“The First Look”, interview with director Luis E. Parés

September 27, 2024

Luis E. Parés, director on uncovering Spanish's past and defying oppression through art in "The First Look"

"The First Look", interview with director Luis E. Parés Sarah Bradbury

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Fred Film Radio heard from filmmaker and historian Luis E. Parés during the London Spanish Film Festival about his documentary “The First Look” or “La Primera Mirada“.

Parés gave an insight into the painstaking process of viewing the entire archive created by students of a film school created during Franco’s dictatorship, which was nonetheless necessary due to Parés’ obsessive nature and thorough approach to his work. He shared what stood out to him on first seeing these images, showing a part of Spanish history not caught on camera before, from the extreme poverty that existed in the wake of civil war to the provocative political views, absurd humour and repression of sexual desire they explored, something otherwise forbidden during that time.

He explained that the fact the film school lacked funding and was seen as only the innocuous experimentation of students, their work went under the radar of government censorship, opening up a space of relative freedom to create subversive art and capture unseen parts of the country in inventive ways, telling a different story than the one told in mainstream channels and defying the otherwise pervasive oppression.

Parés further expressed his views about the importance of knowing and understanding Spain’s history, cinema history and the context in which older generations grew up in order to understand the present and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, something we are able to do most powerfully through cinematographical images.

Plot

In a country destroyed by a civil war and in the midst of a dictatorship a film school was created. Against any intention by the regime, it became a space of freedom. The dream only lasted fifteen years, but it changed forever the history of Spanish cinema creating some of its greatest directors: Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis García Berlanga, Carlos Saura, Víctor Erice, Basilio Martín Patino, José Luis Borau… The practice exercises of the students are still in the archives of the School. Parés makes a formidable exercise himself with the archival material helping understand the greatness of the dreams of those filmmaking students observing the modernisation process of a country ravaged by many traumas.

Written by: Sarah Bradbury

Guest

Louis E. Parés

Film

The first look

Festival

London Spanish Film Festival

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“The First Look”, interview with director Luis E. Parés

Luis E. Parés, director on uncovering Spanish's past and defying oppression through art in "The First Look"

Plot

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“The Story of Documentary Film”, interview with director Mark Cousins

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