Rafael Alberti

North Sudan, summer 1923. King Alfonso XIII of Spain captures an enormous African elephant, an apparently irrelevant act that, however, will be paramount to understand the Spain of 20th century; an animal from far lands that will become a symbol of the Second Spanish Republic, the communist movement and many other things; a royal hunting that marks the beginning of a bizarre story of jealousy, passion, political intrigues and taxidermy.

Completed a year after his death in 1983, this program presents the definitive biography of Spain’s renowned Surrealist film maker and iconoclast, Luis Buñuel. Using photographs, film excerpts, and numerous interviews with Bunuel, the video chronicles his early friendships with Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca, the stormy reactions to many of his groundbreaking films, and the influence he has had on international cinema. Among those interviewed are directors Federico Fellini, John Huston, and Jose L. Saenz De Heredia; Buñuel’s wife, Jeanne Rucar, and son Juan; actor Francisco Rabal; and Octavio Paz.

A history of the Spanish Transition told in first person by the main protagonists: on the one hand, the politicians, idealistic or merely opportunistic, who brought it to a successful conclusion in the tribunes and offices; on the other hand, the citizens who, in the streets, supported it sincerely or fought it with ferocity.

Short film about the life and work of the poet Murilo Mendes.

Based on two poems by Rafael Alberti, Garabatos (“Scribbles”) is a reflection on childhood, education and the demise of innocence. Music by Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer and Edgard Varèse.

Images and verses to Christmas

The alleged uncontrolled romance between a young girl forced to marry another and the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.

The young widow of the viceroy of Peru, facing the dismal prospect of either a convent or a marriage of convenience, sets out to conquer a handsome officer, pretending she’s a duende, a ghost. Voted the best Argentine film of 1945, La dama duende is a beautifully crafted comedy of errors, based on the 17th-century play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The most ambitious production of Estudios San Miguel, it was brought to the screen mostly by Spaniards exiled in Argentina as a result of the Civil War.

Documentary short made during the Spanish Civil War.