A tribute to Bruno Pérez and an exhibition by Salvador Larroca, among the activities of the black chronicle and true crime festival
Figueres will once again be the setting for a festival dedicated to black chronicles and true crime. This is the third edition of Ceba Negra, which will take place from March 1 to 3 and will include conferences, presentations, exhibitions and a round table on the hijacking of the Olot pharmacy, one of the most shocking cases in history Catalan criminal.
The festival will also pay tribute to Bruno Pérez, one of the leaders in the field of computer forensics and cyber security, who died last November. Pérez, who participated in the first edition of the Ceba Negra, will receive the Fulla Negra, a recognition of his professional and human career.
A varied and quality program
El Ceba Negra will begin on Friday, March 1 at the Fages de Climent Library, where the journalist Fátima Llambrich will present her book Brots de narcosocietat, a work that analyzes the phenomenon of drug trafficking in Catalonia and its social, political and economic implications.
The festival will then move to La Cate, the event’s main venue, where the forensic scientist Narcís Bardalet will give the conference La nit del forense, in which he will talk about the TV3 program El forense, which he advises himself and which recreates real cases of violent deaths.
On Saturday, March 2, the festival will open with the opening of the exhibition En la piel del asesino, by comic artist Salvador Larroca, which shows his works inspired by serial killers and famous crimes. The exhibition can be visited in the lobby of La Cate throughout the festival.
Then, the La Nit Més Fosca podcast, which specializes in crimes and black chronicles, will explain the case of a double homicide in Andorra, which took place in 2000 and shocked the neighboring country. The podcast, which already participated in the previous edition of Ceba Negra, will be titled Morts, qui ha mort?.
At noon, the festival will give way to the presentation of 57 Knives, a video game demo based on a true crime, developed by the Catalan studio Frisant Games. The video game, which is in the production phase, is a graphic adventure that tells the story of a serial killer who acted in Barcelona in 1991.
After the presentation, journalist Elena Merino, director of the podcast Elena en el País de los Horrores, will analyze the case and the trial of OJ Simpson, the former American football player accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend on 1994. The case, which had a great media impact, highlighted the racial and social tensions in the United States.
In the afternoon, the festival will resume with the conference Diary of a homicide agent, by former judicial police officer Òscar Tarruella, who will explain his experience in the investigation of violent deaths and criminal profiling. Tarruella, who is also a writer and contributor to various media, will share his knowledge and anecdotes about the world of crime.
Next, the jurist and criminologist Paz Velasco, professor at the International University of Valencia and specialist in psychopathic personality and violent crimes, will offer the conference Motivations to kill, in which she will explain the different causes that can lead a person to commit a homicide.
The high point of the festival will arrive at eight in the evening, when the Fulla Negra will be given to Bruno Pérez, posthumously. Pérez, who was one of the pioneers in forensic computing and cyber security in Spain, participated in the resolution of cases such as that of the girl from Vilanova, that of the pharmaceutical company in Olot or the murder of the president of the Province of Lleida. After the award ceremony, a video will be shown with a lecture that Pérez gave at the Ceba Negra in 2019, on the figure of the digital forensics and the role of artificial intelligence in the investigation of media crimes.
A round table on the kidnapping of the Olot pharmacy
On Sunday, March 3, the festival will close with a panel discussion on the hijacking of the pharmaceutical company in Olot, which took place in 2011 and which kept the whole country on hold for 36 hours. The round table will have the participation of Maria Àngels Feliu’s lawyer, Carles Monguilod; from journalists Tura Soler and Jordi Grau, who covered the case; from forensic expert Narcís Bardalet, who performed the autopsy on the kidnappers, and Bruno Pérez, who collaborated in the investigation. The round table, which will be held in La Cate, will review the facts, the keys and the consequences of one of the most dramatic episodes of the Catalan black chronicle.
