A few months ago, Vanesa Fernández de Guerra and Rubén Corral Giménez, directors and managers of the programming of the ZINEBI, Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival, wondered if the documentary would have broken the glass ceiling once and for all under which the industry itself placed it.
They did it from success, critics and on many occasions also public, of such innovative proposals as ‘The year of discovery’ (Luis López Carrasco), ‘Dear Werner: walking on cinema’ (Pablo Maqueda), ‘My Mexican Bretxel’ (Nuria Giménez Lorang) or ‘A media voz’ (Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez), apart from the work of Asif Kapadia and his groundbreaking portraits of Senna, Winehouse or Maradona.
Also a more conventional documentary, but very well done, continues to have the support of the public: there are films like ‘Antonio Machado. The blue days ‘(Laura Hojman),’ Anatomy of a dandy ‘(Charlie Arnaiz, Alberto Ortega),’ The drugs ‘(Natxo Leuza),’ My life among ants ‘(Chema Veiga, Juan Moya) or’ The century of Galdós’ (Miguel Ángel Calvo Buttini).
Likewise, musical recoveries as sweet and well packaged as’ Summer of Soul ‘(Questlove) or’ Amazing Grace ‘(Alan Elliott, Sydney Pollack), and other even deeper, socio-political and authorial proposals such as’ Crock of Gold: Drinking like Shane McGowan ‘, from the fireproof Julien Temple. Or the much abused nature documentary genre, with Joaquín Gutiérrez Acha at the helm.
We can conclude with that the public has changed their view of the documentary, treating it as something more than a genre; to this series of exponents should be added the resounding success of the format on digital platforms, with addictive true crime to the head.
‘Arcadeology’, the exciting dream of recovering arcade machines from another era
‘Arcadeology’, debut of Mario-Paul Martínez, It is not exactly an author’s documentary but there are different features that denote a certain personality, such as the use of music or the use of images as expressive as these industrial warehouses full of recreational machines. Sometimes, due to its exhaustiveness, it can be somewhat redundant, and its duration of 110 minutes is excessive for the simply curious viewer.
But what a doubt it is about a fascinating subject, especially in an age oversaturated by the digital and the global: the cultural legacy of the classic arcade that had its golden age in the eighties and nineties, in the aforementioned machines in shopping and specialized centers, which in turn functioned as meeting places and recess for couples and gangs. Nostalgia It does not appear here, therefore, as a commercial hook, but as sentimental refuge from a lost time but not entirely unrecoverable.
Of course, it is exciting to hear from these people who have dedicated their lives to recovering and rebuilding the myths of his childhood and adolescence. Dreamers obstinately involved in the strenuous work of rebuilding these arcades, getting to put machines and systems destroyed by time and use back into operation, or to claim their iconography and value first through internet forums and later in institutions, with initiatives such as Arcade Vintage, Recreativas.org or the Videogame Museum in Spain, so that they can be enjoyed by the new, more inclusive generations of gamers.
Treating topics as varied as the gender perspectives, the mechanism of pinballs or music in video games, ‘Arcadeology’ recognizes the commendable work of museums such as RetroBarcelona, RetroSevilla, RetroEuskal or Arcadecon and associations such as Retromaniac, giving voice, among others, to specialists such as Eduardo Cruz, Toni Piedrabuena, David Torres, Óscar Marín, David Martínez , Lara Isabel Rodríguez, Adrián Ronda, José María Litarte or María Jesús Murillo.
The tone used by the director is leisurely and respectful; Let no one expect something like ‘The King of Kong: A fistful of quarters’ (Seth Gordon, 2007). This is also historical memory. ‘Arcadeology’ is now available for sale on DVD and Blu-ray.