‘Álex Angulo’s suitcase’: 5,000 files from the history of the theater and a documentary about the actor’s life rescue

“I am still like a child who is playing” is a phrase from actor Álex Angulo (Erandio, Vizcaya, 1953 – Fuenmayor, La Rioja, 2014) and with which his family and friends want to remind him through the documentary ‘The suitcase of Álex ‘And the project of a web page that covers more than 5,000 files in the history of the Basque Theater that Angulo itself kept in its suitcases. “I got angry at him because I kept absolutely everything, I did not throw anything. When we changed home we were traveling with many suitcases that never opened. Until when I disappeared, I opened my bags and we found such things about so much value … I knew that if we did not digitize it in two generations it was going to be lost. The whole history of theater and very valuable documents was lost, ”said her wife, the dancer and choreographer Mayda Zabala this Monday in Bilbao.

At the moment the treasures that will cover the website are unknown, which bears the name of the project, www.laletadelexangulo.eus, and which will be available on February 13 after an act in which they will gather in the BBK room in Bilbao to friends and companions of the actor. For now, it is known that it collects, digitized and cataloged, a vast documentation on the Basque Theater in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s of the last century. Being aware of the material that her husband, Zabala, for decades, next to the actress and companion of Angulo, Esther Velasco, they put to work in the archives.

After almost 8 years of work, they have achieved their goal: rescue the history of the actor and make it accessible to everyone. However, what for them was “a real treasure”, as described, did not speak only of Álex Angulo. “Álex Angulo’s suitcase is not only a personal file limited to Angulo’s life and care That, hundreds of materials on two foundational companies of the Basque Theater are collected: the very prolific comic of the Legua (1965-1980) and Kolektibo Karraka (1980-1995), ”explainsod Zabala.

There are posters, photographs, audios, videos, work notes, newspaperbec …, among which are, for example, the only video – without audio – that is preserved from the remembered ‘Tipontzi Jauna’ (1977), cuts of Press of the first street theater work in Euskera (‘TRIPONTZI ETA TIBURTZI’, 1976) or several denunciations and judicial citations of the dictatorship and the transition related to censorship. “Álex Angulo’s suitcase is a way to make known our current theater to the new generations, we could not let this valuable legacy be lost over time,” Zabala and Velasco have assured.

Among the curiosities that have rescued in those suitcases are letters with phrases crossed out by censorship, a complaint for hanging posters in the street in Barakaldo, in addition to photographs of those who have not been able to get their authorship. As stressed, his project, which has had the collaboration of Euskadiko Artxibo Historikoa (Digitization), Irudigital and Mónica Carratalá (Web Development) and Alfredo Murillo (Design) is not a finished job. Once the website is released, they will continue to receive documents and information so that the web includes all possible material.

To celebrate the launch of the platform, and to remember Álex Angulo when ten years of his goodbye (2014-2024) have been completed, on February 13 an event has been organized in the same BBK room in Bilbao. It will be from 7:45 p.m. When friends and friends of the actor, classmates, authorities and public will meet to celebrate an emotional tribute that will include a dramatized presentation of www.laletadelexangulum.eus, with the live music of Andrés Tejo, the recited poetry of Elsa Moreno and the narration of the journalists Almudena Cacho and Alicia San Juan in the role of Reliating.

As for the documentary about the life of Álex Angulo, they have advanced on Monday that it will begin to roll next summer, it will be directed by the filmmaker Alejandro Cortés Calahorra and will be produced by Larrua Creations and Juantxu Álvarez, who was the representative of Angulo. “It is a tour of the life and work of the Erandio actor views through the eyes of his daughter, Dodó,” said Alejandro Cortés Calahorra, in an act that has had the presence of the actor’s daughter, who Today he is 21 years old.

With three Nominations for the Goya Awards, the Ondas Prize, the three awards of the Union of Basque Actors, the Zinemira Award of the Zinemaldi or the nomination for the Ariel de México Award, among others, thanks to their work in films such as’ The Day of The beast ‘,’ Dead of laughter ‘or’ The labyrinth of the faun ‘, Álex Angulo was a renowned actor. In addition to his theater work, with companies such as Comedians from La Legua (1965-1980) and Kolektibo Karraka (1980-1995), in the world of television, he has starred in series such as’ journalists’ or participated in others such as’ here not here There are those who live ‘or’ 7 lives’. The actor died at age 61 in a traffic accident in Fuenmayor (La Rioja), when he was traveling in his vehicle to Zaragoza to participate in the filming of the movie ‘Blessed Calamity’.