Cinema of tomorrow

El ir y venir de los trenes is a short film made by Rosina Prado during her studies at the VGIK in Moscow. Exiled in the Soviet Union since 1939, Prado shot the film at the Kíyevskaya station —from which trains departed for Europe—, and, according to the filmmaker herself, it was a metaphor for her own life.

This digitization, carried out at EQZE in collaboration with Filmoteca Española, is part of the research project "Trains Will Come and Go". The project has the documentary support of the Historical Archive of the Spanish Communist Party, the National Archive of Catalonia, and the Niños de Rusia (Children of Russia) Association.

Premiere: "Rosina Prado, a Filmmaker in Exile" seminar

An experimental documentary made during Popular Unity's government (Chile, 1970-1973) that brings together people from different social and political backgrounds—bourgeoisie and proletariat, right and left. The film also incorporates collage sequences with a distinctly anti-imperialist tone. The commercial première of Descomedidos y chascones was supposed to take place on 11 September 1973, the same day as the violent coup that overthrew Salvador Allende’s government.

This digitisation, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Arsenal Filminstitut, forms part of the research project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema’.

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This documentary portrays life in a rural Ecuadorian village where, due to the mass migration of the male population, women are responsible for everything linked to their families, finances and culture. After winning an award at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival (1988), Tiempo de mujeres was then screened at Leipzig, Cinéma du Réel and the Créteil Women's Film Festival.

The film was digitised at the EQZE as part of a research project stemming from Alejandra Larrea Galarza’s Master’s graduation project.

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The testimonies of six women from different social strata are interwoven with a series of experimental sequences in which a woman's journey through the desert symbolises the enormous gender inequalities that exist in the world. A propósito de la mujer is generally thought to be the first film made in Costa Rica to be directed by a woman: Kitico Moreno, founder of the country’s Film Department (1973).

The work was digitised at the EQZE as part of a research project stemming from Jorge Fernández Jaramillo’s Master’s graduation project and was carried out in collaboration with the Centro Costarricense de Cine y Audiovisual .

Inês Etienne Romeu, a Brazilian activist opposed to the military dictatorship, was kidnapped in 1971 and then tortured and raped in prison. In 1972, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. As a means of protesting her imprisonment, Delphine Seyrig made this video in close collaboration with Brazilian actress Norma Bengell, while Inês was still in prison.

This restoration work, carried out in the EQZE laboratories, was led by Amanda Soares.

This project is made in collaboration with the Centre audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir.

Premiere: Cinéma du réel

Found in an antique shop, Amores frustrados is a family-oriented fiction film shot in Reus by a filmmaker who had been forgotten until this discovery. It was the first home movie shot in the Catalan town.

The work was digitised at the EQZE as part of a research project stemming from Ester Borràs Sabaté’s Master’s graduation project.

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Produced by the American collective Lucha Film, the film interweaves the story of Argentine activist Lili Massaferro —founder of the female branch of the Montoneros organisation— with the figure of Eva Perón, Evita.

The digitisation forms part of the research project 'ZINEBI Collection. Research into the film collection of the Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival', carried out in collaboration with ZINEBI.

Premiera: Semana del Cine Recuperado (MADO)

Filmed in Mexico based on the memories of María Luisa Elío, originally from Navarre, On the Empty Balcony (En el balcón vacío, 1962) is one of the most essential films of republican exile cinema. The restoration work at EQZE was carried out following research stemming from Luis Alberto Juárez's master's final project.

This project has the support of the Government of Navarre and the collaboration of Filmoteca UNAM.

Premiere: Il Cinema Ritrovato

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O pequeno exército louco, the debut feature by Brazilian filmmaker Lúcia Murat, in collaboration with Paulo Adário, is a medium-length documentary about the Sandinista Revolution. Shot in Nicaragua, Brazil and Paraguay, the film takes its title from the name Gabriela Mistral gave to Sandino’s army.

This digitisation, carried out at the EQZE, was based on research stemming from Luíza Rosado’s Master’s graduation project. The project was supported by the Film Archive of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro.

Short film by Rubén Gámez produced by the Short Film Production Centre, in which the filmmaker paints a portrait of the Valley of Mexico in the mid-seventies, showing how the city and its inhabitants are affected by urban sprawl and pollution.

This restoration, carried out at the EQZE, was based on research stemming from Daniel Ángeles Hernández’s Master’s graduation project and was carried out in collaboration with the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía.

The French production company Compagnie Universelle Cinématographique (CUC) filmed this silent short film in 1922. The film shows moving images of the Basque coast. 

This digital reproduction, carried out at the EQZE with the help of the Filmoteca Española,  Filmoteca de Andalucía and Gordailua - the Gipuzkoa Heritage Collection Centre, forms part of the research project ‘Kinetic pieces and scopic avant-gardes’.

