Spanish cinema

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Spanish cinema are film productions that were shot by Spaniards or in Spain . Spanish film history has spawned a number of famous artists including Luis Buñuel , director whose production had a huge impact on Europe (via France) and Latin America (via Mexico ), and Pedro Almodóvar . Other well-known artists are Segundo de Chomón , Florián Rey , Juan Antonio Bardem , José Luis Sáenz de Heredia , Luis García Berlanga , Carlos Saura , Jesús Franco , Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi , Mario Camus , Víctor Erice , José Luis Garci , Mariano Ozores , José Luis Cuerda , Fernando Trueba , Álex de la Iglesia , Alejandro Amenábar or Juan Antonio Bayona .

The artistic director Gil Parrondo , winner of two Oscars, and the cameraman Néstor Almendros (who had his entire career outside of Spain) or the actresses Imperio Argentina , Sara Montiel , Carmen Sevilla , Ángela Molina , Victoria Abril , Carmen Maura , Maribel Verdú and Penélope Cruz and the actors José Isbert , Paco Martínez Soria , Fernando Rey , Francisco Rabal and Fernando Fernán Gómez , Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem are known worldwide, especially for their work outside of Spain.

"The history of Spanish cinema is an integral part of the history of the 20th century and not a simple 'cultural ornament ' (...) The chronology of our cinema is part of the history of our country" emphasize Ángel Barroso and Fernando Gil Delgado in their work "Spanish Cinema in a hundred films ”from 2002 . The Spanish film is therefore a mirror of reality and contemporary society.

Beginnings

The country's first film screenings took place in Madrid in May 1896 . On the one hand, the Hungarian Edwin Rousby presented the "animatograph", a system also known as the "teatrograph" - it was Edison's kinetoscope , modified by the Englishman Robert William Paul , in the parish circus Plaza del Rey on May 11th . Just two days later, the Lumière cameraman's pictures , imported by Jean Busseret , representative of the Lyons inventors for the peninsula, would arrive . Since 1896, many foreigners and also locals have been using the new invention on the entire peninsula: Charles Kalb, Eduardo Moreno, Eduardo Gimeno, Antonio de la Rosa, Juan Minuesa, Alexandre de Azevedo, Joseph Sellier etc.

Single frame from a Chomón film: Burgos voyage (1910 or 1911).

The cinema pioneer Alexandre Promio owed the first films, which were shot in Barcelona and Madrid in Spain in June 1896 , to the Lumière company. Wealthy citizens, aristocrats and business people from various industries attended this presentation. The illustrious audience promised good business, especially since Promio also sold film cameras and films. He was followed by other foreigners such as William Harry Short, Alexandre de Azevedo and others.

The first Spaniards to make films did so from 1897 , namely Eduardo Moreno and Joseph Sellier. The latter is thanks to the unfortunately lost film 'El Entierro del General Sánchez Bregua' (June 1897).

Eduardo Jimeno Correas , although an important pioneer, did not make films until 1899 . He had acquired a Lumière device in July 1897, but filming was not guaranteed until two years later, such as the famous film 'Salida de la misa de doce de la Iglesia del Pilar de Zaragoza'. He also made another film called 'Los saludos'.

At that time, the vast majority of productions consisted of documentaries of festivities or political and cultural events. This quasi-documentary genre called "Vistas" outperformed early fictional short film production , which already existed but was rather unpopular at the time. The audience was still more interested in visual stimuli and the attraction of the new medium of moving images per se than in an actual aesthetic experience of film art. That is why the cinema of that time is also known as the entertainment cinema ("cine de atracciones").

The first single-story Spanish film was 'Riña en un café' (1897) by prolific Barcelona photographer and director Fructuós Gelabert. The first internationally successful Spanish director was Segundo de Chomón from Teruel . He developed the artificial color system "Cinemacoloris", as well as a variety of special effects, such as the use of models that e.g. B. for 'Train Crash' ('Choque de Trenes', 1902) is attested.

The rise of the silent film

Conchita Piquer (1927)

Around 1914 , Barcelona was initially the center of the country's film industry . The predominance of the uniformly imagined “Spanish” soon followed, and the use of a supposedly homogeneous national character, often preached in the cinema, for the authoritarian state would take effect a quarter of a century later under Franco.

The works of Florián Rey with Imperio Argentina and Ricardo Núñez as well as the first version of 'Nobleza baturra' ( 1925 ) stand out in this era . Historical dramas such as the life of Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America ( 1917 ) were also filmed by the French Gerard Bourgeois , as were adaptations of works such as' The Secrets of Barcelona '(1916) by Joan Maria Codina, as well as theatrical works such as that of' Don Juan Tenorio 'by Ricardo Baños and also Zarzuelas - a specifically Spanish form of musical theater, similar to operetta.

Finally, the modernist playwright and Nobel Prize winner Jacinto Benavente said at the time that “I am paid for waste in film” and consequently filmed versions of his plays himself.

Un Chien Andalou title.png

In Hollywood, the famous Spanish singer Concha Piquer worked on the first Spanish-language short film, which was made by Lee De Forest . Piquer made the film 'El Negro que la alma blanca' in 1929 in Paris , France, directed by Benito Perojo .

Ernesto Giménez Caballero and Luis Beluga founded the first cinema club in Madrid. Now, with 144 films, Madrid was already the leading center of the domestic film industry. In October 1929, Francisco Elías Riquelme filmed 'The Secret of the Puerta del Sol '. Released in January 1930 , this was the first sound film in Spanish cinema.

The rural drama 'The Cursed Village' ('La aldea maldita', 1930) by Florián Rey was a success in Paris, where Buñuel and Dalí simultaneously premiered the unforgettable classic surrealist montage ' An Andalusian Dog ' .

The silent film era spawned numerous Spanish production companies and productions.

The crisis of the talkies and cinema of the Second Republic

In 1931 , with the import of foreign sound films, national production was reduced to only four titles. In 1932 Manuel Casanova founded the “Compañía Industrial Film Española SA” (“ CIFESA ”), one of the most important film production companies that Spain has ever had - the CIFESA was seen as politically more right-wing. Six films were initially made, including Luis Buñuel's first documentary in Spain, 'Las Hurdes, Tierra Sin Pan'.

By 1933 17 films had been made, and by 1934 21 films, including the first major success of the Spanish sound film 'The Sister San Sulpicio' (1934) by Florián Rey.

By 1935 , 24 films had already been made. During these years, film producers and directors consolidated , the audience success grew, as with Benito Perojo with 'La Verbena de la Paloma' (1935), the greatest success of Spanish cinema of that time; or Florián Rey, who directed 'La Hermana San Sulpicio' (1934), 'Nobleza baturra' (1935) and 'Morena Clara' ( 1936 ). This could have been the beginning of a flourishing Spanish film industry, but the civil war interrupted the first successes of the Second Republic's cinematography .

