Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983

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Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983
Offscreen Film Festival

In collaboration with the Offscreen Film Festival, CINEMATEK highlights a transformative fifteen-year (from 1968 to 1983) period in Spanish cinema. This era represents a pivotal turning point in the nation's history, as it sought to extricate itself from the grip of General Francisco Franco and navigated a turbulent path toward modern democracy. The sociopolitical tensions, frustrations, and collective aspirations of Spanish society found a unique outlet in hundreds of genre films that successfully bypassed the filters of Falangist censorship.

Following a period of brutal repression and the systematic silencing of dissent, the Francoist regime, burdened by economic hardship, began to open its borders in the early 1960s. Manuel Fraga Iribarne, then Minister of Information and Tourism, sought to project a modernized image of Spain to the world by promoting mass tourism and incentivizing international co-productions. This shift provided fertile ground for a previously marginal horror and genre film industry, which experienced a true explosion starting in 1968, fueled by several significant box-office successes.

From this "Golden Age" of Spanish fantasy, we have selected several films that utilized the conventional tropes of vampires, werewolves, and zombies to convey subversive messages to a wide audience. Directors such as Vicente Aranda, a key figure of the Barcelona School avant-garde, employed popular genres like the psychological thriller (The Exquisite Cadaver) and the vampire film (The Blood Spattered Bride) to advance anti-authoritarian and feminist ideas.

Meanwhile, Jorge Grau, with The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, was among the first to follow in the footsteps of George A. Romero; his film The Legend of Blood Castle is not merely a gore-filled spectacle but a sharp Marxist critique of a parasitic upper class. Another lesser-known gem, José Ulloa’s Creation of the Damned, offers a striking metaphor for Spain as a post-apocalyptic underground bunker where prisoners maintain a blind faith in military authority. In this program, visceral horror (Tombs of the Blind Dead) alternates with more metaphorical and critical reflections (The House Without Frontiers, Poachers).

The death of Franco on November 20, 1975, plunged the country into a period of profound uncertainty, which only culminated in a stable democracy by 1982. This transition, known as the Transición, was marked by the persistent threat of the far-right and several attempted coups. From this era, we present films that received the newly introduced "S" classification in 1978, such as Juan Ignacio Galván’s Rostros, alongside the provocative works of Eloy de la Iglesia. De la Iglesia’s filmography perhaps best encapsulates this entire epoch: a journey from coded subversion under the yoke of censorship to a radical iconoclasm that sought to settle accounts with the nation's fascist past.

Thursday 26.03 19:00 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

Poachers
Furtivos

José Luis Borau, Spain 1975 ⁄ Lola Gaos, Ovidi Montllor, Alicia Sánchez ⁄ color ⁄ 82' ⁄ ST - OND: EN

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Thursday 26.03 21:00 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

Faces
Rostros

Juan Ignacio Galván, Spain 1978 ⁄ Carmen Sevilla, Juan Pardo, Bárbara Rey ⁄ color ⁄ 88' ⁄ ST - OND: EN

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Friday 27.03 19:00 LEDOUX Cart

B à Z / B tot Z
Fantaterror : B à Z
Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

La Chevauchée des morts-vivants
Tombs of the Blind Dead
La noche del terror ciego

Armando de Ossorio, Spain, Portugal 1972 ⁄ Lone Fleming, César Burner, María Elena Arpón ⁄ color ⁄ 88' ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL

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Friday 27.03 21:00 LEDOUX Cart

B à Z / B tot Z
Fantaterror : B à Z
Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

Le Sadique à la tronçonneuse
Pieces
Mil gritos tiene la noche

Juan Piquer Simón, Spain, Puerto Rico 1982 ⁄ Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña ⁄ color ⁄ 83' ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL

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Sunday 29.03 16:30 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

Caniche

Bigas Luna, Spain 1979 ⁄ Àngel Jové, Linda Pérez Gallardo, Consol Tura ⁄ color ⁄ 89' ⁄ ST - OND: FR

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Thursday 12.03 21:15 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

Le Cadavre exquis
The Exquisite Cadaver
Las crueles

Vicente Aranda, Spain 1969 ⁄ Capucine, Carlos Estrada, Teresa Gimpera ⁄ color ⁄ 99' ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL

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Friday 13.03 19:00 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

Cérémonie sanglante
Ceremonia Sangrienta

Jorge Grau, Spain, Italy 1973 ⁄ Lucia Bosè, Espartaco Santoni, Ewa Aulin ⁄ color ⁄ 89' ⁄ ST - OND: FR

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Saturday 14.03 19:15 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

La Mariée sanglante
The Blood Spattered Bride
La novia ensangrentada

Vicente Aranda, Spain 1972 ⁄ Simón Andreu, Maribel Martín, Alexandra Bastedo ⁄ color ⁄ 99' ⁄ ST - OND: FR - NL

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Sunday 15.03 17:00 LEDOUX Cart

Exorcising Franco: Spanish Genre Cinema 1968-1983 : Offscreen Film Festival
Lectures, introductions, workshops...

The Priest
El sacerdote

Eloy de la Iglesia, Spain 1978 ⁄ Simón Andreu, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Esperanza Roy ⁄ color ⁄ 109' ⁄ ST - OND: EN

Jorge Grau, Spain, Italy 1974 ⁄ Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy ⁄ color ⁄ 95' ⁄ ST - OND: FR

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