Eyes on Spain Film Series

Screening the Civil War Memories on Wednesdays.

Fifth  screening of the film series in relation to the Mexican Suitcase Exhibition at the Galeria Centralis (Blinken OSA Archivum) in cooperation with the Embassy of Spain in Budapest and the Cervantes Institute

Wednesday, 10 February, 2016, at 6:30 pm

El Perro Negro: Stories from the Spanish Civil War (2005), 84’

Documentary, directed by Péter Forgács

 El perro negro takes a clichés braking view of the Spanish Civil War trough a mesmerizing found footage collage. The saga begins in 1929 with the talented amateur filmmaker, Joan Salvans, son of a wealthy Catalan industrialist, of Terrassa. The Salvans were the object of admiration as one of the most successful wool manufacturer of Catalonia, but also of hatred by the emerging anarchists and socialist trade unionists. On 24 July 1936, six days after the Civil War broke out; a militant anarchist group led by 'Pedro el Cruel' kills Joan Salvans, filmmaker, and his father Franceso Salvans. A cyclist, not far from their house, finds their bodies 'La Barata'. Just about the same time when Joan's life unfortunately ends, a new saga of the other young clandestine filmmaker, Ernesto Noriega picks up the story line to guide us through his adventures. Throughout the film we travel through Spain's chaotic decade with the images and stories of several amateur filmmakers and their memories focusing on all sides of the front like republicans, anarchists, Communist, and the foreigner Brits, Germans, Italians, Americans, who fought on both side.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4YXQKqdvic&list=PL6C3B458128E718CA&inde...

Introduction and follow up Q&A with Film Director Péter Forgács

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Saturday, 13 February, 2016, at 6:30 pm

The Songs of the Spanish Civil War, ca. 15’

music performance by the Choir Soharóza

¡Ay Carmela! (1990), 102’

Comedy-drama, directed by Carlos Saura, 102’

Paulino and Carmela are husband and wife, troubadours touring the countryside during the Spanish Civil War. They are Republicans, and with their mute assistant, Gustavete, they journey into rebel territory by mistake. They are arrested, fear a firing squad, and receive a reprieve from an Italian Fascist commander who loves the theatre. He arranges a performance for his troops, bargaining with Paulino to stage a burlesque of the republic in exchange for the actors' freedom. Will the fiery and patriotic Carmela consent?

Supported by the Spanish Embassy in Budapest.

Saturday, 20 February, 2016, at 6:30 pm

DANCE Performance by Góbi Rita Dance Company (http://www.gobirita.hu/eng/)

With Dániel Szabó, Mátyás Regyep, and Gellért Zsédey (trumpet), Lőrinc Kéringer (drums)

Music: Benjamin Britten: Ballad of Heroes (1939), ca. 18’

Spanish Earth (1937), 52’
Documentary directed by Joris Ivens, commentary: Ernest Hemingway, camera: John Fernhout (John Ferno), editing: Helen van Dongen; music: Marc Blitzstein, Virgil Thomson; English

The production company Contemporary Historians was set up to raise money for a documentary about the Spanish Civil War, filmed on the spot. With John Ferno and initially with John Dos Passos, who later left the crew and was replaced by Ernest Hemingway, Joris Ivens went to Fuenteduena, near Madrid, to film with the Republican armies at the front. It was to become one of the major films on the Spanish Civil War and one of the most important films in Ivens' career. As in many other films Ivens finds a balance between people's daily lives and their struggle to survive. The strong photography, mainly by John Ferno, combined with the decisive editing by Helen van Dongen and Ernest Hemingway's commentary, make the film's message universally powerful. In the first version the commentary was spoken by Orson Welles, but as a result of personal conflict with Hemingway, he withdrew from the project and Hemingway himself read the commentary.

Additional events:

January 26, 5:30 pm – public talk by Sonia Garcia Lopez (at OSA research room)

“The politics of the gesture. Visual representations of the civilian victims during the Spanish Civil War.”

The presentation explores two photographs of civilian victims made during the Spanish Civil War. I focus on David Seymour’s (‘Chim’) photograph “Land reform meeting at Badajoz” and an anonymous photograph of the anarchist leader Buenaventura Durruti’s funeral, both from 1936. These images underwent radical re-signification, becoming icons that conveyed the suffering of women and children under the bombs. The transformation obscured the original politics of gesture, at the same time revealing powerful mechanisms of visual meaning-making. These case studies allow us to reflect on the evolving vocabulary for representing war violence, the role of visual imagery, and especially photography, in fostering political engagement in wartime and, more broadly, on the role of visuality in social-historical transformations.

Curated by Sonia Garcia Lopez, Oksana Sarkisova, Katalin Székely

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WHERE: BLINKEN OSA ARCHIVUM

Budapest V, Arany János u. 32.

www.osaarchivum.org

https://www.facebook.com/OSAarchivum/

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please come on time! / FREE ADMISSION
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The films are screened in original languages with English subtitles.

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