- Eduardo Madina and Borja Sémper reflect on the significance of ETA’s surrender, the dangers of totalitarianism and the present of Basque society
The 66th Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) joins the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the cessation of armed activity by the terrorist group ETA with the theatrical release of the documentary Impuros, by Madrid-born filmmaker Alberto Utrera. The Valladolid Festival thus opens a space for reflection around the dangers of totalitarianism inspired by the story of Eduardo Madina and Borja Sémper, ETA targets since they entered the arena of politics (respectively in Spain’s Socialist and Popular parties, where they held management positions) when they were both only 17 years old.
Impuros follows in the wake of the book Todos los futuros perdidos (“All Futures Lost“), Madina and Sémper’s tribute to the more than 850 fatal victims of ETA, which on October 20, 2011 put an end to 43 years of terrorist violence that also left a tragic legacy of 86 kidnappings and 7,000 wounded, including Madina himself, who suffered an attack in 2002 that caused him the amputation of the left leg at the height of his knee.
Madina and Sémper, friends and political rivals, decide to meet in a hundred-year-old farmhouse 6 miles away from Mondragón, at a crossroads in the heart of the Basque Country, to review their life stories, which are marked, like those of their loved ones, by the threat of ETA. A conversation about the fight against terrorism, the end of the group and the present of Basque society, while the aftermath of terrorism is still felt by the population; a testimony against fear, silence and, above all, oblivion; and a proposal for an exercise in collective memory.
Produced by TVE and programmed out of competition in the Time of History section, Impuros will be screened on Monday 25, 10 pm, at Teatro Cervantes. There will be a second screening on Wednesday 26, at 7:30 pm, at Broadway Cinemas. Tickets are already on sale at www.seminci.es.
