By Marieke Steinhoff. The academy awards in the last years proof the steadily growing international success of the Spanish film culture: In 2000 the poster boy of Spanish filmmaking, Pedro Almodóvar, won the foreign language Oscar for TODOS SOBRE MI MADRE; in 2005 Alejandro Amenábar followed this with his win for MAR ADENTRO; in 2008 the actor Javier Bardem was the first Spaniard to pick up the award for Best Supporting Actor; in 2009 Penélope Cruz won Best Supporting Actress; and in 2010 the Argentine-Spanish co-production EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS was awarded another statue. With the topics of those films, ranging from homosexuality and prostitution to medically assisted suicide, contemporary Spanish filmmakers like Almodóvar, Amenábar or Julio Médem touch on issues that were unthinkable not so long ago.

Cinema during the Franco era

During the Franco era in Spain (1936-1977) working conditions for independent and critical filmmakers were extremely bad due to massive censorship and a lack of any financial support for films “of no cultural or social worth”. At the same time foreign productions flourished in Spain because of cheap working conditions, cranking out lightweight entertainment movies and dominating the cinematic landscape. Those movies were popular with the Spanish viewers but didn't strike a chord with international audiences. Exceptions from this rule were Luis García Berlanga, Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Buñuel (though he produced most his films abroad) and Carlos Saura, who thanks to some international awards was able to remain reasonably independent. With the end of the dictatorship the working conditions changed slowly – in 1977 censorship was practically abolished, which opened up a whole new spectrum of topics for the younger generation around Almodóvar to embrace.

Schools and platforms for the younger generation

Young filmmakers in Spain today have the possibility of seeking an education at the national film school. The most famous one is ECAM – Escuela de Cinematografía y del Audiovisual de la Comunidad de Madrid. Other than that there's also the Escuela de Artes Visuales in Madrid as well as the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya in Barcelona. The national film festivals are also an important platform for the rookies, especially the Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián (founded in 1958) in Bilbao. The Goya Award, given out by the Academy of Arts and Cinematic Sciences since 1987, is also very important for Spanish film culture.

Film funding in Spain

The funding of contemporary Spanish films for the most part is in the hands of the ICAA – Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, an independent body within the Ministry of Culture, being financed exclusively by the government. Film funding can either be granted selectively by way of financing support in pre-production or automatically by way of allowances in post-production. The former is given out by the ICAA to financially support the development of debut and follow-up projects as well as artistically valuable films (both short and feature films); the latter is granted after the fact as a subsidy (repayment subsidy). In 2010 the ICAA put up about 83 million Euro for film funding, the bigger part of which (52.4 million Euro) was granted for repayment subsidies for feature films. Short film productions were supported with 1.9 million Euro.

186 feature films were produced in Spain in 2009, 51 of which were international co-productions, and only 137 reached the Spanish cinemas – with only five of those surpassing one million tickets sold. That's why a number of institutions and film professionals demand a reformation of the film funding system: Instead of quantity it should focus on the quality of fewer films, supporting selected big and ambitious projects. If and when these demands may be met will have to be seen.

Links

• European Cinematic Culture in general
• Website of the ICAA – Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales
• Academy of Arts and Cinematic Sciences
• Escuela de Cinematografía y del Audiovisual de la Comunidad de Madrid
• Escuela de Artes Visuales
• Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya
• Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián
• Zinebi – Festival Internacional de Cine Documental y Cortometraje

• 5 SECONDS (E 2008. Jean François Rouzé)
• LA M CON LA A (E 2008. Rosario Fuentenebro Yubero)