Spanish cinema is emerging as one of the most exciting, fascinating, and special cinemas in the world. Not only are others viewing Spanish films, but they are adopting Spanish producers and Spanish actors as their own. While Spanish cinema has been maturing for a long time and has been producing excellent directors, actors, and films for decades-including during the dark times of the Franco regime-only now is it winning numerous fans not only at home but also abroad. And with directors like Pedro Almodóvar, actors and actresses like Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, and films such as Abre los ojos and Alatriste to build upon, the outlook for Spanish Cinema appears brighter than ever. The A to Z of Spanish Cinema provides a better understanding of the role Spanish cinema has played in film history through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on producers, directors, film companies, actors, and films.

Emerging as one of the most exciting, fascinating, and special kinds of filmmaking in the world, Spanish cinema has been producing excellent directors, actors, and films for decades, including during the dark times of the Franco regime. With directors (Pedro Almodovar), actors and actresses (Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz), and films (Abre los ojos and Alatriste) amassing popularity, the outlook for Spanish cinema appears brighter than ever, and it is deservedly winning numerous fans abroad. --

The past four decades have seen the Spanish film industry rise from isolation in the 1970s to international recognition within European and World Cinema today. Exploring the cultural and political imperatives that governed this success, this book shows how Spanish film culture was deliberately and strategically shaped into its current form.

A History of Spanish Film explores Spanish film from the beginnings of the industry to the present day by combining some of the most exciting work taking place in film studies with some of the most urgent questions that have preoccupied twentieth-century Spain. It addresses new questions in film studies, like 'prestige film' and 'middlebrow cinema', and places these in the context of a country defined by social mobility, including the 1920s industrial boom, the 1940s post-Civil War depression, and the mass movement into the middle classes from the 1960s onwards. Close textual analysis of some 42 films from 1910-2010 provides an especially useful avenue into the study of this cinema for the student. - Uniquely offers extensive close readings of 42 films, which are especially useful to students and teachers of Spanish cinema. - Analyses Spanish silent cinema and films of the Franco era as well as contemporary examples. - Interrogates film's relations with other media, including literature, pictorial art and television. - Explores both 'auteur' and 'popular' cinemas. - Establishes 'prestige' and the 'middlebrow' as crucial new terms in Spanish cinema studies. - Considers the transnationality of Spanish cinema throughout its century of existence. - Contemporary directors covered in this book include Almodóvar, Bollaín, Díaz Yanes and more.

Popular Music in Spanish Cinema analyses the aesthetics and stylistic development of soundtracks from national productions, considering how political instability and cultural diversity in Spain determined the ways of making art and managing culture. As a pioneering study in this field, the chronologically structured approach of this book provides readers with a complete overview of Spanish music and connects it to the complex historical events that conditioned Spanish culture throughout the 20th century to the present day, from the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil war, and the dictatorship through to democracy. The book enables an understanding of the relationships between the recording and film production industries, the construction of collective imagination, the formulation of new stereotypes, semiotic meanings within film music and the musical exchanges between national and international cinema. This volume is an essential read for students and academics in the field of musicology, ethnomusicology and history as well as those interested in the study of diverse musical styles such as copla, zarzuela, flamenco, jazz, foxtrot, pop and rock and how they have been used in Spanish films throughout history.

Fulfilling the need for English-source material on contemporary Spain, this book supplies readers with an in-depth, interdisciplinary guide to the country of Spain and its intricate, diverse culture. Far from a usual reference book, Modern Spain takes the reader through the country's history, economy, and politics as well as topics that address Spain's popular culture, such as food, sports, and sexuality. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of its content, this book differs from the average typical English manuals that very rarely cover in depth the whole array of interesting issues that define Spain in the 21st century. The vast amount of information makes this book the perfect companion for any reader wishing to learn more about Spain. Packed with current facts and statistics, this book offers an unbiased view of a modern country, making it an ideal source for undergraduate students and scholars.

The first edited collection in English on urban space and architecture in Spanish film from 1896 to the present. Building on existing film and urban histories, this collection examines Spanish film through contemporary interdisciplinary theories of urban space, the built environment, visuality, and mass culture from the industrial age to the digital present. Architecture and Urbanism in Spanish Film brings together innovative scholarship from an international and interdisciplinary group of film, architecture, and urban studies scholars as they explore the reciprocal relationship between the seventh art and the built environment. The contributors explore a wide range of topics, including the role of film in the shifting relationship between private and public; the ways cinema as a new technology reshaped how cities and buildings are built and inhabited; the question of the mobile gaze; film and everyday life; monumentality and the construction of historical memory for a variety of viewing publics; and the effects of the digital and the virtual on filmmaking and spectatorship. This engaging collection will interest anyone researching, teaching, and studying Spanish film, international film studies, urban, and cultural studies.

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

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.

From Rosemary's Baby (1968) to The Witch (2015), horror films use religious entities to both inspire and combat fear and to call into question or affirm the moral order. Churches provide sanctuary, clergy cast out evil, religious icons become weapons, holy ground becomes battleground--but all of these may be turned from their original purpose. This collection of new essays explores fifty years of genre horror in which manifestations of the sacred or profane play a material role. The contributors explore portrayals of the war between good and evil and their archetypes in such classics as The Omen (1976), The Exorcist (1973) and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), as well as in popular franchises like Hellraiser and Hellboy and cult films such as God Told Me To (1976), Thirst (2009) and Frailty (2001).