For five years – from 1962 to 1967 – José María Escudero headed the Dirección General de Cinematografía, a period during which Spanish cinema underwent enormous changes. The new generations that emerged from the Escuela de Cine, headed by Basilio Martín Patino, Miguel Picazo, Francisco Regueiro and Mario Camus, were the protagonists of that phenomenon known as New Spanish cinema which had the main organ of diffusion in the magazine “Nuestro cine”. Emblematic titles of the time are Picazo’s La tía Tula (1964), Patino’s Nueve cartas a Berta (1967), Manuel Summers ‘Del rosa… al amarillo (1963), Camus’ Young Sánchez (1964), El buen amor (1963)) by Regueiro and above all La caza (1966; La Caccia) by Saura, manifesto of the New Spanish cinema, produced by Elías Querejeta, who launched most of the new directors. Berlanga and Bardem, along with Fernán-Gómez, continued to work, making films such as Berlanga’s El verdugo (1963; The executioner’s ballad), Bardem’s Nunca pasa nada (1965) and the surprising El extraño viaje (1967). Fernán-Gómez. A separate case is constituted by José Luis Borau, an author who is not part of a current, who made his debut in 1964 with Brandy (Ride and kill). In those years Madrid also hosted Hollywood productions thanks to Samuel Bronston, who in the early 1960s produced El Cid (1961) and The fall of the Roman empire (1964; The fall of the Roman empire), both by Anthony Mann, as well as King of kings (1961; The King of Kings) and 55 days at Peking (1963; 55 days in Beijing) by Nicholas Ray. Orson Welles also moved to Spain and in 1966 turned the magnificent Campanadas a medianoche,
According to Findjobdescriptions, while in Madrid a political cinema attentive to the problems of reality was consolidating, in Barcelona a completely different movement was developing, the so-called Escuela de Barcelona with Jacinto Esteva and Joaquín Jordá, in which filmmakers such as Vicente Aranda, Gonzalo Suárez, Carlos were later framed. Durán and José María Nunes. This school took its name from an article published in the magazine “Nuevo fotogramas”, which discussed a cinematographic current whose main attractions were aesthetics, photography and models. Dante no es únicamente severo (1967) by Joaquín Jordá can be considered the manifesto film of the Escuela de Barcelona, in which titles such as Fata Morgana (1967) by Aranda, Noche de vino tinto (1966) by Nunes, Cada vez que… (1968) by Carlos Durán, Ditirambo (1969) by Gonzalo Suárez, Des-pués del deluge (1969) by Jacinto Esteva or Nocturno 29 (1969) by Pere Portabella. The point of arrival of this movement was the shooting, in Cadaqués, of Cabezas cortadas (1970) by the Brazilian Glauber Rocha.
Under pressure from a new middle class that demanded more information, the first rooms for the screening of original version films were opened in 1967 and in the same year the first Jornadas Internacionales de Escuelas de Cine were organized in Sitges, with important repercussions on the new generation of filmmakers then established itself in the seventies. Two years later, in 1969, the first Semana Internacional de Cine de Autor in Benalmádena was held, the first nucleus of a festival that would have constituted a free zone, uncontrollable for the regime, where the most recent products of world cinema could be shown. In the last years of the decade C. Saura – together with E. Querejeta and Geraldine Chaplin – was consecrated international star and took hold, thanks to a certain permissiveness of censorship,
The seventies are divided into historically well differentiated periods. Between 1970 and 1973 we can speak of innovative continuity, with the debut of directors such as Pedro Olea (El bosque del lobo, 1970), Eloy de la Iglesia (Techo de cristal, 1971), Jaime de Armiñán (Mi querida señorita, 1971) and Víctor Erice (El espíritu de la colmena, 1973, The spirit of the hive). Buñuel returned to Spain again to shoot Tristana (1970) with Fernando Rey and Catherine Deneuve, while in 1972 another important cultural event took place: the inauguration of the Filmoteca Española with continuous programming in the Madrid and Barcelona locations. The two-year period 1973-1975 is considered by many to be the blackest in recent Spanish history: the death of Admiral