News

Formentera makes case for equality

Wednesday, 08 March 2017 15:59

Foto taula informativa The Formentera Council's Office of Social Welfare has reported on plans to issue an official statement at the administration's plenary session defending the rights and freedoms of women in the 21st century. Councillor and department head Vanessa Parellada took the opportunity of International Women's Day celebrations today to urge continued work “to move equality forward”.

In so doing, the Formentera Council will lend support to a manifesto drafted by IB Dona. The text reaffirms March 8 as a “day of historic importance in the struggle for real equality between women and men”. While the text casts women's rights and liberties as fruit of the toil of previous generations, it also calls for sustained action to ensure the collective patrimony is maintained.

Activities on March 8
The Formentera chapter of Espai Dones has organised a series of activities to herald International Women's Day. At 12 noon an information stand will be mounted and staffed at plaça de la Constitució. Another activity will take place at 5.30pm, when students of Formentera's school of music and dance join teacher Julia Delgado in staging a flash mob. Immediately after, members of the Eivissa-Formentera musical conservatory will perform for the public with the help of centre coordinator Margalida Villalonga. At roughly 6.00pm in the square, surrogates of Espai Dones will read the group's International Women's Day manifesto.

In Berlin, Formentera seeks to advance sustainable tourism

Wednesday, 08 March 2017 14:12

Foto presentacio formentera itb berlin The Formentera Council's Office of Tourism has announced it will attend, today through Sunday, March 12, Berlin's ITB travel trade show. Tourism councillor Alejandra Ferrer pledged that visitors to the Balearic Islands' stand would be able to hear all about Formentera's dazzling qualities. Ferrer, who traveled to the German city for the event, highlighted the launch at ITB of one initiative in particular, Save Posidonia Project. The councillor will be joined by a public relations specialist from her department as the two of them spread the Formentera gospel to ITB crowds.

Today at the show, members of the media saw the Balearics extolled as a winter destination spot. The councillor described Better in Winter as “a bid to showcase everything Formentera offers those who opt to skip the high season: sports and cultural programming and nature trails, for starters”.

Save Posidonia Project
Ferrer took the opportunity to talk about some of the details of the Save Posidonia Project, like how for €1 per cubic metre, companies and private citizens can sponsor any portion of the 7,650 hectares of posidonia seagrass around Formentera. Money raised will fund projects to conserve the plant, “a particularly important part of our commitment to sustainable tourism,” according to Ferrer.

New survey seeks clearer picture of Formentera's housing crunch

Monday, 06 March 2017 14:42

Simulacio final obra HPO The Formentera Council's land office is engaging directly with IBAVI, the Balearic Islands' housing institute, on a survey to improve understanding of the housing demand on the island. Survey respondents will also be added to a register of potential renters, updating the waiting list for IBAVI's low-cost housing currently under construction in Sant Ferran.

In March, the Council has created an information corner at the Citizen Information Office (OAC) where home-hunters can register. It is open Monday through Friday, 9.00am to 2.00pm and interested parties can also visit IBAVI's Formentera office next to SOIB, Mondays 9.30am to 1.00pm and Thursdays 11.00am to 1.30pm.

According to land councillor Alejandra Ferrer, the two groups' decision to team up can be traced back to the need for “clearer data on Formentera's housing crunch”. Equipped with the information, she said, the Council and Govern foresee carrying forward pointed efforts to tackle the problem.

Clean-up at Sa Sequi

Tuesday, 07 March 2017 15:13

Foto retirada posidonia The Formentera Council's Office of Environment has reported on a recent clean-up of Sa Sequi, the irrigation canal that links estany Pudent with Formentera's surrounding sea. Absent the posidonia seagrass that had washed into the canal and obstructed it after recent storms, Daisee Aguilera, the administration's councillor of environment, said the back and forth flow of water would resume and the local ecosystem regain its previous conditions.

A total of eight cubic metres of washed-up seaweed clogged the passage. To clear it, the Council hired a crane and excavator for a procedure that took ten hours and cost €1,657, VAT included. Three employees, brought in by Salines de Formentera, were tasked with removing the buildup by hand. The crew took advantage of the opportunity to remove an invasive plant from the canal as well; that material comprised some four cubic metres. The Formentera Council had to receive approval from two agencies—the coastal authority and the Balearic directorate general of natural spaces and biodiversity—before it could carry the clean-up forward.

This Tuesday and Wednesday, Pau Durà sniffs out local extras for film starring José Sacristán, ‘Formentera Lady'

Sunday, 05 March 2017 12:27

Foto laperiferica The Formentera Council's Office of Culture has announced plans by Sunrise Picture Films & TV Company to shoot “Formentera Lady,” a film directed by Pau Durà and starring José Sacristán. The administration has pledged help in the form of logistical support and accommodation.

Casting for background talent will get under way Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 March at the Casal d'Entitats (Carretera de la Mola, Vénda des Brolls, 53) alongside the local police headquarters and the Office of Social Welfare. Auditions will run both days from 10.00am to 3.00pm and again from 4.00 to 8.00pm.

Sunrise reports that in addition to payment, the hundred or so extras selected will also incur social security contributions. The film's producers say they will seek “artistically-minded individuals excited by the project and available between March 16 and April 4,” the dates of scheduled shooting on the island.

Producers are looking for children aged 9 to 16 and Formentera natives, as well as transplants to the island, between 20 and 65. Youth under 16 must be accompanied by an adult and have ID.

Formentera Lady synopsis
On the island since his arrival as a hippie in the seventies, Samuel lives in a house without electricity and plays banjo in a local bar. One day Samuel is visited by his daughter Anna and grandson Marc. Out of work for some time, Anna has accepted a job that will require her to go to France, alone. Samuel, an island living on an island, must learn to coexist with a 10-year-old child, a process that will force him to revisit his own past. It will be a twilight journey through his shadow-laden paradise.