Catalan Cinema’s Radical Years, 1968–1978

  • Film
  • New York
  • Thu, October 25 —
    Sat, November 10, 2018
Catalan Cinema’s Radical Years, 1968–1978

The film series traces 10 years of Catalan cinema and includes filmmakers such as Pere Portabella and Antoni Ribas.

This series explores 10 revolutionary years in the history of Catalan cinema: the period between 1968 and 1978, when the fate of Spain –and Catalonia’s place in it– lay in the balance. The death of General Francisco Franco on November 20, 1975, and the ascension of Juan Carlos I to the throne made possible the nation’s transition from brutal dictatorship to fragile democracy. The Catalan language, after nearly a half-century of censorship, could once again be expressed freely in the streets and in the arts.

Filmmakers who during the last years of dictatorship had risked their lives by shooting clandestinely or by encoding their scripts with politically subversive ideas responded to a newfound freedom after 1976 with work that continues to excite and provoke. The exhibition, drawn entirely from the archives of the Filmoteca de Catalunya, spans the decade from the radicalism of 1968 to the first democratic elections in 1977 and the writing of the Constitution of Spain the following year. It includes films by Pere Portabella, Antoni Ribas, and others that explore the legacy of the Spanish Civil War, the surge of immigrants into Barcelona and other cities in Catalonia from other parts of Spain, Catalan national identity, the clash of dissident movements, feminist and class struggle, and sexual liberation.

View the full program.

Venue

Venue map

Museum of Modern Art, 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019

Credits

Program descriptions are written by Esteve Riambau. All films courtesy of the Filmoteca de Catalunya. Organized by Esteve Riambau, director of Filmoteca de Catalunya, and Joshua Siegel, curator of the department of film at The Museum of Modern Art

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