and Pedro Almodóvar
Spanish Cinema
In 1970s when Spain drifted towards democracy, after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, the censorship was gone and film producers could approach now more controversial topics. It was only at this time the Spanish cinematography could work at its full potential.
Many film directors seized the opportunity offered by the freedom of this time period, which was also called "La Movida Madrileña" or "The Madrilenian scene", the cultural movement that took place mainly in Madrid and shaped Spain's new identity. One of them was Pedro Almodóvar, born on 25th of December 1949 in Calzada de Calatrava. His interest for films and theatre grew and when he was 22 years old he bought his first camera, a "Super-8" and began to make short films. By the end of the 70's his short films were shown in Barcelona and Madrid's night circuit. One of Almodóvar's first longer films is "Pepi, Luci, Bom" which had a low budget. The main theme was friendship and female solidarity. Reflecting back on the film Almodóvar says: "Pepi, Luci, Bom is a film full of defects. When a film has only one or two, it is considered an imperfect film, while when there is a profusion of technical flaws, it is called style. That’s what I said joking around when I was promoting the film, but I believe that that was closer to the truth".