The war and the post-war period

Carmen Sevilla & Alberto Closas (1948)

Since 1936 both parties to the civil war have been using the cinema as a means of propaganda. On the fanquist side, the National Cinematography Department was created. At the end of the civil war, many film professionals fled into exile . The two hopefuls of Spanish film, Luis Buñuel and Carlos Velo , emigrated to Mexico.

Under the new regime, censorship was introduced and all films released on national territory had to be dubbed in Castilian . Directors such as Ignacio F. Iquino ('The Deceased Lives', from 1941 ), Rafael Gil ('Huella de luz', from 1941), Juan de Orduña ('Locura de amor', from 1948 ), José Luis Sáenz de Heredia ( 'El espíritu de la Raza', from 1942 , with a script by Franco himself) and especially Edgar Neville ('The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks', from 1944 ) were now active. 'Fedra' ( 1956 ) by Manuel Mur Oti was one of the better known works of this era.

CIFESA had established itself as the most profitable production company of the time, the historical films had the consent of the authorities and in most cases the popularity of the then audience.

In 1939 , after Franco's final victory over the Republicans, the film industry unexpectedly revived. Behind this surprising rebirth was the state - it was the first time in the history of Spain that the administration even dealt with the young medium of film.

Franco put the film under his "protection", dictated appropriate laws and regulations, siphoned off money where possible, and set incentives for film productions. There were political reasons for this: on the one hand, the film was a powerful weapon for the Falange to reach the general public and to distract them from the unpleasant sides of the new system, as well as to convince the people of their political goals.

In addition, the film industry served to promote the basic ideological features of the new regime and to turn to certain, in case of doubt, arch-conservative values ​​and the “old traditions”.

It was supposed to create suspicion of everything non-Spanish, for which a self-sufficient film industry seemed very useful. From an economic point of view, the state's control over the film industry was such that there were high import licenses on all imported films, with which the state generated considerable income. A “screening quota” was also introduced, which meant that two weeks of foreign films had to be followed by a week of national films. This regulation had less of an effect on the protection of Spanish films than on the tendency to take over the national market by foreign productions.

Two important film festivals were founded in Spain in the 1950s: the San Sebastián Film Festival was launched on September 21, 1953 , and in 1956 the first Valladolid International Film Week (" Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid ") took place, also known as "Seminci".

' The Secret of Marcellino ' ('Marcelino pan y vino', 1955 ) by Ladislao Vajda was the first Spanish film to gain worldwide recognition from critics and audiences and to receive the Silver Bear of the Berlin Festival (best director ); the film also inspired a number of other popular productions centered around child actors such as Joselito , Marisol , Rocío Dúrcal and Pili y Mili.

In the 1950s and 1960s, however, Spanish cinema was not limited to works about child prodigies.

In the tradition of Spanish black humor (" esperpento "), films such as 'El Piso' ( 1958 ) and 'El cochetito' ( 1960 ) by Marco Ferreris , 'Placido' ( 1961 ), 'Las cuatro verdades' ( 1962 ), 'El verdugo' (1964) by Luis Berlanga, 'La vida por delante' (1958) and 'El Mundo sigue' ( 1963 ) by Fernando Fernán Gómez .

The influence of (Italian) neorealism was evident in new directors such as Antonio del Amo or José Antonio Nieves Conde with his outstanding film 'Surcos' ( 1951 ) - the work deals with the problem of rural exodus in Spain. It clearly drew attention to the problems of the street in order to point to the social reality that had hitherto been kept secret. Other works of this style were Juan Antonio Bardems' The Death of a Cyclist '(1955) as well as' Hauptstraße ' ('Calle Mayor', 1956), Marco Ferreri's' Los Niños' (1958), 'El pisito' (1959) and ' Der Wheelchair '(' El Cochecito ', 1960) and Luis García Berlanga's' Willkommen, Mr. Marshall ' ('Bienvenido, Mister Marshall', 1952) - this comedy satire and parody about the government's hopes for an economic miracle in Spain funny because of the arrival of the Americans and the realization of the Marshall Plan that started with it. It seemed a bit of a miracle that the film wasn't banned. ' Calabuig ' ('Calabuch', 1956) and above all 'Plácido' (1961) and 'El verdugo' (1963) were also evidence of Spanish neorealism . Perhaps the most important screenwriter in the history of Spanish cinema was involved in many of the works mentioned : Rafael Azcona .

In these years the cinemas were almost always full - the great interest, however, had less to do with the quality of the films shown than with affordable ticket prices and the lack of competition from television . From the dreary everyday life of the small apartments, people preferred to take refuge in the large cinemas and accept propagandistic and melodramatic- kitschy things . Juan de Orduña achieved a resounding commercial success in 1957 with 'The Last Torch Song ' ('El último cuplé') with Sara Montiel .

Plaza Mayor, Salamanca

Carlos Saura has been filming with great continuity since around 1965 . Despite censorship, thanks in part to his international successes, he managed to package socially critical reflections in such a way that he could continue making films without having to make excessive concessions to the regime. In the context of the Salamanca talks, JA Bardem would condemn post-war cinema in 1955 with a manifesto that became famous for its clarity: "Today, Spanish cinema is politically ineffective, socially wrong, intellectually insignificant, aesthetically null and industrially shaky."

A popular entertainment cinema emerged from a generation of young filmmakers who were very critical of the Franco regime and who were often associated with the banned organizations of the Spanish left. This was particularly linked to the name of the Spanish production company “Uninci”, to the old master of the black Spanish comedy Luis García Berlanga and to Juan Antonio Bardem, who was strongly oriented towards social realism.

Luis Buñuel occasionally returned to Spain to direct Viridiana (1961) and Tristana ( 1970 ) based on the novel by Benito Pérez Galdós with Catherine Deneuve and Fernando Rey . Both films, especially the first, were considered in the context of the repressive Franco dictatorship as scandalous, sometimes despite international awards (were Palme d'Or from Cannes ) censored.

Fernando Rey, 1974

In the course of efforts to integrate Spain into Western Europe, censorship was loosened, but the economic situation of the film industry deteriorated dramatically. In 1964, a change in the subsidy system meant that filmmakers should receive state subsidies amounting to 15 percent of gross box office revenues. The audience, hungry for pictures, made sure that the coffers were full, but the film producers went away empty-handed. The state was falling behind with the payment of the increased premiums. After the banks stopped granting loans, the Spanish film industry got into a liquidity crisis, which caused production to stagnate. The Spanish filmmakers were thus restricted by the political censorship and the huge financial holes in equal measure.

