ISSUE NO. 1546
EWN FRONT EXTRA
Cultural week begins BENAJARAFE’S first cultural week will be held between February 21 and 28. There will be a great variety of free activities, including flamenco workshops, yoga, conferences and traditional games.
Snowy peaks The Axarquia mountain ranges of Sierra Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama and other mountains in the area above 1,000 metres were again covered in snow last Tuesday (February 17).
Top musicians MOTRIL pianist Juan Carlos Garvayo, together with the two other members of Trio Arbos, has won the Spanish National Music Award in the category of Interpretation. The award was delivered by King Felipe IV at the royal palace in Madrid.
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19 - 25 FEBRUARY 2015
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‘Tolkien’ theme park sparks copyright controversy THE theme park inspired by the universe and characters of JRR Tolkien set to be built in Rincon de la Victoria has met with difficulties regarding copyright issues. North American company Warner Bros in Spain has been analysing the project, which is to be called La Comarca (The Shire), since it was unveiled at the international tourism fair FITUR, as there was direct mention of JRR Tolkien. In addition, representatives from the council were accompanied during the presentation by an actor dressed up as Frodo, lead character in The Lord of The Rings’ films, and other characters, which significantly resembled those of the popular fantasy author. At the council, representatives stated that the park would only be based on “the magic of fairy tales, fantasy, elves, which are universally known and do not belong to any author.” Opposition parties have spoken out about the possible legal consequences of the construction of the park.
“The pictures used are really similar to those widely known from The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings’ sagas, and the font used for advertisements is practically identical. We could get in serious trouble,” said a representative of Izquierda Unida party.
The council claimed that the design of characters and spaces had been carried out by municipal experts, so that the town was not charged any copyright payments. “All the concepts will be original, they will not be able to be considered ‘copies’,” said a
council representative. Mayor of Rincon de la Victoria, Francisco Salado, guaranteed that the legal aspects had been taken care of and that the council’s goal was to have the park finished by the end of 2015, with a budget of €1.7 million.