“With La Contra we want to give a shot of hope and enthusiasm,” Víctor-M agreed. Amela, Ima Sanchís and Lluís Amiguet, in an exclusive meeting with subscribers of La Vanguardia held this afternoon at Casa Seat in Barcelona and which was moderated by the deputy director Enric Sierra. The three journalists of La Contra, a section that has just turned 26 years old, have discovered some secrets of how they have carried out the more than 8,000 interviews published to date.
Sanchís recalled the origins of the section, when she had to replace Margarita Rivière to publish a daily interview and convinced Amiguet to do it together. Then the two convinced Amela to become a trio. “We were the first to sign our photography,” Amela revealed.
Despite the time that has passed, “every day we love each other more,” said Sanchís, later adding that although at first they fought to decide how the interviewees would be divided, “now the first one to confirm it gets it.” “We have established a formula of cooperation and competition”.
Amela has dared to define the style of each of them. “Ima interviews people with big hearts who want to save the world; “I friend people capable of earning a lot of money and who are winners and I keep the rest, the unclassifiable ones or those who are on the limits, which are the ones I like the most.”
He has also revealed that every week he receives about 50 proposals to appear in La Contra and that, therefore, his job “is to say no many times.” Is there any trick to get interviewed at La Contra? “If it is not to give hope it is not worth writing; “I need the interviewees to be able to bring a little joy and excitement to life,” Sanchís responded.
Asked by a subscriber about “the Contra technique,” ??Amela pointed out that it involved spending an hour or more talking to a person “to try to understand how they got to where they got to and then, at home, you make your film.” ”. Sanchís has added that in each interview “you have a presentation, middle and end so that you can draw ideas and conclusions.” And Amiguet has revealed another secret of the La Contra style: “The questions should not have more than two lines, the interviewer must disappear.”
Amela has explained that she likes stories that allow diving more than surfing. “The Contra is worth it when the reader gets into the character with you and in the end even sees more things than the interviewee himself.” The spirit is “let’s give ourselves a shot of hope and excitement.”
A subscriber also asked them if they had made friends with La Contra. “Yes, I have made great friends from even sharing vacations,” commented Sanchís while Amiguet and Amela also responded affirmatively. “Doing La Contra has saved our lives; “I wouldn’t be who I am in terms of happiness and knowing things I know if I hadn’t done La Contra.” And Amiguet has even revealed the anecdote of how he missed a date that Emma Thompson proposed because he didn’t want to miss the train back home, something that he says, she will never forgive herself for.
And who would you like to interview before you retire? Queen Letizia, Amela has responded (who knows that she is a faithful reader of the section); to the first extraterrestrial that connected with humans, Sanchís said; and any soldier that Putin has sent to war, has been Amiguet’s option after ruling out Putin as a reader suggested. And the three members of La Contra ended the meeting by issuing a warning: “No Artificial Intelligence can replace us.”