The New Spanish Film of the 1960s & 1970s

In 1962 José María García Escudero returned to fill the general directorate for film and to support the official film school "Escuela Oficial de Cine", from which most of the new directors would come. Its graduates were generally considered to be politically left-wing and opposed to the Franco dictatorship. These include Mario Camus ('Young Sánchez', 1964 ); Miguel Picazo (' La tía Tula ', 1964); Francisco Regueiro ('El buen amor', 1963); Manuel Summers ('Del rosa al amarillo', 1963) and above all Carlos Saura ('La caza', 1965).

The “nuevo cine español”, the new Spanish film from the 1960s to the early 1970s, was a cinema of inner emigration , of underground distance from the regime. Carlos Saura's encrypted masterpieces such as 'Ana Y Los Lobos' (' Anna and the Wolves ', 1972 ) or Victor Erice's poetic 'El Espíritu de la Colmena' ('The Spirit of the Beehive', 1973) were great successes at foreign festivals . however, they did not reach a Spanish audience. In the Spanish film theaters, rather flat entertainment cinema dominated, mostly comedies, but always small masterpieces of popular cinema.

Fernando Fernán Gómez , far from the aforementioned trend, shot the classic 'The Strange Journey' (1964).

Jaime de Armiñán , the author of 'Mi querida señorita' ( 1971 ) and 'Jo, papa' ( 1975 ), both hugely successful, came from television.

Jacinto Esteva , Pere Portabella , Joaquín Jordá , Vicente Aranda , Jaime Camino and Gonzalo Suárez stood out from the so-called “ Barcelona School”, which was originally more experimental and cosmopolitan and delivered its most important works in the 1980s.

The directors Fernando Larruquert , Néstor Basterretxea , José María Zabalza and the producer Elías Querejeta came from the Basque Country .

The "cinema of democracy "

With the end of the dictatorship, censorship was abolished and cultural productions in other regional languages ​​were allowed. In addition to Castilian institutions, the Institut de Cinema Català was founded.

The time of cultural upheaval, the Movida , is usually set with the death of Franco in 1975 and the impression is often given that with the death of the dictator, social and cultural changes suddenly took hold. The Movida is also described by Walther L. Bernecker as a term that emerged in the late 1970s for modern, pulsating life in Madrid. The Movida madrileña became the epitome of everything new, avant-garde, the new trends in fashion, music, art and film. [1]

Initially, however, the less avant-garde popular phenomena of "uncovering" (corresponds roughly to the local educational film and erotic clothing) and " Landismo " (popular comedies with the actor Alfredo Landa , comparable to the British carry-on film series ) triumph .

After Franco's death, it was two more years before state censorship came to an official end through a royal decree . But even before the dictator's death, the censorship was in some cases less rigid. 1973 turned Manuel Gutierrez , Say Dumb '(' Habla mudita '), followed by other films that have been awarded on various film festivals. They include 'The Heart of the Forest' ('El corazón del bosque'), and in 1983 'Demons in the Garden' ('Demonios en el jardín'). Also, Manuel Gutierrez Aragon was counted as one of the important figures of the Spanish film. Alongside him, filmmakers like Ricardo Franco celebrated successes at international film festivals with ' Pascual Duarte ' (1975) and Victor Erice with 'The South' ( El Sur , 1983 ).

In the early years of democracy, controversial issues were raised and recent national history became the subject of some high-profile films such as: B. 'Songs for the post-war period' ('Canciones para despues de una guerra' by Basilio Martín Patino , 1976 ) or ' The spirit of the beehive ' (Víctor Erice, 1973). Others offered successful portraits of the gray Franco years, such as B. 'Pim, pam, pum ... ¡fuego!' ( Pedro Olea , 1975), who described the everyday problems of the losers in the civil war around 1940 and thus showed the anti-French underground movement for the first time in Spanish films after 1939; or particularly grotesque visions of Franquism as seen in 'La escopeta nacional' (Luis García Berlanga, 1978 ).

The political changes of these years were immediately reflected in films such as 'Camada negra' by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón or 'Papiertiger' ('Tigres de papel') by Fernando Colomo .

Similarly, in a less militant, but more popular style: 'Asignatura' by José Luis Garci , who received the first Oscar for a Spanish film in 1982 (' Volver a empezar ' or 'Starting Over').

It was during these years that the 'new Basque cinema' became famous, with directors such as Montxo Armendáriz , Juanma Bajo Ulloa and Imanol Uribe . Uribe's film 'La muerte de Mikel' ( 1984 ) in which Imanol Arias played the lead role, drew more than a million viewers.

1980 published Ivan Zulueta the feature film , Arrebato ', which is now widely used as despite the initial failure cult film is considered. Mario Camus filmed an excellent version of 'La colmena', the novel by Camilo José Cela , with an extraordinary cast.

While the culture of the 1970s was particularly characterized by bold political commitment to expressing what could not be said for so long, the 1980s saw a striking, apolitical, hedonistic avant-garde turn, which caused a sensation in the gray city of civil servants, especially with local subsidies .

Álex de la Iglesia at the Berlinale 2017

Now the audience also filled the stands to see films from the so-called “Madrid Comedy”, for which directors such as Fernando Colomo , Fernando Trueba , Santiago Segura and the black- humored Álex de la Iglesia stand. The refined melodramas of the auteur filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar were added. A little later, Alejandro Amenábar and Julio Médem also became known.

Almodóvar is self-taught and came to Madrid from a small village in the Mancha . He developed the film as a form of expression in a revolting cultural movement, the “movida” of the 1980s. The director is deeply rooted in Spanish popular culture , but also in the urban subcultures, and has repeatedly almost casually integrated the world of transvestites , homosexuals , drugs and other passions into his films.

No filmmaker combines melodramatic and comic aspects in such a congenial way , combines universal genre elements with authentic local color and complements the whole thing with a specifically Spanish humor, situation comedy taken from everyday life and the very Spanish desire to laugh at yourself. With this method, Pedro Almodóvar has become the epitome of newer Spanish cinema like no other.

Perhaps one cannot speak of the success and breakthrough of Spanish cinema as a whole, but more aptly of the specific productions. As the producer José Antonio Félez z. For example, when referring to 2004, he was very correct, "50 percent of the total track record is concentrated on just five titles and 80 percent on around eight to ten films."

Spanish cinema produced 142 feature films in 2005 , the highest number in 20 years. In 2006 , 158 feature films were produced. 2007 was another record year for Spanish production: a total of 172 long films, 57 of which were co-productions, 37 documentaries and five animated films . According to official information, at least 156 short films were also made.