Premiere: Flores en la sombra platform (Filmoteca Española)

Through the testimonies of young rural women who migrate to the city to work as domestic servants or who remain in their communities, this documentary portrays the yearning to learn to read and write and the pain of displacement. Porque quería estudiar is one of the first films by Warmi Cine y Video, a group of women filmmakers founded in Peru in 1989 by María Barea, Amelia Torres and Marilú Pérez Goicoechea.

The film was digitised by Kauri Ximon Jauregui Arias, Julio César Gonzales Oviedo, Daniel Ángeles Hernandez and Luis Alberto Juárez Pineda within the framework of the project ‘Preservación de las películas de María Barea y Warmi Colectivo Cine y Video. El primer colectivo de mujeres en el cine peruano’ [Preservation of the films of María Barea and the Warmi Cine y Video collective. The first women’s collective in Peruvian cinema], carried out in collaboration with Warmi Cine and Video Perú.

María Barea, Amelia Torres, and Marilú Pérez Goicoechea founded the Warmi Cine y Video Perú collective in 1989 to promote collaborative filmmaking processes with women from marginalized neighborhoods. In Antuca, the filmmakers focus on the experiences of domestic workers.

The film was digitised by Kauri Ximon Jauregui Arias, Julio César Gonzales Oviedo, Daniel Ángeles Hernandez and Luis Alberto Juárez Pineda within the framework of the project ‘Preservación de las películas de María Barea y Warmi Colectivo Cine y Video. El primer colectivo de mujeres en el cine peruano’ [Preservation of the films of María Barea and the Warmi Cine y Video collective. The first women’s collective in Peruvian cinema], carried out in collaboration with Warmi Cine and Video Perú.

22 May 1969. A resident of the hills crosses Caracas with his portable radio. The montage interweaves these images with those of the COPEI attack on the Central University of Venezuela and the student resistance movement. The film was made in a collaborative manner by Jacobo Borges, from the Cine Urgente group, and local residents.

This digitisation, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Arsenal Filminstitut, forms part of the research project 'Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema'.

Première: Archival Assembly #3

El negro was one of the first documentaries made in the newly created Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) to explicitly address racial discrimination in Cuba. Directed by Cuban playwright and filmmaker Eduardo Manet shortly after his return to the island, it charts the situation of the black population from the colonial era to the Revolution's triumph.

This restoration, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Cinemateca de Cuba and the British Film Institute, forms part of the research project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema’.

Estreno: SSIFF (“En la otra isla”)

A tribute to the anti-imperialist struggle of the Vietnamese people through the life of Ho Chi Minh (who died the same year it was produced), by one of the most important Cuban audiovisual collage artists of the nineteen-sixties.

This digitisation, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Cinemateca de Cuba, forms part of the research project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema’.

Premiere: SSIFF (“En la otra isla”)

La paz was made from a montage of press photographs and a speech delivered by the then de facto Argentine president, Juan Carlos Onganía. The film juxtaposes the official rhetoric of the dictatorship with images of widespread poverty. Preserved in a single 16mm copy, La paz was discovered in 2023 during an investigation that brought to light the name of the filmmaker, María Elena Massolo, who had previously hidden behind the collective credit of the group.

This digitisation, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Arsenal Filminstitut, forms part of the research project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema’.

Premiere: Archival Assembly #3

An artist known mainly for his pictorial works, Eugenio Granell was also a poet, teacher and filmmaker. Between 1960 and 1980, he made a series of films, some linked to his paintings, others portraying his domestic life.

Seven of these works (made between 1960 and 1962) have been restored at the EQZE in collaboration with the Fundación Eugenio Granell and Filmoteca de Galicia, which houses the complete collection of 42 documents in 8 mm and super-8.

The restoration of the collection was carried out as part of the research project ‘Film Granell. The digital restoration of the film collection of the artist Eugenio Granell’.

Premiere: Curtocircuito

The film, commissioned by the Lebanese National Resistance Front, documents armed operations carried out by the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance between 1982 and 1987 against the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. Waheb al Horriyah / The Freedom Giver alternates archival footage with interviews with fighters’ relatives.

This restoration, carried out at the EQZE, was based on research stemming from Margaux Chalançon’s Master’s graduation project, with the collaboration of Nadi LeKol Nas.

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United States during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency between 1963 and 1969. Reusing archive footage and various interviews, the film analyses the country’s politics by revisiting the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and John and Robert Kennedy.

This restoration, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Cinemateca de Cuba, forms part of the research project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema'.

Première: Archival Assembly #2

Directed by British researcher and filmmaker Sylvia Harvey, the film examines the internal conflicts of a workers' union in Los Angeles, shaken by the corruption of its leaders and racial tensions between the African American and Chicano communities, in a context heavily impacted by the Vietnam War and Nixon's imminent re-election. 

This digitization, carried out at the EQZE led by Laura Ibañez, forms part of the research project ‘Contemporary visual art and culture audiences in Spain’ (CSIC / Universidad Autónoma de Madrid). 

