The rewriting of stories is one of the prevailing trends in the contemporary world: from novels to films or television series, and from comics to video games, to name but a few. The “intermediate transversals”, as Antonio J. Gil González calls them, have always existed, but technological advances and the popularity of screens have meant that the processes of adaptation, cross-media (telling a story through different media) and transmediality (the expansion of a story through different media) have become an integral part of the emerging cultural paradigms of “new media”.

Vessels of communication (Vasos comunicantes) is a project led by Dr Carmen Herrero within the Film, Languages and Media in Education (FLAME) research group at Manchester Metropolitan University that seeks to reflect on literary, artistic and filmic intertextuality through the reflections of novelists, playwrights, poets, film and television directors, creators of comics and video games. Their voices and works will guide the exploration of the relationships between audiovisual, literary and digital culture, and illustrate the sources, influences, traditions, imaginings, processes and practices that feed the enriching metamorphosis of stories in print and on screens in the Spanish and Latin American world. The project also considers how to engage students of Spanish with these creations, in collaboration with the Film in Language Teaching Association (FILTA).

For the launch of this project, carried out in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes in Manchester, we collaborated with the novelist Jesús Carrasco (Badajoz 1972), one of the most important narrative voices on the international literary scene. His novel Intemperie (Out in the Open) (2013), recipient of numerous awards, has been translated into more than twenty languages. Intemperie was adapted into a film by Benito Zambrano in 2019. This event will feature a talk by Jesús Carrasco, a screening of the film and a debate with the novelist following the screening of the feature film.

The project is in collaboration with Consulate General of Spain in Manchester, Consulate General of Spain in Edinburgh, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, University of Edinburgh, FLAME, FILTA, and Edinburgh Central Library.