From the beginnings to Francoism, a short history of Spanish cinema
Fructuós Gelabert, an inventor and scriptwriter from Barcelona, is considered one of the founders of Spanish cinema. A year after the first Lumière cinematograph was shown in Madrid in 1896, he captured views of the Catalan city in the manner of the Lumière brothers, filming the exit from the mass of the church of Santa Maria de Sants, before making the first short fiction film of Spanish cinema, Riña en un café, also shot in 1897 in Barcelona. Now lost, the only remaining trace of this film is a remake made in 1952. Other filmmakers also participated in the development of Spanish cinema, with certain nerve centers attracting national and international filming. Barcelona and Madrid saw the birth of the first film studios, while the first film magazine Arte y cinematografia was founded in the Catalan city. Among the directors of this period, let us focus on the career of Segundo de Chomón. Born in Teruel in 1871, he discovered cinema around 1895 through Julienne Mathieu, an actress and film animator, whom he married. Through her, he trained in cinema and became an operator for the Pathé Frères company in Barcelona, specializing in animation and special effects. A pioneer in visual effects, he directed some of the most advanced films of his time, such as The Tulips (1907), The Chinese Shadows (1908) and Metamorphoses (1912), with his wife in the lead role. Between animation and live action, Segundo de Chomón was a Spanish Méliès, competing with the French inventor in terms of genius, who also commissioned him to create some sets for his own films. He ended his life in France, working on the last great silent films of French cinema, such as Napoleon by Abel Gance (1926).
In the interwar period, Spanish cinema enjoyed good times, with the foundation of numerous production companies and the opening of cinema complexes showing historical films, operettas and adaptations of literary classics. Among them, the Cine Doré in Madrid, founded in 1922, has been preserved until today. It now houses the Spanish Cinematheque and offers five days a week of screenings as well as temporary exhibitions. The building alone is worth seeing, with its orientalist style. It was also during this period that Luis Buñuel, one of the future great Spanish filmmakers of the twentieth century, grew up. Originally from the Teruel region, Buñuel arrived in Madrid in 1918 and met Salvador Dalí. Together they made several short films, the most famous of which is undoubtedly Un chien andalou (1929), considered an icon of surrealism and now a cult film
The advent of sound cinema and the avalanche of American productions hit the national industry hard in the early 1930s. Despite this, and the numerous bankruptcies, Spanish cinema tried to survive and reconvert. New companies were set up, such as Cifesa in Valencia, CEA and Filmfono in Madrid. The Civil War put a second halt to Spanish fiction production, precipitating the exile of filmmakers such as Buñuel, co-founder of Filmfono, who would not return until the 1960s. During this period, the Spanish cinema was fenced in by censorship and Franco's dictatorship. Some filmmakers chose self-censorship, others preferred to conform to the regime in order to continue filming. The result is propaganda films of minor interest, but which - like a film like José Luis Sáenz de Heredia's Raza, released in 1942 - allow us to understand the objectives pursued by Franco in the construction of the Spanish identity under his authoritarian regime. After a decade of scarcity, the 1950s saw the foundation of the National Film Library in Madrid, as well as a certain international recognition of Spanish cinema through international festivals thanks to the figure of Juan Antonio Bardem. This native of Madrid, uncle of the actor Javier Bardem, received the International Press Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 for his film Death of a Cyclist. A thriller in which two lovers choose to conceal their crime to prevent their relationship from coming to light. Shot mainly in the Chamartin studios, which are no longer in existence, some of the film's locations, such as the Hippodrome de La Zarzuela or the church of Saint Mark in Madrid, are still accessible to film lovers of this beautiful work in black and white.
