorzadek
Puppet animation ( 18 minutes ) based on the stories from the Aaltonen shoe factory of Tampere, Finland, during the Thirties when ordinary workers started to support the Republican Spain.
Also a radio feature under the same title, in English and in Spanish, and an installation based on the set decorations, characters and sketches of the animation.
Katariina Lillqvist, director & her Czech-Spanish-Finnish-Polish team
DENMARK
“Letters From the Spanish Civil War”
A book and an installation about the Nielsen Brothers.
Authors Albert Scervig, Charlie Krautwald, Daniel Madsen and Nadia Zarling
Their contribution for A Train To Spain is an audiovisual montage of sound interviews with the Nielsen brothers and selection of their own photographs from the Spanish civil war.
In cooperation with the Astrid Noack Atelier, Copenhagen