Cronica D'una Mirada: Clandestine Filmmaking in Franco's Spain, 1960 – 1975

Film @ International House
Cronica D'una Mirada: Clandestine Filmmaking in Franco's Spain, 1960 – 1975

Co-presented by the Department of Hispanic Studies and the Cinema Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania

This six-part documentary series focuses on a generation of independent filmmakers whose innate unwillingness to conform required them to produce, distribute and exhibit radical films during Francisco Franco’s regime. Shooting under the pretense of amateur filmmaking, they hid within crowds of protesters, producing works that were often highly creative and even experimental. In order to protect the identities of its participants, many of these films had no credits.

While this body of work represents a margin of Spanish film history, it nevertheless contains some of the most crucial, first-hand documents of the end of the dictatorship, revealing problems of housing and social services, immigration, the fate of political prisoners and restrictions on expression and free speech. These films explore an era that fought for freedom through cinema.

Curated by Marta Sanchez and Manuel Barrios. Special thanks to Bryan Cameron and Anna Cox of the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University Of ennsylvania and Charlotte Nitta Cargni.

Wednesday, October 28 at 7pm
Part I: Good Manners
dir. Manuel Barrios, Spain, 2004, DVD, 44 mins, color & b/w, Spanish w/ English subtitles

Apart from professionals, owning a film camera at the end of the 50s was a privilege enjoyed by relatively few and used primarily for travel and family. People who were passionate about film went to the movies or created a cinema club. However, there was a shift that occurred when amateurs created stories with intent and when cinema clubs where used to talk about more than just films. Good Manners and accompanying shorts reflect on amateur films that dared to explore what was not permitted, that try to investigate the day-to-day morality of the time.

followed by
Happy Parallel (El Alegre Paralelo)
dir. Enric Ripoll and Josep-Maria Freixes Ramon, Spain, 1964, DVD, 28 mins, b/w

The film reveals the daily life of the popular Barcelona neighborhood of Parallel, reflecting prostitution, nightlife and all it encompasses.

A Good Friday (Un Viernes Santo)
dir. Joan Gabriel Tharrats, Spain, 1960, DVD, 26 mins, b/w

When it was produced, A Good Friday was considered quite controversial and actually forbidden by the regime and shown only in cinema clubs.

Aspectes i Personatges de Barcelona 1964
dir. Carles Barba, Spain, 1975, DVD, 25 mins, b/w, Spanish w/ English subtitles

Using footage centering on Barcelona, these images and accounts have now become outstanding documents of the period.

Free admission members above Internationalist level;
$5 Internationalists; $6 students + seniors; $8 general admission.
In advance at TICKETWEB or 1/2 hour before showtime at The Ibrahim Theater Box Office.

Robert E. Cargni
Film Program Curator
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
p) 1.215.895.6555| (f) 1.215.895.6562
www.ihousephilly.org