The post-Franco era and the renewal
In the 1960s, Spanish cinema gradually freed itself from the constraints of censorship, thanks to new genres such as horror, westerns and social dramas by filmmakers such as Carlos Saura and his film La Caza (1966), one of the first to revisit the drama and trauma of the Civil War. A period of cultural renewal, this decade was also marked by the return of Luis Buñuel, who won the first national Palme d'Or with Viridiana (1961). This story of the life of a young nun about to take her vows is a disturbing and memorable film that will take you from Madrid to Toledo to the monastery of San Pedro Mártir. With the death of Franco and the collapse of the dictatorship in the late 1970s, the stage was set for a new generation of filmmakers. Members as well as actors of the Movida, a cultural revolution in a Spain in full upheaval, they will give a new face to Spanish cinema, still relevant today. Pedro Almodóvar is the figurehead of this movement, with a work such as Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown (1988), which won the Goya for best film in 1989, the Spanish equivalent of the César and the American Oscars, at the third award ceremony. Later, Almodóvar confirmed his talent with Tacones Lejanos (1991) and Todo Sobre mi madre (1999), films in which Madrid, the city of the filmmaker's heart, appears colorful and danceable. Immerse yourself in the frenzied flamenco of Tacones Lejanos
at the Villa Rosa, a dance bar in Madrid and the location of the film that is still in operation. At the same time, other directors are making 20th century Spanish cinema one of the most interesting. Alejandro Amenabar made The Others (2001) with Nicole Kidman, and Julio Medem caused a sensation the same year with Lucia and Sex (2001). Heirs to a first wave of films from the 1970s, Spanish horror cinema is also making a strong comeback with Álex de la Iglesia's The Day of the Beast (1995) and The Son's Room (2007), or REC (2007) by the duo Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró, to name but a few. As for female directors, the films También La Lluvia (2010) by Icíar Bollaín or more recently Carmen y Lola (2018) by Arantxa Echevarría are crossing borders and shaking up the lines of a Spanish cinema that is still alive, despite a financial crisis that has had a strong impact on the national industry, and an ever-increasing competition from international series and blockbusters.The Casa de Papel phenomenon
When you think Spanish series, it is mainly La Casa de Papel that comes to mind, and for good reason. With each new season of this Netflix series, launched in 2015 and directed by Alex Pina, tens of millions of views flock to the platform in France alone. Like a Game of Thrones, this suspenseful series has been devoured by fans with each new episode or season, in order to avoid the dreaded spoilers. We follow the adventures of eight friends, determined to rob the Bank of Spain. El Professor, Tokyo, Lisbon, Berlin, Nairobi, Rio, Denver, Moscow, pseudonyms that will thrill aficionados and bring back exhilarating memories to those who have already been able to devour all five seasons. While the series is a priori completed, you can walk around many filming locations throughout Spain. In Madrid, in the Plaza del Callao in particular, or in front of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, which lends its facade to the National Bank of the series. Outside the capital, you can visit the Abadía de Santa María Real de Párraces, where some of the most important events of the series were filmed, or the beach of Las Salinas in Almeria, where El Professor and Lisbon are basking in the sun, next to their mobile home. And once you've devoured La Casa de Papel, escape to the islands of Ibiza and Formentera, the setting for the series White Lines, by the same director and also available on Netflix. The attentive eye will recognize many of the Ibizan settings from the series, starting with the Ibiza Marina where Zoe is greeted upon her arrival. Axel's favorite place, which we discover in the flashbacks, is none other than the Torre d'en Rovira, the ideal place to admire the sunset in Ibiza. And of course, Dalt Vila, the old town of Ibiza, is one of the main settings of this investigation, which will probably not have a second season due to lack of audience.
Do you want to bathe in cinema? Spain hosts some of the most prestigious festivals in the world, such as the International Film Festival of Catalonia in Sitges, dedicated to fantastic films, or the very pleasant San Sebastian Festival. In addition to these two major events, many other events punctuate the Spanish film year, from Málaga to Valladolid, including Gijón, Valencia, and of course Madrid. In Spain today, cinema is a celebration, as much as it is celebrated, and its actors and actresses such as Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Victoria Abril or Antonio Banderas continue to headline.