Carrero Blanco (December 20, 1973) unleashed in now decrepit Franco’s regime a violent reaction with bloody repressions; the country bowed, waiting for the death of the dictator who was late in coming. Those were years of little hope, which however saw the debut of Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón with Habla, mudita (1974) and of Jaime Chávarri with Los viajes escolares (1974). A timid political openness allowed the formation, in the cinema, of what was called the ‘third way’, to which the producer José Luis Dibildos gave impetus. The most significant titles of the ‘third way’, characterized by a first draft of erotic cinema, are Vida conyugal sana and Los nuevos españoles, both shot in 1974 by Roberto Bodegas, and Antonio Drove’s Tocata y fugue de Lolita (1974). But the most terrible year was 1975, which ended with the shooting of five Basque terrorists and,
The ‘after Franco ‘
Between Franco’s death and the first democratic elections (June 1977), the Spain went through a period of political confusion and insecurity. In the cinema the laws and customs of Francoism survived, even if the so-called undressed cinema (ie the cinema classified as ‘S’), met with wide acclaim with the public, thanks also to the beauty and popularity of the actresses employed. In those short years, the green light for the importation of films prohibited during the Franco era made it possible to screen titles such as The great dictator (1940) by Charlie Chaplin, Viridiana by Buñuel, Teorema (1968) by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ultimo tango a Paris (1972) by Bernardo Bertolucci, or A clockwork orange (1971) by Stanley Kubrick. But they were also fruitful years for many Spanish directors: Buñuel directed Cet obscur objet du désir (1977; That obscure object of desire), his latest film that would launch a successful actress, ángela Molina; while Bardem made El puente (1977), a political pamphlet disguised as a comedy of manners; and Berlanga was finally able to shoot La escopeta nacional (1978), the first part of his national trilogy. In the same period, another prominent actress, Victoria Abril, was taking her first steps, discovered by Vicente Aranda who launched her in Cambio de sexo (1976; Cambio di sexo). first part of his national trilogy. In the same period, another prominent actress, Victoria Abril, was taking her first steps, discovered by Vicente Aranda who launched her in Cambio de sexo (1976; Cambio di sexo). first part of his national trilogy. In the same period, another prominent actress, Victoria Abril, was taking her first steps, discovered by Vicente Aranda who launched her in Cambio de sexo (1976; Cambio di sexo).
The last three years of the decade were the first of a timid democracy, while the civil war became an important topic for reflection: the documentaries Caudillo (1974, but released in 1977) by Basilio Martín Patino and La vieja memoria (1979) by Jaime Camino, but also El corazón del bosque (1979) by Gutiérrez Aragón, Pim, pam, pum… ¡fuego! (1975) by Pedro Olea are some of the titles that entered a historical era banned by the previous cinema. These were also the years in which the career of some of the architects of quality commercial cinema of the following decades began: in fact, José Luis García Sánchez with Las truchas and Emilio Martínez Lázaro with Las palabras de Max (both winners of a Golden Bear) made their mark. gold at the 1978 Berlin Film Festival); José Luis Garci with Asignatura pendiente (1977); Fernando Colomo with Tigres de papel (1978), played by Carmen Maura; José Juan Bigas Luna with Bilbao (1978; They called it Bilbao). In 1978 the first Congreso Democrático del Cine Español was inaugurated; but a year later Pilar Miró was the victim of one of the last incidents of censorship for El crimen de Cuenca, which would have sparked a judicial process against the director, which ended in 1981, the year of the film’s release. the last blows of the tail of the Franco regime (with the attempted coup of 23 February 1981), but there was also an explosion of creativity and freedom. In 1980 Fernando Trueba made his debut with Opera prima and Arrebato by Iván Zulueta was presented, one of the most interesting titles in Spanish cinema in recent years.
