A BCNegra among spies

The darkest week of the city is approaching. Between 5 and 11 February, the black genre will be the focus of attention in what will be the 19th edition of the BCNegra festival. On this occasion, the slogan is “Espies com nosaltres” (Spies like us). According to the event’s curator, the writer Carlos Zanón, “they spy on state secrets, but also on our own privacy, and on us, on that of others. Geopolitics, terrorism, and bloc politics have made espies, those who live among us to betray our secrets, topical”.

Therefore, the main, though not the only, themes of the festival will be espionage and the violation of privacy in today’s virtual world. The list of authors who will take part in some of the round tables and conversations, all of which will bear the title of one of Graham Greene’s novels or narratives, is extensive, with over a hundred names: Eduardo Mendoza, Elaine Vilar, Kike Ferrari, Chris Offutt, Juan Tallón, Carles Porta, Susana Martín Gijón, Sandrone Dazieri, Rosa Ribas, Alicia Giménez Bartlett, Marc Pastor, Andreu Martín, Joe Thomas, José Ovejero, Victoria González, Carmen Mola… The legendary Sala La Paloma, the Jaume Fuster Library, the Mooby Bosque cinemas and the Filmoteca de Catalunya will be the venues that will host the bulk of the activities in the official programme.

The all-seeing eye

Javier Olivares is the author of the festival poster. It features three characters with a timeless look and easily identifiable with the genre, although perhaps the real protagonists are the eyes, the eyes of these characters, but also, and above all, the mobile phone, which is clearly visible in the foreground. The conclusion seems clear: everywhere there are eyes that watch and spy. As the author explains, the mobile phone is the great eye of the 21st century, and he has sought to combine classic elements, such as the pierced diary, with modern devices. The whole leads to an atmosphere of espionage, crowned by a typography that plays as another element.

You can spy all the information about the festival on the official website.