The Spanish Civil War in the Basque Country, is a presentation of a selection of films reflecting the effects of the Spanish Civil War on Basque cinema. The presentation will take place at Anthropology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, NYC, on October 6-12, 2012. Tickets are $10 general; $8 Essential Cinema (free for members); $8 for students, seniors, & children (12 & under); $6 AFA members. For more information visit http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/series/39865.
Film is an art form that can be studied as a document, agent, and even new format of writing history. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Durango and Guernica during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Anthology Film Archive will present a selection of films that reflect the traces the war has left on Basque cinema. During the war, the propaganda films promoted by the president of the Basque government, Lendakari Aguirre, which called for international solidarity with the Basques, had their counterpoint in the aggressive fascist propaganda documentaries of the Franco regime. Following the war, the victorious faction used the cinema to impose its monopolistic reading of history, while the international memory of tragedies like that of Guernica is now, thanks in large part to the cinema, a symbol of struggle against the barbarism of war. Finally, the death of Franco led to a new freedom to address other aspects of the Civil War in the Basque country which had previously been silenced. As Susan Sontag pointed out, there are horrors without a name because they lack images. In the last three decades, the filmmakers presented in this series, mainly Basques, have used the cinema to vaccinate us against oblivion. Organizes and funded by Etxepare Basque Institute, with the collaboration of Filmoteca Vasca, the Ministry of Culture of Spain-ICAA, and Spain Culture New York-Consulate General of Spain, member organization of Spain Arts & Culture. Additional support by Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA).
PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
Fernando Arrabal
THE TREE OF GUERNICA / EL ÁRBOL DE GUERNICA
1975, 100 min, 35mm-to-digital video.
In 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s army met strong resistance from the Basque people as they moved northward. The people of Guernica, poorly equipped, defiantly opposed the Generalissimo, and he answered the challenge by calling in the Nazi Luftwaffe, which wiped out the town. In this environment of desolation and ruthless violence, a pure and sincere love is born from the flames: Goya and Vandale, two lovers who know the blood, hatred, torture, and agony of death.
With: Robert Hessens & Alain Resnais GUERNICA (1950, 13 min, 35mm, b&w)
Set to a text by poet Paul Éluard and details of Picasso’s epic antiwar painting, GUERNICA is an oddly lyrical call for peace.
-Saturday, October 6 at 5:15 and Tuesday, October 9 at 7:30.
Helena Taberna
LA BUENA NUEVA
2008, 104 min, 35mm.
Michael is appointed pastor of a socialist town at the time of the uprising of 1936. The town is soon occupied by the Nationalists, and before long the public executions begin. In his struggle to defend the victims, Michael confronts the ecclesiastical and military hierarchy, putting his own life at risk. The young priest finds refuge in his friendship with a village schoolteacher whose husband has been murdered. Based on a true story, the film reveals how the Catholic Church supported the uprising against the Republic.
-Saturday, October 6 at 8:00.
Julio Medem
VACAS
1992, 96 min, 35mm.
Over three generations, two families in a small valley of Guipúzcoa maintain tortuous relationships, marked by violence and passion. The story begins in Guipúzcoa, in 1875. During a massacre inspired by an out-of-control family feud, an aizcolari (traditional Basque logger) manages to save his life by smearing himself with blood from a dead body and allowing himself to be stacked with the corpses. The sole witness to his escape is a solitary cow, leading to a strange and lasting obession.
-Monday, October 8 at 7:30 and Wednesday, October 10 at 7:00.
Jose Antonio Zorrilla
LAUAXETA
1987, 90 min, 35mm.
Urkiaga Stephen, known as Lauaxeta, is a poet and journalist who must assume the role of Basque army commander during the siege of the Basque Country. In the ruins of Guernica, the commander Urkiaga watches the flames destroy not only a village, but also all his personal and intimate aspirations.
-Sunday, October 7 at 6:00.
Jaime Camino
CHILDREN OF RUSSIA / LOS NIÑOS DE RUSIA
2001, 93 min, 35mm.
During the Civil War, thousands of children were evacuated to various countries to remove them from the sorrows of the conflict. Approximately three thousand were welcomed by the Soviet Union, many of them Basques. Through the testimony of several of these children, now in their seventies, the film chronicles their tumultuous lives. What was originally a temporary evacuation became a long journey, from which many would not return until twenty years later.
-Sunday, October 7 at 8:00 and Wednesday, October 10 at 9:00.
ABOUT SPAIN CULTURE NEW YORK – CONSULATE GENERAL OF SPAIN
Spain Culture New York is the Cultural Office of the Consulate General of Spain in New York City and belongs to Spain Arts & Culture: the network of organizations supporting Spain’s culture and language in the US. This network promotes culture and art, and strives to strengthen bilateral cultural, artistic and academic exchanges.
This cultural network also presents many arts programs – featuring dance, music, visual arts, literature, humanities, architecture, and design – in a variety of venues, also in collaboration with relevant American entities throughout the country.
ABOUT ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
Founded in 1970, Anthology’s mission is to preserve, exhibit, and promote public and scholarly understanding of independent, classic, and avant-garde cinema. Anthology screens ca. 1,000 film and video programs per year, publishes books and catalogs annually, and has preserved more than 900 films to date.
