Me llamo Roberto Delgado

What is an individual, if not a blot at the window, in the photo of a building? A point that, after zooming in with a Google-Earth-type programme, would become a blurred-out face like so many others? Javier Loarte edits his documentary as a series of clicks. On the images of his district in northern Madrid, Roberto Delgado–not seen on screen–talks about himself. Close to where he lives, gentrification threatens, property prices are rising, the metro has arrived, Chinese workers work alongside Peruvians… “but don’t be fooled, it’s a very boring district”. Through details on his parents, neighbours and local trades people, the dilettante student with his beer-and-pizza diet paints a nonchalant portrait of a Spain that has not totally emerged from the 1950s.

Charlotte Garson