As I was doing the washing up last night, I decided to tune in to France Info. And it was perfect timing: a few minutes later the presenter interviewed Aurel about his film, Josep, which had been selected for the Cannes Film Festival 2020.

The animated film, produced by Les Films d’Ici Méditerranée, tells the story of Josep Bartoli, a Catalan artist who was among the many Republicans who fled north into France to escape the Spanish Civil War. The French government placed the refugees in concentration camps, in awful conditions, in the middle of winter. You can read a full review in English here.

So why was I so excited when this interview came on the radio?

A year ago, I was contacted by the person in charge of post-production for the film. A translator had already been working on the subtitles for the content in French and Spanish. But a good chunk of the film was in Catalan, for which they needed another translator, so they asked me to translate the Catalan parts.

Yesterday, I found out it had been selected for the Cannes Film Festival. I won’t literally be going to Cannes. But in a sense, through my work, I’ll be there!

The Institut français in London held a special screening on Sunday 27 September, possibly the first time my English subtitles appeared in front of a large audience.

See my main website for more information about my translation services, including subtitling.