27/06/2014

TV Critics Discuss State of Audiovisual Industry at 2nd Symposium on Television Fiction

Pau Freixas, the director of ?Polseres Vermelles' (The Red Band Society), was joined by actors Mikel Iglesias and Andreu Rifé, who play the characters Ignasi and Dr. Josep, respectively, to close the 2nd Symposium on Television Fiction. Held on Tuesday, 21 May 2013, this event was organized by the UIC Faculty of Communication Sciences and sought to examine cultural issues affecting television series.

This day-long symposium featured the participation of television critics such as Alberto Rey (El Mundo) and Juan Manuel Freire (El Periódico), alongside university professors specializing in communication, including Jorge Carrión (UPF), Anna Tous (UAB), Alberto Nahum (Universidad de Navarra), Ivan Pintor (UPF) and Jorge Martínez Lucena (UAO). Their respective lectures explored subjects such as the role of morals and myths in television series and the future of TV fiction.

The actors Mikel Iglesias and Andreu Rifé, who appear as Ignasi and Dr. Josep in Polseres Vermelles, were joined by Pau Freixas, the director of the series, for the symposium's closing event. This consisted of a roundtable discussion moderated by the show's production coordinator, Sonia Martínez, also a professor at the UIC's Faculty of Communication Sciences.

Prof. Raquel Crisóstomo, the director of the symposium, highlighted that it had been organized to "explore new ideas that help come to terms with the constantly changing environment in the audiovisual sector and the current situation in the world of television series, and to offer a glimpse of ways in which it can be reinvented". She said, "We are trying to give future generations insight into practices that have worked in Spain and around the world. We hope that today’s students will be out there creating quality series tomorrow".

On this note, the dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Dr. Ivan Lacasa, shared his optimism about initiatives like the symposium during the event's opening ceremony. "University is not an ivory tower and the situation is not all doom and gloom. Symposia like this one demonstrate that there are plenty of promising developments on the horizon, and the phenomenon of television fiction is a success story that merits being studied in greater depth".

Some 100 people attended this second edition of the symposium. The inaugural edition was held last year and focused on an analysis of some of the effects of 9/11 on television fiction.