On March 10, 2007, Zidane scored at Bernabeu Stadium and Real Madrid managed to eliminate Bayern Munich from the round leading to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The night passed calmly. The next morning, Thursday, March 11, Madrid awoke to fog and rain. The M-30 and M-40 were experiencing their usual traffic jams and the metro and trains were full as always of people heading to work. At 7:34 everything changed forever…
The explosion of ten bombs on four commuter trains left 192 dead and more than 1,500 wounded. The city awoke bloodstained and in a state of shock. Over the following four days until the day of the general elections, a series of events took place throughout the country in which the citizens of Madrid had a more important role than they could have foreseen at the time.
A few hours after the attack, after the great general confusion and the rescue of the victims, the city of Madrid become aware of what had happened and bgan to be horrified. The politicians started making declarations and the public started to become irritated. The situation intensified hour after hour until Sunday arrived with the elections, which, surprisingly, were held completely as usual.
The surprising attitude of the people in those March days already forms part of history. It is a little told story. 11-M When the word took the streets offers the possibility of delving into this story and also pays homage to the city and its inhabitants.
Many cameras were on the street. Most of the people that were operating them didn't know very well why they were filming. Simply, like so many other citizens during those days, they were following their instinct. This documentary is a demonstration that they served a purpose. The material that these men and women, citizens of Madrid, generated, is our main source of images and sounds.
We show the people's look, the stupefaction, the sadness, the indignation and the solidarity, but especially the serenity that filled those days among simple people. We have depicted those four days in a novel way using different and varied sources of material: from amateur cameras, to photographs, videos from cell phones, images from security and traffic cameras, etc. We use audio clips, we listen to news programs from different radio networks, in short, any source of information about those days.

More pictures of "11-M When the word took the streets"

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The narration differentiates between two levels of reality. On one hand we see distantly and objectively the declarations of the politicians and the development of the police investigation, i.e., the reality that our representatives transmitted to us, mainly through television and other media. Secondly, we submerge ourselves in the activities taking place in the street. We attend events, mainly in Madrid, started by the citizens, often in reaction to the other institutional reality. We are in the middle of the events, we are part of them, we speak with their anonymous protagonists. We live the reality, we see it with our own eyes, we form our own opinion, instead of letting others dictate it to us.

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11-M When the word took the streets
45' - emf/laSexta - 2007

WORLDWIDE SALES : Javier Gómez Serrano (email)

Affiche of "11-M When the words took the streets " [pdf - 76K]

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"11-M When the word took the streets" (48'41'')

"Bajo el título Cuando la calle habló, La Sexta ofreció una apasionante reconstrucción hora a hora, día a día, de aquellas jornadas de marzo de 2004,
utilizando noticieros, e-mails enviados por personas anónimas y grabaciones
poco vistas: especial interés tenían las violentas discusiones y amagos de agresión que la propia noche de las explosiones terroristas se dieron entre grupos que defendían las ya probadas mentiras del PP respecto a ETA
y los que las denunciaban en plena Puerta del Sol"

Vicente Molina Foix en EL PAIS