Porn movie to push cultural identity

Movie maker Conrad Son says his work, including films such as Good Time Girls in the Attic and Passion Gym, is part of Catalonia's cultural heritage. The regional government backs that claim with taxpayer money.

Son, an actor and director of erotic works, won a $20,360 grant to dub and promote his latest opus, The Sea is Not Blue, into the local language as part of a program to encourage broader use of Catalan.

Although the subsidy is a minuscule part of the $360 million budget for spreading Catalan culture, the payment has triggered outrage among newspapers and politicians who demand that the regional government stop supporting porn. Son dismisses the criticism, saying it's an imaginative use of his native tongue.

"People in Catalonia have sex too," says Son, 41. "It's good for us to have our own language, and these films provide exact Catalan words for erotic moments."

That argument is dismissed by politicians who say that Catalonia, an area in northeastern Spain which will get $4.1 billion from the central government this year, shouldn't subsidize smut.

"This is a disgrace," says Vicente Martinez-Pujalte, a lawmaker from the opposition People's Party who represents Valencia, the region just south of Catalonia. "You're using taxes to pay for actions which don't help to improve the moral level of a society."

Son follows a Catalan tradition of erotic entrepreneurs. Others include Nacho Vidal, twice winner of the Adult Video News award for best sex scene in a foreign film, and Daniel Sanchez, a director of Private Media Group Ltd, a Barcelona-based porn publisher listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Son says he's dedicated his career to promoting and developing the erotic vocabulary of his native language, releasing the record Sex in Catalan with his rock group, Conrad Son & the Porno Band.

The people of Catalonia, who won increased autonomy within the Spanish state last year, are used to finding themselves at odds with the rest of the country. The three-party coalition governing the region includes one party that wants independence and an interior minister, Joan Saura, who has called for the legalization of all drugs.

Artistic expression shouldn't be limited to just X-Rated fare, says Miquel Pueyo, secretary of linguistic policy for the regional government.

"It's not for me to put limits on the freedom of expression of any cinematographer," he says.

The region's commitment to its principles may be tested this month when applications open for $2.6 million of new language subsidies. Son says he'll be applying again for funding for his next project, the title of which remains a secret.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 05/04/2007 page6)