From the surrealist films of Luis Buñuel to the colourful melodramas of Pedro Almodóvar, Spain has produced a wealth of exciting and distinctive film-makers who have consistently provided a condoning or dissenting eye on Spanish history and culture. For modern cinema-goers, it has often been the sexually-charged and colourful nature of many contemporary Spanish films, which has made them popular world-wide and led directors and stars such as Almodóvar, Banderas and Penélope Cruz to be welcomed by Hollywood. Using original interview material with Spanish Cinema luminaries such as Carlos Saura, Julio Medem, Imanol Uribe and Elías Querejeta, Rob Stone charts a history of Spanish Cinema throughout the turbulent Francoist years and beyond. The book aims to provide a broad introduction to Spanish Cinema, the nine chapters divided into four types: chapters on Spanish Cinema during the Dictatorship and following the transition to democracy survey current debate and opinion while tracing the development of themes and film movements throughout those periods. chapters on early Spanish cinema and Basque cinema present vital and fascinating aspects of Spanish cinema that have previously been ignored chapters on childhood in Spanish cinema, and sex and the new star system offer new pathways into the study of Spanish cinema chapters on Carlos Saura, Elías Querejeta and Julio Medem offer specific case studies of film-makers who are emblematic of different periods in Spanish cinema and, indeed, Spanish history As with other titles in the Inside Film series, the book is comprehensively illustrated with representative stills and has a thorough bibliography, index and list of resources.

Spanish Cinema against Itself maps the evolution of Spanish surrealist and politically committed cinematic traditions from their origins in the 1930s—with the work of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, experimentalist José Val de Omar, and militant documentary filmmaker Carlos Velo—through to the contemporary period. Framed by film theory this book traces the works of understudied and non-canonical Spanish filmmakers, producers, and film collectives to open up alternate, more cosmopolitan and philosophical spaces for film discussion. In an age of the post-national and the postcinematic, Steven Marsh's work challenges conventional historiographical discourse, the concept of "national cinema," and questions of form in cinematic practice.

100 Years of Spanish Cinema provides an in-depth look at themost important movements, films, and directors of twentieth-centurySpain from the silent era to the present day. A glossary of film terms provides definitions of essentialtechnical, aesthetic, and historical terms Features a visual portfolio illustrating key points of many ofthe films analyzed Includes a clear, concise timeline to help students quicklyplace films and genres in Spain’s political, economical, andhistorical contexts Discusses over 20 films including Amor Que Mata, Un ChienAndalou, Viridana, El Verdugo, El Crimen de Cuenca, and Pepi, Luci, Born

"Costume design is a crucial, but frequently overlooked, aspect of film that fosters an appreciation of the diverse ways in which film and fashion enrich each other. These influential industries offer representations of ideas, values, and beliefs that shape and construct cultural identities. In Fashioning Spanish Cinema, Jorge Pérez analyses the use of clothing and fashion as costumes within Spanish cinema, paying particular attention to the significance of those costumes in relation to the visual styles and the narratives of the films. The author examines the links between costume analysis and other fields and theoretical frameworks such as fashion studies, the history of dress, celebrity studies, and gender and feminist studies. Fashioning Spanish Cinema looks at instances in which costumes are essential to shaping the public image of stars, such as Conchita Montenegro, Sara Montiel, Victoria Abril, and Penélope Cruz. Focusing on examples in which costumes have discursive autonomy, it explores how costumes engage with broader issues of identity and, relatedly, how costumes impact everyday practices and fashion trends beyond cinema. Drawing on case studies from multiple periods, films by contemporary directors and genres, and red-carpet events such as the Oscars and Goya Awards, Fashioning Spanish Cinema contributes a pivotal Spanish perspective to expanding interdisciplinary work on the intersections between film and fashion."--

This study examines the discourses of nationalism as they intersected or clashed with Spanish film production from its inception to the present. While the book addresses the discourses around filmmakers such as Almodóvar and Medem, whose work has achieved international recognition, Spanish National Cinema is particularly novel in its treatment of a whole range of popular cinema rarely touched on in studies of Spanish cinema. Using accounts of films, popular film magazines and documents not readily available to an English-speaking audience, as well as case studies focusing on the key issues of each epoch, this volume illuminates the complex and changing relationship between cinema and Spanish national identity.

How Spanish directors have handled religious themes, with their highly-charged political implications, from the historical avant-garde to 2010

A Companion to Spanish Cinema is a bold collection of newly commissioned essays written by top international scholars that thoroughly interrogates Spanish cinema from a variety of thematic, theoretical and historic perspectives. Presents an insightful and provocative collection of newly commissioned essays and original research by top international scholars from a variety of theoretical, disciplinary and geographical perspectives Offers a systematic historical, thematic, and theoretical approach to Spanish cinema, unique in the field Combines a thorough and insightful study of a wide spectrum of topics and issues with in-depth textual analysis of specific films Explores Spanish cinema’s cultural, artistic, industrial, theoretical and commercial contexts pre- and post-1975 and the notion of a “national” cinema Canonical directors and stars are examined alongside understudied directors, screenwriters, editors, and secondary actors Presents original research on image and sound; genre; non-fiction film; institutions, audiences and industry; and relations to other media, as well as a theoretically-driven section designed to stimulate innovative research