MEMORIMAGE - International Documentary Film Festival

Cop al Banc Central is the riveting true story of the events that took place on 23rd and 24th May 1981, when a group of bandits held up the head office of the Banc Central (Central Bank), in Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona, taking more than 300 hostages and playing havoc with the Spanish government in the aftermath of the military coup d’état of 23 February.
Through the voices of the main characters, yet above all, through the words of the man who led the group of bandits José Juan Martínez, also known as “El Rubio”, this documentary chronologically recounts the events that took place during the robbery, placing Barcelona’s Central Bank at the political and military epicentre of Spain for two days.
For the first time ever, politicians, police officers, journalists and twelve hostages have come forth to describe their lives for those two days. And though they may not have realised so at the time, they would become the stars of the greatest holdup in the history of Spanish democracy.