Directors such as Albert Serra , Jaime Rosales , Carlos Serrano Azcona and Óliver Laxe are part of the latest Spanish film, which established around 2010 and is very present at international festivals.

More than 10 million cinema-goers have seen the comedy '8 Names for Love' since 2013 , making the strip the most successful Spanish film to date. In it an Andalusian mimes a Basque husband.

Film prizes and awards

In 1987 the prestigious Goya Awards were launched as an incentive for the Oscar ambitions of Spanish cinema; In 2013 the Feroz Awards were donated as an incentive for striving for the Golden Globes .

The prizes of the most important international film festivals in Spain should also be emphasized: the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the Valladolid International Film Week.

Film festivals

Festival building Sitges, 2008

Spain has seen a boom in film festivals in recent years . Some have long traditions, such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival , the Seminci or the Gijón Film Festival . The genre and special festivals such as the Malaga Festival , the Albacete International Film Festival Abycine, Animadrid , the Punto de Vista Festival, Docúpolis or the Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival are mostly of more recent origin .

The Sitges Film Festival , currently known as the International Film Festival of Catalonia , has been running since 1967 and is considered the number one festival of fantastic cinema . Within this genre, Jesús Franco stands out, a director known outside Spain under the pseudonym Jess Franco .

More important for the renewal and spread of Spanish cinema abroad, however, was the creation of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, which was promoted by local trade in 1953 as an advertising platform for the city. It is the only festival of the highest category A accredited by the FIAPF of Spain. In more than fifty years of history, it has established itself as one of the leading film festivals in the world. For many years the San Sebastián International Film Festival was known for its glamor and star casts.

The Seminci (Valladolid International Film Week, Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid) originated in 1956 as 'Valladolid Religious Film Week', was celebrated at Easter and developed into one of the most important film festivals in Spain.

The Seminci used to be more concerned with tracking down interesting films, regardless of whether they had already been shown at other festivals. But with the change of management in 2006 a new direction seems to have taken, which focuses more on the presentation of 'premieres'.

The Gijón Film Festival is one of the oldest, which has seen a rebirth in recent years thanks to its transformation into the most modern and experimental festival of auteur cinema. His retrospectives by authors such as Abbas Kiarostami , Aki Kaurismäki , Todd Haynes , Pedro Costa , Paul Schrader , Hal Hartley , Lukas Moodysson , Tsai Ming-liang , Claire Denis and Todd Solondz deserve special mention . International avant-garde films would be much more difficult to access in Spain without this festival.

The most recent institutions include the major Spanish Film Festival of Málaga (since 1998 ), dedicated to Spanish film production, and the Albacete Abycine International Film Festival (since 1999 ).

The latest festival proposal is the FIC-CAT, International Festival of Curtmetratges in Català, a festival aimed at filmmakers from Catalonia or around the world, provided that the works are dubbed or subtitled in Catalan in one of their variants.

A new space was also created in the online arena for important events such as the Margenes Festival and the Atlántida Film Fest.

“Typical” genres of Spanish film

Due to its peculiarities and based on its folklore , its traditions, its customs and its everyday social life, cinematic genres have been created that reflect the society , history and customs of Spain as well as its own reality, both in current and historical circumstances.

The current Spanish film lives through the coexistence of generations and a variety of topics, genres and subgenres. However, there is no complete contrast between auteur films and genre works, because recognized Spanish auteur filmmakers such as B. Carlos Saura have repeatedly served different genres, from the 1964 bandit flick ' Llanto por un Bandido' (' Cordoba ') to action goods like 'Dispara!' from 1993.

Historical film

This film section tells of the great events of history or tries to reflect the everyday life of bygone times. Several special filmic history genres were increasingly taken up, also under the influence of historical-political intentions.

Cine colonial

Inspired by both the age of the conquistadors and the rise of the great power Spain, 'Alba of America' (1951) as well as the super productions for the 500th anniversary ' 1492 : the conquest of paradise ' and 'Christopher Columbus, the discovery', in which international personalities such as Gérard Depardieu and Marlon Brando contributed.

Within this particular genre, 'El Dorado' (Carlos Saura, 1988 ) was the most expensive film in the history of Spanish cinema at the time of shooting. It was to be the counterpoint to Werner Herzog's ' Aguirre ' and his special vision of the epic by Lope de Aguirre .

Cruiser Cristóbal Colón , sunk near Santiago de Cuba in 1898

Topics related to the colonial decline are 'Héroes del 95' ( Eloy Gonzalo . 1947 ), which tells the story of those who waged the war in Cuba and against the Mambí ( Teodoro Ríos , 1998) and in particular the classics 'Los últimos de Filipinas' ( Antonio Román , 1945 ), which tells the story of a group of soldiers from the hunting regiment stationed in Baler who decided to resist in a church surrounded by enemies and did not want to admit that the war was over .

War of Independence Cinema

Various episodes of the War of Independence (against Napoleon ) were brought to the screen , some in a historical-documentary style , others with movie films inspired by the epoch of this conflict. Films like 'El abanderado' 1942, 'Agustina de Aragón' (Juan de Orduña, 1950 ), which tell the legend of the Aragonese heroine Lola la Piconera ( Luis Lucia , 1951), inspired by a work by José María Pemán , 'Los Guerilleros '(1962, Pedro Luis Ramírez), finally' The Legend of the Drum '( Jorge Grau , 1981), inspired by the legend of the drum by El Bruc .

Bandit Cinema - Cine de bandoleros

The action usually takes place in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and describes the life and activities of the guerrillas who fought the French invader or the bandits who ruled parts of the country - a genre that was in part similar to American westerns . Due to its great popularity, the television series 'Curro Jiménez' with Sancho Gracia should not go unmentioned. This series had a theatrical version called 'Avisa a Curro Jiménez' ( Rafael Moreno Marchent , 1978); the most important film in this genre was probably 'Amanecer en puerta oscura' ( José María Forqué , 1957), which once won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Festival . Also noteworthy are 'Carne de horca' ( Ladislao Vajda , 1953), 'La duquesa de Benamejí' (Luis Lucia, 1949 ), and, based on the work of the Machado brothers, 'Llanto por un bandido' (Carlos Saura, 1964). 'The Law of the Frontier' ( Adolfo Aristarain , 1995) is also inspired by Galician banditry.

Palace film

Very popular in the 1940s, this genre is remembered primarily for the adaptation of the play about Manuel Tamayo y Baus 'Locura de amor' ( Juan de Orduña , 1948), which was also the breakthrough of actress Aurora Bautista .

