Grant for porn in Catalan turns the air blue

It is homage to Catalonia as never seen before. A Spanish pornographer has been given nearly £10,000 of public money to make a series of blue movies, promoting the Catalan language.

Pro-separatist authorities in the Catalan region of north-east Spain approved the grant as part of their agenda to "promote Catalan in every medium".

They awarded the film-maker, Conrad Son, nearly £7,000 to make one film and then a further £3,000 to show it along with two other examples of his work at a women's erotic film festival in the regional capital, Barcelona, last year. Details of the funding emerged when records of spending decisions by the regional government, the Generalitat, were made public.



The films were The Sea is not Blue, about a couple's sexual relationship near the Mediterranean; Laura is Lonely, about a bored woman's sex-filled affair with a stranger; and The Memory of the Fish, about a married executive's sexual adventures. All were in Catalan.

Mr Son insisted the funding was for "legitimate" art. He said that unlike normal pornographic movies - which he also makes - the films had proper plots and storylines.

"These are erotic films, not pornographic," he said. "They have stories. I know the difference as I also make pornographic films."