This documentary features the story of Jules Paivio, the last living Canadian volunteer of the infamous Mackenzie-Papineau Battallion of the “International Brigades”. When Jules left from his home near Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario, his father, a famous Finnish poet, wrote a lasting lament: “To My Son In Spain”. In 1936-37, 1700 Canadians volunteered to fight with the Spanish people against a fascist coup d’etat led by elements of the Spanish Army. Backed by Musselini and Hitler, the fascists were bent on overthrowing Spain’s democratically elected socialist government and replacing it with military and church rule. It could be argued this conflict marked the true beginning of what would become World War II.
Narrator
Self, Spanish Civil War veteran
Self, author of 'Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War'
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)
No es una crisis delves into a European capital experiencing crisis and resistance: Madrid, where the Internet user explores the double experiment that Spain has become today-- economic liberalism and new social, economic, and political practices driven by the citizens.
Goazen gudari danok is a documentary that recounts the battle of San Miguel and its importance for the creation of the Basque Government.
Documentary about the participation of the International Brigades in February 1937 in containing the advance of the rebel troops after the fall of Malaga.
Documentary about the battle of Guadalajara which took place in March 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and was the last major victory of the Republican Army.
The Asturian Valentín Vega is considered one of the most relevant photographers of the last century. He knew how to portray all the essential elements of daily life like no one else and at the same time exercise a devastating display of social criticism. After spending three years in prison for his political affiliation and managing to establish himself as a street photographer, he would continue to offer an unusual image of reality and daily life from the 1940s onwards.
During the 30s, the young Catalan teacher Antoni Benaiges takes office at a rural school in northern Spain. Antoni has a simple project: he wants to teach his pupils to write and to be free through the use of the printing press. But his dream ends very soon. An individual and collective story in memory of the victims of the Franco's repression.
Heart of the Generacion 27, Spanish poet Emilio Prados recalls his lifetime from Mexican exile where Spanish Civil War has forced him, as other Spanish intellectuals in 1930s.
A missing submarine in Spanish Civil War leads to the first German Navy operation before WW2. Republican submarine C-3 was the victim of international secrecy and intrigues, after a torpedo from U-34 sunk it on December 12th 1936.
Spanish Civil War, May, 1938. Four villages in Castellón, Benassal, Albocàsser, Ares del Maestrat and Vilar de Canes, were bombed from the sky and ravaged. 38 people died. Inhabitants never knew for sure who piloted the planes responsible for such atrocity, although the rebel propaganda attributed the act to the republican side. Now, 80 years later, the truth is finally exposed.
We had to wait until the Spanish “Movida” of the 1980s to see films that did not emanate from Francoist propaganda. But Spain had already experienced a period of cinematic splendor, during the civil war, when the film studios were under the control of the Republicans. By describing the "competition" between Republican and Francoist cinemas of the time, Richard Prost provides a unique vision of the Spanish Civil War.
Letter from Tokyo is a documentary film that looks at art, culture and politics in Tokyo, Japan. Shot over three months during the summer of 2018, and with a particular focus on grass roots arts initiatives, the use of public space, and queer politics, the film provides a snapshot of Japan’s capital in the run up to the 2020 olympics.
In Spanish, ladrillo means bricks. It used to mean boom, construction, production, speculation. Today, ladrillo means crisis: disused clay pits, factories that are closed half of the year, ghost-towns, subprime mortgagers facing eviction. Bricks shows how the life of a simple commodity can be the mirror of a global crisis, and tells the story of people who come up with individual and collective strategies to overcome a seemingly desperate situation.
Leftist extremist groups operating in Europe have chosen violence as a political tactic: they attack the right-wing parties offices, attack the police, provoke riots in demonstrations. Although leftist violence is increasing, it receives almost no public attention. An investigation into the alleged good violence exercised in the name of a supposedly just cause.
Documentary series which uses film and eyewitness accounts from both sides of the conflict that divided Spain in the years leading up to World War Two, also placing it in its international context.
Constitutionally precluded from claiming any right to self-determination, the Catalans stick to their guns. The separatist movement is gaining ground in Catalonia. Notwithstanding the Spanish Constitution (which states that Spain is indivisible, making any referendum thereby unconstitutional), 2.3 million people voted in the November 2014 de facto referendum. The results speak for themselves: 81% of Catalans are in favour of independence. Seizing this historic moment, filmmaker Alexandre Chartrand gives a voice to the civil society figures who have been propelled to centre stage in national politics.
The spotlight's on Parchís, a record company-created Spanish boy/girl band that had unprecedented success with Top 10 songs and hit films in the '80s.