The best known in this genre are films, which, based on plays by Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena, depict the life of the monarch Alfonso XII. psychologically interpreted: ' Where are you going, Alfonso XII? '( Luis César Amadori 1958) and the continuation' ¿Dónde vas, triste de ti? ' ( Alfonso Balcázar , 1960) with Vicente Parra - a leading actor of the time - and Paquita Rico . Other films in this genre were 'The Princess of the Ursinos' (Luis Lucia, 1947), 'The Lioness of Castile ' ( Juan de Orduña , 1957) and the adaptation of a work by Luis Coloma , 'Jeromín' (Luis Lucia, 1953) .

More recent productions in this genre are: 'Esquilache' ( Josefina Molina , 1989 ) and 'Juana la Loca' ( 2001 ), where Vicente Aranda takes up the story of the Castilian queen, whose madness of love is also used as a template for the grandiose comedy with Lola Flores , 'Juana la loca ... from time to time '( José Ramón Larraz , 1983).

Cinema about the Spanish Civil War and Franquism

Notable titles about the Franco era were 'Dragon Rapide' (1986), ' Libertarias ' ( 1996 ), 'La hora de los valientes' (1998), the Ken Loach co-production 'Tierra y libertad' (' Land and Freedom ' , 1995 ) and as a self-testimony 'Raza' (1941).

Films to come to terms with the Franco era "up to the films of Almodóvar produced the most lasting reaction in the German-speaking area, probably also because the images of Franquism could be understood as such in the tradition of the Black Legend . (...) However, it took the film critic longer than the audience to understand that the great era of historical-political cinema was over. "

Film biographies

In this genre, very free versions of the life of Miguel de Cervantes or El Greco, as well as those dedicated to Francisco de Goya , have been created. In addition to a television series, Goya's life has inspired five films, including Carlos Saura's ' Goya in Bordeaux ' (1999), which stood out for the number of Goya awards he won.

Bullfighting film - Cine taurino

Manuel Benítez Pérez, known as "El Cordobés"

The Corrida has been filmed countless times. Sometimes it was a matter of adapting novels on the subject of bullfighting to the medium of film, sometimes screenplays were made that dealt with the most current to the roughest aspects of the traditional popular spectacle or the vita of popular bullfighters.

Based on literary material, 'Blood and Sand' ('Sangre y arena') can be considered a successful film adaptation , although the best adaptations of Blasco Ibáñez 'works probably came from Hollywood.

The bullfighting novel that was most successfully adapted for cinema in Spain was 'Currito de la Cruz' by Alejandro Pérez Lugín . A silent film version was followed by three sound films. 'El Niño de las Monjas', a novel by Juan López Núñez , has also been shown four times in theaters.

Films like 'Blood in the Bullring' ('Sangre en el ruedo', Rafael Gil , 1969 ) or 'The Clarines of Fear' ( Antonio Román , 1958) showed the harshness of the bullfighting environment. B. based on the hatred and envy of two rival stars of the profession. The misery and dark side of the life of the traveling toreros were also an issue. The realism of 'Tarde de Toros' (Ladislao Vajda, 1956) is often praised, juxtaposing three characters (the consecrated, the hip idol and the novice) as well as presenting other minor characters: the bullfighting critic, the amateur fans of each torero, etc.

Filmed biographies of bullfighters are also 'Learning to Die' ('Aprendiendo a morir', Pedro Lazaga , 1962) with Manuel Benítez and 'New on this place' ('Nuevo en esta plaza', Pedro Lazaga, 1966 ) about the life of Sebastian Palomo Linares .

'El Litri y su sombra' (Rafael Gil, 1960), is perhaps the most ambitious of these genre films , because this work is not limited to only narrating the life of the bullfighter, but also includes his family saga .

Religious film

The importance of religion in Spain throughout its history was reflected in cinema and this branch of film became a hugely popular genre in the 1950s. Several types of game can be distinguished within the special division:

Religiosas

This special genre brings together films that use fictional stories to try to show both religious and human virtues . Protagonists are often clergy or priestly candidates who are confronted with selfishness in society, with the protagonists going through more or less pious episodes.

The film 'Balarrasa' ( José Antonio Nieves Conde , 1950), the story of a repentant man who wants to become a priest, stands out here. 'La mies es mucho' (José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, 1949) about the life of a Spanish missionary in India and the works of Rafael Gil such as B. 'I was a Parish Priest' ('La Guerra de Dios', 1953), in which a priest has to struggle with the adverse conditions in a miners' settlement. 'El canto del gallo' (1955) describes the experiences of some Catholic priests who are persecuted in a communist country. Paradoxically, the work that practically completed this genre was a new version of the film that once made this film branch more famous: 'Marcelino, Bread and Wine', as a remake in 1991 by Luigi Comencini .

The life of the saints - Vida de santos

At the height of the religious film genre in Spain, numerous works were produced on the lives of saints. Among other things, 'Isidro, the peasant' ( Rafael J. Salvia , 1963), ' The Miracle of Fatima ' (Rafael Gil, 1951) and in particular ' Molokai, la isla maldita ' (Luis Lucia, 1959), which tells the story of the Damian de Veuster related who was canonized a few decades later .

Also noteworthy are Carlos Saura's vision of the life of Saint John of the Cross in 'The Dark Night' ('La noche oscura', 1988), as well as the different versions of the life of Saint Teresa of Jesus (Juan de Orduña, 1961) - to 'Teresa: The Body of Christ' by Ray Loriga , made in the 21st century, and quite controversial.

Film adaptations

Film versions of the great classics of Spanish literature are a rather weak genre, although there was no shortage of approaches for literary cinema in the silent film era.

First and foremost, of course, is the leading work in Spanish literature , Don Quixote , which has been brought to the screen several times by both domestic and foreign filmmakers. Of the 23 entries in the database of films registered with the Ministry of Culture, the oldest is 'Don Quixote' from 1908 (directed by Narciso Cuyas). Among the others, 'Don Quixote de la Mancha' (Rafael Gil, 1948) stands out in terms of popularity. The parody 'Don Quixote rides again' ( Roberto Gavaldón , 1973), a co-production with Mexico, is no less than 'El caballero Don' ( Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón , 2002); the latter strip was the continuation of a television series (this comprised the first part of the novel and the film the second part).

Lazarillo de Tormes , another classic of Spanish literature, also made several film versions. The one by César Fernández Ardavín (1959) who was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlinale will be remembered . Also worth mentioning is the version from 2000 entitled 'Lázaro de Tormes', directed by Fernando Fernán Gómez , who had to give it up in the middle of shooting for health reasons and was replaced in the director's chair by José Luis García Sánchez .

