Department of Romance Languages

The Spanish Civil War is considered by many historians one of the pivotal events of the 20th century, as well as a sinister foreboding of WWII. The ramifications of such a traumatic experience were repressed by the dictatorship that followed the civil war and continued to be silenced during the 1970s as an era of democratization was being achieved in Spain. In the last two decades in particular, Spanish society has begun to reconsider and face the consequences of such a painful experience. The process of the recuperation of the historical memory of the civil war has expanded greatly and has produced a number of grass-roots initiatives as well as official initiatives to review Spain's recent past.

Within that context, Spanish cinema has produced a rich number of cinematic narratives about the Spanish Civil War. This fall, Dr. Sotomayor is teaching a seminar on the Arts and the Spanish Civil War and she has chosen for the film festival a number of movies that will help to explain different perspectives about the Spanish conflict. She has selected films that highlight the connections between a society in conflict and the political and social forces that played an important role in the event. The main factions among the political discourse of the period are represented in all of the movies and will help to explain the causes and effects of the war, as well as the dilemmas of a society divided by such a deep internal conflict.

All of these films are considered very representative of this period of Spanish history. They are the work of some of Spain's better know filmmakers (such as Carlos Saura, Jaime Camino, and Jos' Luis Cuerda, as well as Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro). The movies will be of interest to students in Romance Languages, Film Studies, as well as to History majors because of the historical portrait of the Spanish Civil War presented on them. They will also hold a lot of interest for UNCG students in many other fields of study, including the School of Education (for instance, Butterfly is the engaging story of a school teacher and his pupils), the Women and Gender Studies Program (all the movies can be studied for their significance in relation to the status of women at that time), Political Sciences (because of the multiple allusions to European political events right before the beginning of WWII, at a thriving time for Nazism and Communism), International and Global Studies.

A faculty member in the field of Spanish/Film Studies will lead the viewing with a presentation at the beginning of each session and will also moderate and invite participation in the informal discussions following each screening. The films will be shown in the original Spanish, although English subtitles will be available for all but one of the movies, Raza, originally released in 1942.

Here is a poster announcing the film festival with additional information about the movies selected. The screenings will begin at 6:30 pm and will take place in 1214 MHRA.

You are invited to join us and participate in the viewing and post-screening discussions.

This Film Festival is sponsored by The International Programs Center and the Dept. of Romance Languages