After months of hard work, the day finally came.
Everything comes at the right time. The shooting began in mid-December and in a somewhat uncertain manner. Pablo and Miguel were excited about the idea of continuing the project “Monasteries: Past, Present, and Future”, but they were not yet aware of the scope of this story. As the months and filming time went by, and as they were discovering more spaces and meeting new people, they became more and more enthusiastic.
Obras en el Monasterio de La Oliva. Navarra
One of the first impressive moments was to see the final phase of the works in the church of the Monastery of La Oliva, to which the photo above corresponds.
Cuenca, Burgos, Soria, Palencia, and the province of Valladolid were part of the itinerary, and the journey itself made them aware of the lack of knowledge of the heritage that belongs to them.
Miguel durante el rodaje en Cuenca
Indeed, this documentary aimed to explore the reason behind that collective ignorance regarding monasteries, as well as the prejudice and suspicion towards these places, a feeling that is also collective, not just among young people. The digital magazine Rehabilita con éxito publishes an article about us and this work, and presents the situation with a very graphic analogy, using a renovation of the Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu football stadium as an example. You can read about it at this link.
En la biblioteca de La Merced en Cuenca
The time the authors of this documentary dedicated to this project, the anecdotes about the journey, the conversations they had – all these were laying the groundwork for them to later tackle their first creation of some significance and as professionals. “Ab Aquis” was their first attempt at creating a documentary while they were still students of the Audiovisual Degree Programme. Here you can read a piece of news that El Día de Soria newspaper published back then. Ab Aquis a documentary against oblivion.
To make ETERNO, they travelled between January and June, ending with the volunteering week at the Monastery of La Oliva. Visiting cities and monasteries in the low touristic season, with few tourists around, or even being alone, as happened during the filming in San Isidro de Dueñas, made the work easier because there were better opportunities to talk calmly with the people they met and, as a result, enjoy these special moments and reflect on their experience.
In the summer, they edited a trailer and then took some time off before diving into the full editing at the end of August. The trailer they released at the end of July can be seen here.
The volunteering days for 2024 can be seen at this link An Adventure at the Cistercian Abbey of La Oliva.
Pablo Beorlegui durante el rodaje de ETERNO en La Oliva. Foto de @jlarce_
Everything was moving in the right direction. A reflection by the author Antonio Monegal comes to mind here: “It is necessary to understand culture not as a selection of works or products, but as a complex system through which human beings negotiate their relationship with the environment; a series of models, norms and options that govern both individual and collective conduct”. How is the relationship with the environment such as the models, norms and options of today’s society? Are they norms and options freely chosen and consciously assumed?
At the Navarra Film Library
Miguel and Pablo informed the association’s management about the arrangements they were making with the Navarra Film Library to be able to present “ETERNO” in that venue. All those months of work deserved a good screen with ample space for the audience. Additionally, in the meantime, an article had already been published about this ongoing work, so expectations were high. You can read it here.
Miguel Arguibide y Pablo Beorlegui con la directiva de Patrimonio para Jóvenes
The idea that the documentary was going to be screened in the film library excited us, but at the same time, we were somewhat afraid of such a large venue —would it fill up? Well, yes… it was completely full. Not only were there our families and friends but also the public who usually attend the film library’s screenings, and whom we hadn’t known until that day. What a great time the kids had taking pictures with their loved ones next to the poster announcing ETERNO!
Pablo Beorlegui con su familia
MIguel Arguibide con su familia
Pablo and Miguel presented the audience the idea behind ETERNO and talked about their journey, in both literal and metaphorical sense, which led to their personal growth. In this sense, their experience was like that of the photographer José Luis Martínez Arce the previous year.
Pilar Ortuño del Fraile also had her big moment. Seeing the poster in large format that took her so long to design and that she had to start over so many times. Working on this concept involved hours of discussions with the authors of ETERNO to make sure that the result was the best. And here she is standing next to her work.
The screening was followed by applause and then a lively discussion. For many viewers, it was the first time to see monasteries, and one of the questions that arose was about how the monks had treated the authors of the documentary, about the monastic guest houses and their functioning, and whether this filming had changed their lives in any way.
Miguel Arguibide y Pablo Beorlegui presentando ETERNO
There were moments of deep reflection as well as funny ones.
Un momento del coloquio
The three people in charge of Patrimonio para Jovenes also participated in the informal talk. It was an opportunity to introduce the association to those who hadn’t known it yet and for us to be heard and for questions to be answered by those of us who are responsible for this entire adventure.
Interviene Berta Guindano
All that’s left is to thank everyone. First of all, we would like to give special thanks to Miguel Arguibide and Pablo Beorlegui for taking on the challenge of this work. We know it wasn’t easy and it’s very possible that they will still make some corrections to the first version. Thanks to all the communities that have welcomed them in their monasteries and to all the people who have attended them in museums, cultural centres, and hotels that were once monasteries. Now we must reflect on what we are going to do with this heritage and become aware of this precious legacy.
And finally, many thanks to Berta Carrillo, who offered taking the photos and made it possible for us to have images to remember.