The tragic comedy La Celestina has also been filmed several times, with Gerardo Vera's 1996 staging that received the greatest attention from audiences and critics. Also worth mentioning was the version shot by César Fernández Ardavín in 1969.

Don Juan , the legendary heartbreaker, has made numerous film versions in Spanish films. Don Juan in the version by Jose Zorrilla was the first sound film adaptation directed by René Cardona , and the version by Luis César Amadori from 1949 remains arguably the most famous. Tirso de Molina's variation on the theme was called 'El Burlador de Sevilla' ('The Stone Guest'), and in 1950 José Luis Sáenz de Heredia presented a film adaptation of this first dramatic version of the Don Juan story from 1612 . 'Don Juan in Hell' ('Don Juan en los infiernos') by Gonzalo Suárez was a very free appropriation of the subject based on the play by the classic French playwright Molière .

Carmen , the work of the French Prosper Mérimée , although not part of the local literature, was also often filmed in Spain. Reference should be made to the version by Florián Rey entitled 'Carmen la de Triana', in which Imperio Argentina gave the title role in 1938 ; Both language versions were produced in Germany .

At the end of the fifties, then-star Sara Montiel played the lead role in 'Carmen la de Ronda'. Perhaps the most controversial and personal treatment of the character by cinematographic art is the version of Carlos Saura: ' Carmen ' (1983), Laura del Sol played the heartbreaker. At the beginning of the 21st century, Paz Vega gave the famous femme fatale in a version staged by Vicente Aranda.

Other dramatists from the Spanish Golden Age were also made into films. Lope de Vega was first adapted in 'Fuenteovejuna' ( Antonio Román , 1947) and later as part of a Spanish-Italian co-production ( Juan Guerrero Zamora , 1972). 1973 followed a film adaptation of 'El mejor alcalde, el rey' by Rafael Gil; Most of the awards of all Lope de Vega films, however, received 'Love out of envy or the gardener's dog' ('El perro del hortelano' by Pilar Miró , 1995). 'The clever fool' was filmed in the 21st century ('La dama boba' by Manuel Iborra , 2006).

Works by Pedro Calderón de la Barca were already in the cinema during the silent film era. The two adaptations by the judge of Zalamea ( José Gutiérrez Maesso , 1954 , and Mario Camus, 1973) stand out for the sound film epoch . ' Life is a dream ' ('La vida es sueño') was filmed in a very free version as 'El príncipe encadenado' (Luis Lucia, 1960).

Music film

The Spanish music cinema was practically created together with the sound film. In addition to the USA, perhaps Spain alone founded an originally new musical film genre among all other Western countries, at least according to many Spaniards. Identity and Iberian peculiarities also find their deepest expression in music films, my traditionalists - although this Spanish genre has been going through the same production and box office crises as its counterparts in the US film industry since the 1970s.

The emphasis on tradition and allegedly completely incomparable Spanish peculiarity was, however, also a propaganda goal of the Franco regime. B. wanted to adopt the popular music theater tradition of Zarzuela as a national symbol for his ultra-right patriotism .

The 'golden age' of the musical film genre developed already during the Second Republic , with directors like Florián Rey as well as in the first years of the dictatorship, when the foundations of one of the most productive and popular genres of national cinema were based on the famous Zarzuelas, an originally Spanish form of music theater , were trained. Today this branch has practically died out or is at least heavily permeated by modern pop culture , but is still occasionally brought in by virtuoso film artists like Carlos Saura.

Schlager & folklore film

Sara Montiel (1955)

In the judgment of older generations, this is the epitome of Spanish entertainment cinema. The folkloric music film was created at the same time as the "Sonorous" (sound films) - with the aim of using and increasing the fame of the season's most popular singers and folk dancers.

Imperio Argentina , Estrellita Castro and Concha Piquer were the first stars to dominate the thirties and early forties, starring in films mainly directed by Florián Rey and Benito Perojo.

The forties began with films like 'La famosa Luz María' (1941) without nationally known singing stars, and although greats of the last decade continued to be famous, Juanita Reina gradually rose to become the new superstar, she starred in films by Juan de Orduña and Luis Lucia starred.

The fifties began entirely under the sign of Juanita Reina, although this decade's duel would be that of Lola Flores with Sara Montiel, whose supremacy in Spanish musical film extended into the following decade.

Lola Flores had already made films such as 'Embrujo' ( Carlos Serrano de Osma , 1947) with her partner at the time, the singer Manolo Caracol , at the end of the 1940s .

Sara Montiel, who completed a few supporting roles in several films in the 1940s and had attempted a career in Hollywood, rose to film Olympus thanks to 'El último cuplé' ( Juan de Orduña , 1957), with the greatest international success to date of Spanish cinema.

At this time, and with less success than the two stars mentioned above, Paquita Rico and Marifé de Triana appeared for the first time in front of the cameras, with films such as 'Canto para ti' or 'Bajo el cielo andaluz'.

The genre flourished until the 1970s, with Rocío Jurado , who appeared in several films , was a new star. In the eighties, the folkloric music film division quickly disappeared, with the latest success with the films of Isabel Pantoja , e.g. B. 'Yo Soja Esa' ( Luis Sanz , 1990 ), which attracted another 1.5 million viewers, and 'El día que nací yo' ( Pedro Olea , 1991), with already more modest box office results.

In any case, the late success of these folklore films meant that other 'folklorists' found a livelihood on television, which also resulted in some ambitious films such as a new version of 'La Lola se va a los puertos' ( Josefina Molina , with Rocío Jurado 1993).

Finally, with an overwhelming 2.5 million viewers, the genre made a comeback with ' La niña de tus ojos ' ( Fernando Trueba , 1998), a comedy inspired by the adventures of the Spanish folk musicians that hit the Germans in the late 30s UFA film studios had worked.

The wave of child stars

There has been a boom in child stars since the late 1950s; Protagonists were very young young singers who went through almost always music and film career in parallel and whose films are in many cases the commercial shooting. The first of these successful singing children was Joselito, who started the genre in the 1950s with films like 'The Little Nightingale' ('El pequeño ruiseñor' 1956) or 'The Arrow of the Nightingale' ('La saeta del ruiseñor', 1957). practically justified. His career ended when Joselito grew up.

Another case was that of Marisol, a ' child prodigy ' who premiered with 'Un rayo de luz' (1960) and became the biggest star of the branch in her childhood and youth. Their successes were more consistent and lasted into the 1980s.

The trio of the most successful artists of the genre was completed with Rocío Dúrcal , who, although she made her debut somewhat late in 'Song of Youth' ('Canción de juventud', 1961) at the age of 16, in terms of cinematic style and audience segment with the two aforementioned Child stars competed. Her career lasted until 1978.

