Films or motion picture making by Spanish filmmakers within the territory of Spain is termed as Spanish Cinema . Modern Spanish cinema and films has attained a global recognition due its creative and technical brilliance.
The first Spanish film was screened in the exhibition on May 1895 in Barcelona. The Exhibitions of Lumière films were exclusively screened in Madrid and Barcelona, later in the year. The first Spanish film to get released formally in the theater halls is Riña en un café or Brawl in a Café made by the filmmaker Fructuós Gelabert in 1897. And the first Spanish film director who achieved the first success international platform was Segundo de Chomón. A decade or two later, great filmmakers like Luis Buñuel, Pedro Almodóvar, Florián Rey, Luis García Berlanga, Julio Medem, Carlos Saura and Alejandro Amenábar achieved much fame in Cinema world. Cinematographer Néstor Almendros, the actress Penelope Cruz and the actors Fernando Rey, Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem and Fernando Fernán Gómez also made considerable contribution in Spanish and Hollywood Cinema .
Spanish cinemas also fall in the category of silent film genre until the mid of twentieth century. Only in 1931, the introduction of audiophonic foreign productions influenced an enhanced version of Spanish film industry. Introduced by Luis Buñuel, Spanish films prospered highly after Compañía Industrial Film Española S.A introduced sound as one of the main ingredients of Spanish film making.
Some of the famous Spanish films :
- Torrente, The Stupid Arm of the Law
- Two Much
- Airbag
- Torrente 3: The Protector
- Commonwealth
- The Others
- The Other Side of the Bed
- All About My Mother
- Volver
- Mortadelo & Filemón: The Big Adventure
- The Sea Inside
Viridiana (1961) and Tristana (1970) are two of the biggest films in the Spanish Film Industry ever screened. In the modern times, English Language has also been initiated to attract more and a better global audience to Spanish Cinema . The Festival de Cine de Sitges, also known as the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya started in 1967, is the greatest and opulent film festival that is celebrated each year in Spain, portraying the importance and significance of Spanish Cinema .
