Mujeres de Cine 2021: Female views of the Spanish Civil War

The Instituto Cervantes Albuquerque presents Mujeres de Cine 2021, an online film showcase that gathers the gaze of three Spanish female directors on this war conflict.

Instituto Cervantes Albuquerque, in collaboration with the Mujeres de Cine platform, presents the online film series La Guerra Civil española por nosotras (Female views of the Spanish Civil War), which brings together the views of three Spanish female directors on the conflict of the Spanish Civil War. The series is composed of three feature films: La buena nueva by Helena Taberna (2008), El gran vuelo by Carolina Astudillo (2014), and El silencio de otros by Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar (2018).

The Great Flight

• Directed by Carolina Astudillo Muñoz, Spain, 2014, documentary, 60 minutes.
• Original title: El gran vuelo. In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

In the early years of the Franco dictatorship, Clara Pueyo Jornet, an active militant in the Communist Party, escapes from Les Corts prison in Barcelona by the front door. From that moment, she vanishes without a trace. She had been living on the run and she sought to escape from the rigidity of her own party. Her story is also the story of the women of her time and their struggle for freedom in a society that tried to repress them.

The Silence of Others

• Directed by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, Spain, 2018, 95 minutes.
• Original title: El silencio de otros. In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Filmed over six years, The Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, as they organize a groundbreaking international lawsuit and fight a “pact of forgetting” around the crimes they suffered. The film offers a cautionary tale about fascism and the dangers of forgetting the past, and speaks powerfully to issues of transitional justice and universal jurisdiction.

The Good News

• Directed by Helena Taberna, Spain, 2008, 108 minutes.
• Original title: La buena nueva. In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Miguel is appointed parish priest of a socialist village coinciding with the uprising of 1936. From the beginning of the war, the national side occupies the town and soon the executions follow one after the other. In his struggle to defend the reprisals, Miguel confronts the ecclesiastical and military hierarchy, putting his own life at stake. The young priest finds refuge in his friendship with the village teacher, whose husband was killed at the beginning of the conflict. The relationship with Margari is the counterpoint to the disenchantment of the young priest and his only support on a road he must travel alone.