All further attempts to create new stars failed at some point or bore no fruit in the cinema. This was the case with Ana Belén , who became known as a child actress in 1965 with the musical 'Zampo y yo' (1965). As an adult actress and singer, however, she later had more success. In the 1970s, other children's groups such as La Pandilla were launched, who played the leading roles with Karina in the film 'En un mundo nuevo' (1972), but without achieving great success.

After 1983 the genre almost completely disappeared, apart from sporadic attempts by groups like Bom Bom Chip in 'El Niño invisible' (1995) or the child singers Raulito in 'Franky Banderas' (2004) and María Isabel in 'Ángeles SA' (2007) among others; these attempts at renewal fell through with critics and the general public.

Zarzuela cinema

The small genre, as the zarzuela is also called, was associated with Spanish cinema almost from the beginning, as there were already silent film versions of Spanish zarzuelas such as' Los Guapos' (Segundo de Chomón, 1910 ) or 'La Verbena de la Paloma '(José Buchs, 1921). The latter was followed by a second, successful sound film version (Benito Perojo, 1935) and even a third, less successful version was created in 1963 by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia.

The greatest patron of this genre was undoubtedly Juan de Orduña , who in 1969 produced the zarzuelas 'La Revoltosa', 'Las Golondrinas', 'La canción del Olvido' and 'Bohemios' on behalf of the state television.

Flamenco film

Carlos Saura's contribution to the genre is world-famous, but at least two films by Francisco Rovira Beleta are also worth mentioning: 'Los Tarantos' (1963) and 'El amor brujo' (1967), both films were nominated for an Oscar. Another film in this section, 'Montoyas y Tarantos' (Vicente Escrivá, 1989), unsuccessfully sought the same nomination.

Carlos Saura made films such as 'Blood Wedding' ('Bodas de Sangre', 1981) or a new version of 'El amor brujo' (1986) in collaboration with the dancer Antonio Gades . Further works were ' Sevillanas ' (1992), 'Flamenco' (1995) and 'Salomé' (2002).

Another music film

The contemporary stars like Raphael, Los Bravos , Julio Iglesias or Hombres G were able to realize short careers in the cinema with films that were intended as advertising vehicles. However, there were songs that went beyond the design with two or three shoots, for example with Manolo Escobar or Luis Mariano , who had his voice sounded in operettas such as the adaptation of 'Violetas imperiales' (Richard Pottier, 1952) or even in 'The Dream of Andalusia ' (Luis Lucia, 1953). In addition, he celebrated success abroad with the films 'El cantor de México' and 'Las aventuras del barbero de Sevilla'.

Péplum and Italo-Western

Wild West Cemetery in Yucca City near Tabernas

The genres péplum ( sandal film ) and so-called ' spaghetti westerns ' were mostly produced in cooperation with the Italian film industry. The financial risk for failed projects was mostly with the Spanish partners.

From the 1960s onwards, Spain had a relatively developed film industry . Around a hundred films were made every year, and the low production costs also attracted foreign filmmakers to co-productions in Spain. Aside from the genres mentioned, Orson Welles himself produced his ' Falstaff ' here.

Examples of co-productions are ' The Last Days of Pompeii ' ( Mario Bonnard , 1959) and ' The Colossus of Rhodes ' ( Sergio Leone , 1961), a large-scale production was ' The Fall of the Roman Empire ' ( Anthony Mann , 1964) international stars like Sophia Loren , James Mason and Alec Guinness . The film was shot in Spain. 'Los Cantabros' ( Jacinto Molina , 1980) was then entirely Spanish-directed , but the film was shot in the decade of the decline of this genre.

The European western, for its part, had most productions in Spain; the Almerías desert stood for Arizona .

Although most of the most important directors in this field were Italians, there were also Spaniards such as the brothers Alfonso and Jaime Jesús Balcázar , the brothers Rafael Romero Marchent and Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent , and José María Zabalza , Julio Buchs and Ignacio F. Iquino.

After several attempts to revitalize the division, the latest hits were parodies like 'El Este del Oeste' ( Mariano Ozores , 1984) or 'Aquí llega Condemor, el pecador de la pradera' ( Álvaro Sáenz de Heredia , 1996); the genre reached another late climax with the nostalgic, black-humored homage ' 800 Bullets ' ( Álex de la Iglesia , 2002).

Landism

With his last name, the actor Alfredo Landa donated a special genre of Spanish comedy: Landismo. Landa, often accompanied by José Luis López Vázquez , represented the Iberian man in numerous films, or rather a cliché of the Spaniard of his time: rather small, dark, obsessed with women and sexually starved. These low-budget comedies reliably filled the cinemas, but were panned by criticism. 'No desearás al vecino del quinto' ( Ramón Fernández , 1970), with more than 4.3 million viewers, was one of the most successful films in the history of Spanish cinema. The numerous films with Andrés Pajares and Fernando Esteso can also be counted under this special, once extremely popular genre.

Tourism film

Another type of film genre from the sixties and first half of the seventies were films designed to promote tourist regions on the Spanish coast. Titles like 'Amor a la española' ( Fernando Merino , 1966), ' Tourism is a great invention' ( Pedro Lazaga , 1968 ) and 'Fin de semana al desnudo' ( Mariano Ozores , 1974) should be mentioned here.

Cinema of “discovery” - El destape

In the early and middle Franco era, it was officially more strictly moral between the sexes. The end of this deadlock enabled the development of a type of cinema that was "absolutely commercial, rigorously macho and ideologically backward". The main interest seemed to be to show previously forbidden images of the female anatomy without looking for many pretexts.

Erotic and also · harder stripes, some of which are dubious, had a 'run' around the world in the 1970s.

Although in the last years of the dictatorship some films were made in the relevant style - e. B. 'The Monument' ( José María Forqué , 1970), 'Lo verde empieza en los Pirineos' ( Vicente Escrivá , 1973) or 'Doctor me gustan los mujeres ¿Es grave?' ( Ramón Fernández , 1973) - from 1977 onwards, films of this kind increasingly pushed into national production with titles such as 'Deseo carnal' ( Manuel Iglesias , 1978), 'L´orgia' ( Francesc Bellmunt , 1978) or 'Atraco a sexo armado' ( Vincenzo Savino , 1981).

'Das Hinterzimmer' ( Jorge Grau , 1978) and its protagonist María José Cantudo showed the first female frontal act in mainstream Spanish cinema and mobilized half a million viewers.

In the early 1980s, audiences lost interest and the genre disappeared as quickly as it came into being.

