Spanish Embassy and Croatian Film Clubs’ Association present the program of Spanish historical films in Tuškanac theatre. The goal of this program is, in a historical order, to present to the Zagreb audience an interesting overview of 500 hundred years of Spanish history through five films of high quality and artistic value



This program consists of five films. Each of them deals with a different period in Spanish history. It encompasses outstanding works by some of the famous contemporary Spanish directors such as Vicente Aranda, the late Pilar Miró, Carlos Saura and Jose Luis Garci.

Historical film is not just about history, it is also about explanations. Through it, with greater or lesser accommodations, the director tries to introduce us to the historical setting and make it more understandable and moving to us. Naturally, the result is then clear: every historical film, even those set in times that are historically well documented, is somewhat anachronous. Such anachronism is not necessarily negative, it is even somewhat necessary if it is subtle and well-paced because it allows the audience to avoid those historical facts that are not easily understandable or wrong. Such films give us a chance to, in a short period of two hours, form a clear picture about historical events and atmospheres depicted.

In the films shown in this program the directors have managed to realize these goals in an extraordinary way: Vicente Aranda uses the contemporary index of passion to explain the passion that turned to insanity of an intensity that is hard for us to understand these days; Pilar Miró takes us back to Lope de Vega’s pure lyrical expression within a completely modern composition (expression in verse is today almost extinct); Saura enables us, in one of his best films, to take a look at the passionate artist Goya through a formal, free and utterly modern composition that simultaneously deeply respects the spirit of past times; and finally Garci takes us on an exciting walk through society at the end of the 19th century and manages to evoke the audience’s tenderness.

In the end I would like to thank Croatian Film Clubs’ Association for their collaboration in preparing this program and generally for their outstanding work with the Spanish Embassy that has already become a tradition. I would like to invite everybody who is interested in quality historical films to enjoy with us the days of Spanish cinema in Tuškanac. (Fernando Alonso, deputy ambassador and representative for cultural affairs).