The Communist International, in Spanish, begins with the mythical verse "Up pariahs of the earth, standing starved legion". This documentary is a portrait of the hundred years of history of the Communist Party, but, above all, it is a homage to the pariahs of the earth, to the oppressed and the forgotten, without whom organizations like the PCE would have no meaning. Parias de la Tierra is a response to the demoralization and distortion that attempts to present, even in our days, the PCE and its militants as a danger to democracy. Through this documentary we want to transmit, to the new generations, the immense contribution of the communists, many times even sacrificing their own lives, to conquer the freedom and rights that we enjoy today. A legacy that, we hope, will invite young people to continue fighting for a more just and united world.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
Parias de la Tierra is a century-long journey, from the founding of the PCE in 1921 to the present day. One hundred years in which Spain has changed and changed again completely. From celluloid film, to acetate or videotape, it has also been a century of transformations in the ways of portraying Spain. Our documentary provides unedited material from different generations of communist militants, fighting in different circumstances for the same ideals. These experiences will come, also, through the direct testimony of anonymous protagonists whose history we want to make known.
Why this is important
The history of the PCE is exciting and provides a very different vision of Spain than what we are used to. It tells us about a mobilized, rebellious, class-conscious people that has been capable of great feats, like heroically confronting fascism, suffering the crude repression of the dictatorship, or taking to the streets en masse to fight for its rights. In short, in this documentary we understand the people as the true protagonists of their history and not as mere spectators. We address ourselves beyond the environment of the PCE, to a wide, young audience, with the hope of bringing a different vision from the one we are used to.
Team and experience
We are a group of audiovisual professionals, who are excited about making this story a film. We created the production company Parias de la Tierra FILMS with the intention of generating the necessary platform to promote a project of this magnitude. We have a technical team with experience in series and fiction that seeks to develop a documentary with the quality required for distribution in cinemas and participate in festivals. This implies getting cameras and other resources for which this crowdfunding is vital. From the beginning, we have sought to sign collaborations that can bring another dimension to the project. In this sense we have reached an agreement with the Historical Archive of the PCE to use its audiovisual collection as well as with other communist parties in the world such as the French or Portuguese. The script of our documentary is written by the scriptwriter and writer Guillermo Zapata, who has developed his political life in other traditions of the left, which has also provided us with an external perspective. The historical research, in turn, has been coordinated by the historian specialized in the history of the PCE, Fernando Hernández, author of works such as Guerra or Revolución: El PCE en la Guerra Civil or El desplome de la República, written together with Ángel Viñas. Raúl Peña, director of photography will be in charge of the image of the documentary, while the animation will be in charge of the illustrator Carlos de la Peña.