Horror movie

Los Otros

Alejandro Amenábar and his film ' Los Otros ' (2001, with Nicole Kidman ) is often considered the most important and most successful horror film in Spanish cinema - but low-budget horror films have been made since the late 1960s, which were valued above all for their directorial work and will. Outside of Spain, these works often had a higher reputation than in the country itself. In Spanish horror films, directors such as Carlos Aured , Jesús Franco, León Klimovsky , Amando de Ossorio , Enrique López Eguiluz and Jacinto Molina were active.

Jacinto Molina , under the pseudonym Paul Naschy, was not only the director, but also the most productive actor in the genre. He played the werewolf most often, but also practically every other monster that exists in the horror genre. His first werewolf epic 'The Werewolf Mark', 'Night of the Vampires' (' La noche de Walpurgis ', 1971) and its sequels remain legendary. After the success of 'Los Otros', those predecessors once again gained great importance among the next generation of horror filmmakers - cf. Films like ' The Orphanage ' ('El Orfanato') by Juan Antonio Bayona and directors like Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza .

Many young Spanish filmmakers today are fascinated by the classic genre, from horror, fantasy or science fiction films . In the horror film ' REC ' Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza combine elements of media satirism with tough genre specifications. In many secondary characters and action elements, topics from Spanish popular culture are taken up: the formulas of trivial television infotainment are targeted , as are the neighbors' lust for sensation or the malicious reservations among various ethnic groups.

Cine de desarraigados - "Cinema of the uprooted"

These films portrayed the dark, miserable sides of Spanish society, the marginalized groups, minorities and criminals, from various perspectives

The genre was certainly inspired by the tradition of the Picaresque novel. Initially, the marginalized appeared more in movie comedies, the first masterpiece being 'Los tramposos' by Pedro Lazaga in 1959 ; the story of two modern villains of the 20th century was told here. This film was followed by others in a similar style, often starring the able lead actor of 'The Cheaters' ('Los tramposos'), Tony Leblanc , a true icon of the genre at this early stage.

In 1974 'La Madrina' by Mariano Ozores was released as a kind of conclusion to these comedies to make way for the more explicit and genre-typical cinema of more recent times.

The film genre, which focused even more intensely on marginal, uprooted existences, then developed from the 1970s; Carlos Saura achieved first successes in a similar style with ' The Street Boys ' ('Los Golfos') as early as 1960 and returned to this genre in 1990 with '¡Dispara!', The last film with Antonio Banderas in Spain.

In the 1970s, the director José Antonio de la Loma became known for works in this category, with films based on the life of Vaquilla, who in the mid-1970s represented the lost generation of heroin addicts - portrayed with amateur actors from the scene.

José Ángel Mañas, 2006

From 1977 De la Loma made films such as 'Stray Dogs' ('Perros callejeros'), the most typical and best-known work of that direction, followed by 'Stray Dogs II', 'Busca y captura' and others - all directed and directed by De la Loma himself occupied by Ángel Fernández Franco .

In the 1980s, when Eloy de la Iglesia picked up the thread of La Loma and competed with him, he started his own saga about the marginalized with 'El Pico' and 'El Pico 2', which showed the world of the heroin addict. He had previously made films in this genre such as 'Colegas y Navajeros' to end 'La estanquera de Vallecas'. All of these films were made with José Luis Manzano in the lead role, who would end up with the same tragic ending as the protagonists he played.

Montxo Armendáriz had also contributed to this genre with two films about the drug scene, in which he illustrated the novel by José Ángel Mañas .

In recent years, however, the style has achieved the greatest successes with 'Barrio' by Fernando León de Aranoa , 'El Bola' by Achero Mañas or ' 7 Virgins ' by Alberto Rodríguez . Thanks to a touching story about three young people in the deserted suburbs of Madrid , 'Barrio' (1998) stands for a new kind of social realism. The film 'My quick way out' ('Volando voy') by Miguel Albaladejo , which has a story, is also remarkable from the seventies about Pera, a juvenile offender who finally reintegrated into society.

Military film

Military film was a very typical style during the Franco regime; patriotism was propagated here.

This film division had its first success in 1948 with Ramón Torrado's 'Botón de ancla', which would have two more follow-up films, one in the sixties and one in the seventies. This film was followed by 'La trinca del aire' or 'Heroes del aire' by Torrado himself and Pedro Lazaga's 'Midshipmen' ('Los guardiamarinas').

'Fifteen' ('Quince'), which tells the story of the university militias, was less serious than in these films.

Films like, Recruit with a Child '(, recluta con niño') or, Cateto a babor 'belong here, two versions of the same story with humor the subject of the now defunct military service approached without the then prescribed patriotic spirit to undermined.

Outside of these trends and far from the peak of the genre, 'Morirás en Chafarinas' by Pedro Olea was created based on the novel of the same name by Fernando Lalana .

literature

  • Barroso, MA y Gil Delgado, F. Cine español en cien películas. Ediciones Jaguar. Madrid, 2002.
  • Del Rey Reguillo, Antonia. Los borrosos años diez, Crónica de un cine ignorado (1910–1919) Valencia. E-excelence, 2005.
  • García Fernández, Emilio C. Historia ilustrada del cine español. Madrid. Planeta, 1985.
  • García Fernández, Emilio C. El cine español entre 1896 y 1939. Barcelona. Ariel, 2002.
  • Gubern, Román y otros. Historia del cine español. Madrid. Cátedra, 1995.
  • Gubern, Román (coord.). Un siglo de cine español. Madrid. Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España, 1997.
  • Sánchez Noriega, José Luis, Historia del Cine. Teoría y géneros cinematográficos, fotografía y televisión , Madrid, Alianza, 2006. ISBN 84-206-7691-8 .
  • Trenzado Romero, Manuel. Cultura de masas y cambio político: El cine español de la transición. Madrid. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas / Siglo XXI de España, 1999.
  • VV. AA. Enciclopedia del cine español. Cien años de cine. Madrid. Micronet / UCM / ICAA, 1996. [on CD-ROM].

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jon Letamendi y Jean-Claude Seguin, 'La llegada del cinematógrafo a España (1896-1897): Metodología y esbozo', Secuencias, n.º 28, 2006, pp. 13-26.
  2. Jon Letamendi y Jean-Claude Seguin, La Cuna fantasma del cine español, CIMS, 1998, p. 262
  3. Iván Zulueta evita ver Arrebato porque "le duele demasiado ADN.es • Cultura y Ocio from 2008 on archive.org, accessed on July 2, 2020
  4. Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf: Spain beyond Almodóvar website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education bpb.de, accessed on July 2, 2020
  5. ^ Jörg Türschmann: After Franco - Films of the Spanish Transición democrática (1975–1982) Website Cinemabuch.ch, accessed on July 2, 2020