Premiere: Punto de Vista

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Through the poem Oración por Marilyn Monroe [Prayer for Marilyn Monroe] by Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal, the film links the actress’s tragic fate with the misery and exploitation of children on the American continent. The image of Marilyn, an icon of mass culture, is re-signified through the montage as a symbol of imperialist oppression.

This restoration, carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Cinemateca de Cuba, forms part of the research project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema'.

Première: Archival Assembly #2

Veronica 4 Rose features testimonies from young lesbians aged between 16 and 23 from Liverpool, London and Newcastle, who share their experiences of living in a predominantly heterosexual and homophobic society. South African filmmaker Melanie Chait made the film in response to the rise in the suicide rate among lesbian teenagers. It was produced in 1982 by the recently set up Channel 4.

The film was digitised at the EQZE within the framework of the research project ‘Their Past is Always Present’, carried out in collaboration with Cinenova and LUX.

Often During the Day uses a series of images of a kitchen to challenge the domestic roles traditionally assigned to women. A female voice describes her thoughts on cleaning and mending; male voices read excerpts from Ann Oakley’s The Sociology of Housework (1974).

This film was digitised at the EQZE within the framework of the research project ‘Their Past is Always Present’, carried out in collaboration with Cinenova and LUX.

José Ernesto Díaz-Noriega was an amateur filmmaker, exhibitor and collector. He spent much of his life in A Coruña, where he trained many young Galician filmmakers during the 1970s. His work is characterised by a satirical reuse of images and sounds from both the media and film history. The filmmaker's archive, preserved by his family, comprises his own films and works by other filmmakers, along with a large collection of graphic and text-based documents. 

During 2021, part of the film collection—housed at Filmoteca Española—was incorporated into the project ‘Second hand. Reuse and deviations of Ibero-American cinema’. The project was carried out in collaboration with the Díaz-Noriega Villalba family, Filmoteca de Galicia and Filmoteca Española.

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The first of three films shot by the French filmmaker in Madrid, which was in the midst of a transition to democracy in 1978. Originally shot on Super 8, the film explores the Malasaña neighborhood at a time of political and cultural excitement.

The project to digitise Niños, niñas (Malasaña), carried out in the EQZE’s laboratories under the filmmaker’s supervision, was led by Adrián García Prado.

Marked by the death of her mother during filming, Night Dances blends grief with the Jewish dimension of Sandra Lahire's identity. It is the second part of ‘Living on Air’, the trilogy that the feminist experimental filmmaker dedicated to Sylvia Plath (the other films being Lady Lazarus (1991) and Johnny Panic (1999)).

The film was digitised at the EQZE within the framework of the project ‘Their Past is Always Present’, carried out in collaboration with Cinenova and LUX.

A collage of images and sounds centered on Thelma, a woman who works amid the monitors of a plutonium reactor. Plutonium Blonde is part of a trilogy by Lahire about the nuclear threat and its real and symbolic effects on women's bodies.

The film was digitised at the EQZE within the framework of the project ‘Their Past is Always Present’, carried out in collaboration with Cinenova and LUX.

Johnny Panic is the third and final installment of the ‘Living on Air’ trilogy, which British filmmaker Sandra Lahire dedicated to the poet Sylvia Plath and which also includes Lady Lazarus (1991) and Night Dances (1995). Inspired by one of Plath’s stories, it was also the last film Lahire (a prominent member of the London feminist experimental film movement during the 1980s and 90s) ever made.

The film was digitised at the EQZE within the framework of the project ‘Their Past is Always Present’, carried out in collaboration with Cinenova and LUX.

Jeune femme à sa fenêtre lisant une lettre is the first film by French filmmaker Jean-Claude Rousseau, who also made Les Antiquités de Rome (1989) and La Vallée close (1995). Filmed entirely in a single room of a Parisian apartment, the film takes its title and subject matter from a painting of the same name by Johannes Vermeer. Shot with a super-8 camera, it was filmed between 1983 and 1984.

The film was restored in EQZE’s laboratories under the filmmaker's supervision, and the project was led by Carlos Saldaña.

Premiere: Festival Punto de Vista

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Using paintings and collages by the Equipo Crónica art collective, this short film denounces the last executions carried out by Franco’s dictatorship in 1975. The film won the Concha de Oro for Best Short Film at the 25th San Sebastián Film Festival.

The restoration of Expediente was carried out at the EQZE in collaboration with Filmoteca Española, within the framework of the research project ‘Zinemaldia 70: All possible histories', co-organised by the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Premiere: Zinemaldia 70. Todas las historias posibles 

Between 1977 and 1983, María Jesús ‘Tatus’ Fombellida filmed a documentary series in Super 8 dedicated to Basque artisanal trades that were gradually disappearing from the collective imaginary. 

This restoration, carried out at the EQZE, recovers nine of the twelve documentaries that made up the original series and forms part of the research project ‘Artisans of Cinema: research into Basque home movies’, carried out in collaboration with the Basque Film Archive.

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