Ciutat Morta/Dead City. Agency, ICTs and critical urban documentary in the Spanish context

Abstract

This chapter highlights the relationship between these economic, cultural, urban and Information and Communication Technology processes in order to determine the nature of the tensions they generate and the political agency achieved by some organisational models at the margins of cultural industry. Ciutat Morta is presented as a paradigmatic case since it includes various aspects that readers will analyse: the reshaping of the alternative media’s political agenda by global economic dynamics and the model of the city brand. Metromuster, the production company of Ciutat Morta, was established precisely as a critical response to the modern framework of urban policies and the model of local creative industries. Ciutat Morta is a paradigmatic case in this study since it involves various levels: agency; institutional corruption with police abuse and repression and political complicity. Ciutat Morta began to be seen and to win awards at major festivals in Spain, including the prize for the best documentary at Malaga Festival, with consequent press impact.