THE CINEMA OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

The Cinema of Spain and Portugal is a fresh, concise and wide-ranging introduction to and overview of Spanish and Portuguese cinema. This volume contains 24 essays, each on a separate seminal film from the Iberian peninsula. Films from the early era of cinema up to the present day are featured, and the contributors discuss a broad sweep of issues such as popular genre, social and political context, the influence of the European ‘new waves’, and the emergence of challenging contemporary filmmaking that highlights gender and national identity as prominent themes. The cinema of leading directors such as Florián Rey, Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Buñuel, Víctor Erice, Manoel de Oliveira, Pedro Almodóvar and João Cesar Monteiro is discussed through in-depth studies of important films including La Aldea Maldita (1930, 1947), Aniki-Bóbó (1942), Viridiana (1961), Spirit of the Beehive (1974), Journey to the Beginning of the World (1997), Torrente (1998), All About My Mother (1999) and Sex and Lucia (2001).

March 2005
288 pages

978-1–904764–44–1 (pbk)	£18.99	£13.29 with 30% Off - Spring Sale discount add to basket
978-1–904764–45–8 (hbk)	£50.00	£35.00 with 30% Off - Spring Sale discount add to basket

Alberto Mira is Reader at Oxford Brookes University, a freelance writer and novelist. He teaches Hollywood film narrative and European cinema, as well as representations of gender in film and literature. Amongst other publications, he is the author of De Sodoma a Chueca (2004).

‘Here are some of the best scholars on Iberian cinema describing and explaining some of the best and most popular Spanish and Portuguese films ... An important and rare opportunity to delight in two of the least known and richest cinemas in Europe.’
– José Arroyo, University of Warwick

‘Blood, toreros and Franco or Fado, Fátima and Salazar? Twenty-four brilliantly argued essays brush away stereotypes or canonised readings of Spanish and Portuguese films. This volume offers new insights and refreshing views on a fascinating field of study.’
– Carolin Overhoff Ferreira, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto