“With everything that’s happening Urdaneta will achieve more recognition than ever before.”
If Urdaneta were to rise from his grave…?
He would be surprised at the level of technology available nowadays, ships sail with their voyage charted, and always knowing exactly where they’re going, what the weather will be like… to start rowing in one of these things! They were nothing more than an empty shell… Most of them ended up at the bottom of the sea.
At first you were expecting to present the documentary in April but it seems that it’s going to be delayed…
It will be ready towards the end of May. A documentary like this requires a complete process of production and post- production. We have deadlines for each phase.
What does it deal with?
Well, the documentaries that are made nowadays have nothing to do with those of the past. Sometimes they include material which is not solely informative.
In this one, for instance we are going to include some scenes which will give it more of a movie feel so we will use the best equipment. What we want to achieve, in keeping with everything else that is being done in the celebration of the 5th Centenary, is to show a side of Urdaneta relatively unknown as he really had a spectacular life.
Where will the documentary be shown? Have you been able to negotiate with other broadcasters?
We have already signed a contract with ETB and it will be shown on both of its channels we are also speaking to other TV stations and specialist area channels. We are also planning to produce a DVD.
Urdaneta’s life has so many areas of interest which ones have you chosen?
We are concentrating on areas that are not so well known, such as the Return Voyage. So many expeditions had ended in failure, even Villalobos` attempt. Urdaneta said that he knew what he was doing, and he proved it. He returned to the Americas without problems and he even opened a new entrance port which, until then, had just been “The Navidad estuary” from then on Acapulco became the port of the Pacific. He opened a trans-oceanic route which lasted for 250 years.
We say that he is one of the pioneers of globalization, and it could well be true. His ideas and the life that he led are very different from the rest of the conquistadores.
What background information sources have you used?
All of them. Uncilla’s biography of Urdaneta which was written 100 years ago, for example, is a really interesting work. Although there are some unaccounted periods of his life, a lot of information has since been discovered and researched. The 5th Centenary has proven to be an invaluable source of information and investigation and we are seeing that the life of Urdaneta was much more complex than we had previously believed.
What has most surprised you?
He was a diplomat, he had scientific knowledge and he learned to understand the languages of the local people wherever he went.
His abilities ranged from diplomacy to humanistic, which was very important. Scientifically he had an in-built GPS! We must remember that the galleons were guided by the stars; there were no engines, radios or GPS.
Future generations will certainly know who Urdaneta was…
With everything that’s happening, I think so; Urdaneta will achieve more recognition than ever before. There’s his statue with him pointing the way to the heavens although this is not really representative of his life. Urdaneta only became a monk towards the end of his life.
