World Film History III

Some Mediterranean film cultures

Spain – early developments• Segundo de Chomón: Spain’s Georges Méliès• From 1914 Barcelona on is the centre of film production• Principal genre: españoladas (historical epics) such as

Vida de Cristóbal Colón y su Descubrimiento de América (1917)

• Adaptations of newspaper serials and stage plays• By 1928 Madrid becomes the centre of production• Sound introduced in 1931: only one film is produced• Interruption caused by the civil war – documentaries

used as propaganda, some shot by major foreign masters (Ivens, Karmen, Strand & Hurwitz)

Cinema in Franco’s Spain• Franco’s regime establishes the Institute of National

Film Production and orders dubbing to be mandatory• Many filmmakers end up in exile• Antonio Nieves Conde introduces Neorealist traits in

his film Surcos (1952) • Rafael Rivelles’ and Juan Calvo’s Marcelino pan y vino

(1955) – becomes Spain’s first winner at international – and serves as Fernando Rey’s breakthrough film

• “Modern Spanish cinema of our time is politically ineffectual, socially phony, intellectually poor, aesthetically hopeless, and industrially stunted” (group of critics, 1955)

• Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Garcia Berlanga and certain others succeed in making Neorealism inspired critical films despite censorship

• Buñuel returns to make international co-productions• Foreign historical epics and spaghetti western’s are

shot in Spain• Escuela Oficial de Cine is established giving a start to a

new generation of filmmakers, generally with leftist orientation

• Supported by great international critical success, Carlos Saura is allowed to make even fiercely subversive films

• Subjective and allegorical depictions of life under dictatorship

• Censorship lifted after Franco’s death in1975

New Spanish Cinema• Films made in other languages than Castilian

Spanish• Catalan Institute of Cinema and the rise of 'New

Basque Cinema‘• Julio Medem begins to explore people’s

subjective relationship to the country’s history• Controversial topics and revisionist depictions of

history• Pedro Almodóvar introduces outrageous sexual

satire • The rise of quality fantasy and horror

Spain: directors and films• Luis Garcia Berlanga : Bienvenido Mister Marshal (1953)• Juan Antonio Bardem: Muerte de un ciclista (1955)• Luis Buñuel: Viridiana (1961), Tristana (1970) • Carlos Saura: La Caza (1965), El Jardín de las Delicias (1970), Prima

Angelica (1974), Cria Cuervos (1976) • Victor Erice: El espiritu de la colmena (1973) • Julio Medem: Vacas (1981) • Fernando Trueba: Belle époque (1992)• Pedro Almodovar: “¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!” (1984) • Matador (1986), Átame! (1990), Habla con ella (2002)• Jaunma Bajo Ullo: La madre muerta (1993) • Alehandro Amenábar: Tesis (1995) • Iciar Bollain: Te Doy Mis Ojos (2003) • Jaime Rosales: La Soledad (2007) • Teresa & Dominic Pelegri & Harari: Seres queridos (2004)• Guilermo Den Toro: El Labyrinto Del Fauno (2006)

Portugal• Aurélio da Paz dos Reis shoots actualities• At the turn of the century Manuel Maria Costa Veiga

starts the country’s first production company Portugal Film

• In the1920s young filmmakers seek to follow the models set by French, German and Russian trends

• Leitão de Barros develops docufiction/ ethnofiction• After right wing dictatorship was established in 1933

more emphasis on comedy and musicals – Comédia À Portuguesa

• In the 1950s historical films are used to promote nationalistic propaganda and conservative values

• Tension between censorship and Neorealist tendencies

• Cinemateca Portuguesa starts in 1958 with a

series of American films – soon followed by the French New Wave

• Novo Cinema 1963 – 1974 moves toward political cinema inspired by the New Wave

• After the ’Carnation Revolution’ filmmakers combine realism and legends, politics and ethnography

• Manoel de Oliveira: Aniki-Bóbó (1942), O Convento (1994), Je rentre à la maison (2001)

Greece• Athens 1906 ”Intercalated Games” are recorded on film• 1910-11 comedy shorts• Kostas Bachatoris’ Golfo (1911) – first Greek feature film• First production companies: Athina film(1912), Astry Film

(1916)• Orestis Laskos’s Daphnis and Chloe (1931) – first Greek film to

be distributed abroad• 1950s and 60s considered to be the Golden Age• Michael Cacoyannis: Electera (1962), Alexis Zorbas /Zorba the

Greek (1964), Iphigenia (1977)• Jules Dassin: Pate tin kyriaki (1960) • Theo Angelopoulos: O Thiassos (1975), Topio stin omichli

(1988), To vlemma tou Odyssea (1995)• Sotiris Goritsasa: Balkanisateur aka Balkan Express (1997)

Turkey• Import companies struggled mainly for domination in the most

population-dense and profitable cities by showing American, French Italian and German films

• Film production stabilized only in the 1950s: 49 films in 1952 – more than the total of all previous years.

• In the 60's,Turkey became the fifth biggest film producer in the world with up to 300 films/ year

• TV and Video together with the 1970s political turmoil and economic crises caused a sharp decline

• 1986 cinema law enhanced the rights of people working for the film and music industries

• A reorganization of the film industry began in 1987

• Many films made in collaboration with German producers• A new rise after year 2000: domestic blockbusters often

beat foreign films at the box office

• Serif Gören & Yilmaz Güney: Yol (1982)• Bilge Ceylan: Mayis sikintisi (Clowds of May, 2000)• Özer Kiziltan: Takva (Fear of God, 2006)• Fatih Akin: Gegen die Wand (2004), Auf der

anderen Seite (2007)

Israel• After the foundation of the state of Israeli

documentary production becomes stable• First films studios established in the 1950s• Popular bourekas films in the 1960s and 1970s treat in

a comic fashion the relationships between ashkenasi and sephardim Jews, as well as relationships between the rich and the poor

• The French New Wave inspires the ’New Sensitivity’ trend to explore new artistic possibilities

• In the 1990s films are made of antiheroes living in the margins

• Since 2000-luvulla both the Israeli and Palestine filmmakers have made increasingly critical films

Israel: directors and films• Dror Shaul: Adama Meshuga'at (2006) • Radu Mihaileanu: Va, vie, deviens (2005)• Jonathan Paz: Eskimosim ba Galil (2006) • Savi Gabitzon: Hole Ahava B'Shikun Gimel

(1995) • Avi Nesher: Ho-Sodot aka Secrets (2007) • Eran Riklis: The Syrian Bride (2004) • Ari Folman: Valz Im Bashir (2008)

Palestine• Actualities shot in Palestine soon after the birth of

cinema• documentary on King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia´s visit

in 1935 to Palestine• During the Exodus Palestine film making ceases• Film production in exile from 1968 supported by PLO

Film Foundation/Palestinian Film Unit• PLO film achives in Beirut disappear in 1982• Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) becames the

first Palestinian film released in the United States