The past four decades have seen the Spanish film industry rise from isolation in the 1970s to international recognition within European and World Cinema today. Exploring the cultural and political imperatives that governed this success, this book shows how Spanish film culture was deliberately and strategically shaped into its current form.

Cosmopolitan Film Cultures in Latin America examines how cinema forged cultural connections between Latin American publics and film-exporting nations in the first half of the twentieth century. Predating today's transnational media industries by several decades, these connections were defined by active economic and cultural exchanges, as well as longstanding inequalities in political power and cultural capital. The essays explore the arrival and expansion of cinema throughout the region, from the first screenings of the Lumière Cinématographe in 1896 to the emergence of new forms of cinephilia and cult spectatorship in the 1940s and beyond. Examining these transnational exchanges through the lens of the cosmopolitan, which emphasizes the ethical and political dimensions of cultural consumption, illuminates the role played by moving images in negotiating between the local, national, and global, and between the popular and the elite in twentieth-century Latin America. In addition, primary historical documents provide vivid accounts of Latin American film critics, movie audiences, and film industry workers' experiences with moving images produced elsewhere, encounters that were deeply rooted in the local context, yet also opened out onto global horizons.

Disability Studies and Spanish Culture is the first book to explore representations of intellectual disabilities (Down syndrome, autism, alexia/agnosia) in contemporary Spanish films, novels, a graphic novel/comic and public expositions by disabled artists.

In the 1970s, especially after Franco's death in 1975, Spanish cinema was bursting at the seams. Numerous film directors broke free from the ancient taboos which had reigned under the dictatorship. They introduced characters who, through their bodies, transgress the traditional borders of social, cultural and sexual identities. Post- Franco cinema exhibits women, homosexuals, transsexuals, and delinquents in new and challenging ways.Under Franco rule, all of these dissident bodies were 'lost'. Here, they reflect new mythological figures, inhabiting an idealised body form (a prototypical body).

This accessible introduction to the exciting field of contemporary Spanish visual culture is the first of its kind. It combines cultural context with close readings of particular works. Going beyond the field of cinema, in which Spain is an acknowledged leader, Smith examines new developments in television, where original and innovative series drama has recently blossomed. He also explores Spanish fashion, where 'classic' design is married to high tech production and distribution. Two aspects of Spanish visual art are considered: the career of Miquel Barcelo, global artist and pure painter, and Basque conceptual art which, through photography and installation, puts a new spin on international questions of gender and sexuality. Finally, Contemporary Spanish Culture examines Catalan independent cinema and the most recent work of Spain's best known director, Pedro Almodovar, who has resurrected a genre long considered dead: the art movie. This innovative new book provides an ideal introduction for undergraduates and will be essential reading for those working in Hispanic studies, cultural studies, and film.

Encourages a deep reading of a selection of essential Spanish films.

In the 1920s, Los Angeles enjoyed a buoyant homegrown Spanish-language culture comprised of local and itinerant stock companies that produced zarzuelas, stage plays, and variety acts. After the introduction of sound films, Spanish-language cinema thrived in the city's downtown theatres, screening throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s in venues such as the Teatro Eléctrico, the California, the Roosevelt, the Mason, the Azteca, the Million Dollar, and the Mayan Theater, among others. With the emergence and growth of Mexican and Argentine sound cinema in the early to mid-1930s, downtown Los Angeles quickly became the undisputed capital of Latin American cinema culture in the United States. Meanwhile, the advent of talkies resulted in the Hollywood studios hiring local and international talent from Latin America and Spain for the production of films in Spanish. Parallel with these productions, a series of Spanish-language films were financed by independent producers. As a result, Los Angeles can be viewed as the most important hub in the United States for the production, distribution, and exhibition of films made in Spanish for Latin American audiences. In April 2017, the International Federation of Film Archives organized a symposium, "Hollywood Goes Latin: Spanish-Language Cinema in Los Angeles," which brought together scholars and film archivists from all of Latin America, Spain, and the United States to discuss the many issues surrounding the creation of Hollywood's "Cine Hispano." The papers presented in this two-day symposium are collected and revised here. This is a joint publication of FIAF and UCLA Film & Television Archive.