From 11rd os november to 12th of December 2021
CRAI – Biblioteca. Zaguán de entrada. Edificio Cisneros-Universidad de Alcalá. Plaza de San Diego, s/n
The history of film is a story like so many others of sexual
discrimination. Since the birth of cinema, the pioneering
filmmaker Alice Guy Blaché (1873-1968) was a victim of
that omission perpetrated against the artistic work of
women. Guy was a contemporary of major figures such
as the Lumière brothers and George Méliès, and filmed
the first fictional narrative in history in 1896, before all
of them. However, despite founding her own independent
production company and directing more than 1,000 short
films -she was a decisive influence on renowned directors
such as Alfred Hitchcock-, most of her work disappeared
and her name was deleted from the official history,
almost to this day.
Her case could apply to many other women directors,
producers, scriptwriters and editors, who began to work
from the birth of this new art form without their efforts
ever being given their due: from the classicism of Dorothy
Azner or Lois Weber in Hollywood, to the avant-garde
viewpoint of Aleksandra Khokhlova or Olga Preobrazhenskaia
in the USSR, the scripts of Pu Shunging in
China, the animation of Lotte Reiniger in Germany and, to
return to Spain, the films of Helena Cortesina or Rosario
Pi.
At ALCINE, we have decided to join the fight to recover
the legacy of all those women, and to return them to
their rightful place. In cooperation with a group of film
illustrators and writers, we have set out to imagine what
the history of film would have been like if women such as
Guy and her contemporaries had had the influence they
deserved in an industry in which women and men worked
on a level playing field. What would the great classics
have been? How would today’s star system look? What
about indie films and action movies? How would movements
such as German expressionism and the nouvelle
vague look to us?
Structured into three parts: FICTION, NON-FICTION
AND BIOPIC, and accompanied by a series of screenings
curated by the prestigious Women Pioneers Project of
Columbia University, we have decided to have some fun,
halfway between championing their cause and a speculative ‘herstory’, the aim being to critically interpret our
past and to establish a ‘collective reimagination’, which
surely, also speaks of our present.
A PRODUCTION OF
ALCINE - Alcalá de Henares / Comunidad de Madrid Film Festival
Illustrators: Yeyei Gómez, Julia Happymiaow+Flan, Carla Berrocal,
Xulia Vicente, Adara Sánchez, Los Bravú, Ana Galvañ, Paula Bonet,
Genie Espinosa, Mireia Pérez, Conxita Herrero, Beatriz Lobo, Nuria
Tamarit, Cristina Daura, Marina Vidal.
Film critics: Bea Martinez, Cristina Aparicio, Jara Yáñez, Violeta
Kovacsics, Paula Arantzazu, Sofía Pérez, Eulàlia Iglesias, Marla
Jacarilla, Bárbara Mingo, Cristina Aparicio, Sofía Pérez.
Documentation and writing: Elisabeth Falomir
Graphic design: Patricia Raventós.
Poster illustration: Carla Berrocal Fanzine: Yeyei Gómez
Coordination of texts: Caimán Cuadernos de Cine
Selection of short films: Women Film Pioneers Project (Columbia
University)
Concept and curating: Pedro Toro
