Return to Life

Five Cartridges

November 1960 •German

It is the year 1936 and the Spanish Civil War is raging. When the German commander of an international brigade is badly wounded he gives his five comrades a message which he divides up and secretes into in five cartridges. All five shells must reach the battalion in order for the message to be relayed. But Frenchman Pierre can’t bear the heat of the Sierra. When he leaves their hide-out to drink from a well he is hit by an enemy bullet.

The Portraitist

October 2013 •Spanish

During the 30s, the young Catalan teacher Antoni Benaiges takes office at a rural school in northern Spain. Antoni has a simple project: he wants to teach his pupils to write and to be free through the use of the printing press. But his dream ends very soon. An individual and collective story in memory of the victims of the Franco's repression.

Emilio Prados, cazador de nubes

May 2022 •Spanish

Heart of the Generacion 27, Spanish poet Emilio Prados recalls his lifetime from Mexican exile where Spanish Civil War has forced him, as other Spanish intellectuals in 1930s.

Operación Úrsula. El misterio del submarino C-3

October 2006 •Spanish

A missing submarine in Spanish Civil War leads to the first German Navy operation before WW2. Republican submarine C-3 was the victim of international secrecy and intrigues, after a torpedo from U-34 sunk it on December 12th 1936.

Agente Sicre, el amigo americano

June 2014 •Spanish

O resplandor das Atochas

January 2007 •Galician

The memory of a defeat, a barbarism: the destruction at the dawn of the civil war of people who fought for freedom, a group of anarchists from A Coruña located in the Atochas area. Through valuable witnesses and historical images a reconstruction of a metaphorical episode in the history of the country. This projection is made in collaboration with its author and the Commission for the Recovery of Historical Memory.

Siempre días azules

November 2005 •Spanish

Brigadistas

July 2007 •German

Barcelona Works for the Front

July 1936 •Spanish

A propaganda documentary about the Comité Central de Abastos. This committee provided food and support for the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War.

Living the Utopia

November 1997 •Spanish

A retrospective look at the anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist experience in Spain from 1930 until the end of the Civil War in 1939.

Experiment Stuka

November 2018 •Spanish

Spanish Civil War, May, 1938. Four villages in Castellón, Benassal, Albocàsser, Ares del Maestrat and Vilar de Canes, were bombed from the sky and ravaged. 38 people died. Inhabitants never knew for sure who piloted the planes responsible for such atrocity, although the rebel propaganda attributed the act to the republican side. Now, 80 years later, the truth is finally exposed.

Songs for After a War

February 1976 •Spanish

A particular reading of the forties and fifties in Spain, the hard years of famine and repression after the massacre of the Civil War, through popular culture: songs, newspapers and magazines, movies and newsreels.

Aidez l'Espagne

January 1969 •Catalan

The Colegio de Arquitectos de Catalunya commissioned Pere Portabella to make this film for the Joan Miró retrospective exhibit in 1969. There were heated discussions on whether it would be prudent to screen the film during the exhibit. Portabella took the following stance: "either both films are screened or they don't screen any" and, finally, both Miro l'Altre and Aidez l'Espagne were shown. The film was made by combining newsreels and film material from the Spanish Civil War with prints by Miró from the series "Barcelona" (1939-1944). The film ends with the painter's "pochoir" known as Aidez l'Espagne.

Head in the Clouds

April 2004 •English

Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated.

Milicianes

January 2019 •Catalan

Escala de grisos

October 2021 •Catalan

Picassos Friseur

October 2001 •German

In 1948 Pablo Picasso met the hairdresser Eugenio Arias. Both were linked by the fate of emigration. If Picasso initially only had his hair cut by Arias, a deep friendship soon developed.

The Rebel

June 2011 •Italian

The adventures of Guido Picelli, a man who was a leading light in the history of twentieth-century Italy and Europe. Guido Picelli fought untiringly for the affirmation of social justice and opposed every form of totalitarianism.

Caudillo

October 1977 •English

Caudillo is a documentary film by Spanish film director Basilio Martín Patino. It follows the military and political career of Francisco Franco and the most important moments of the Spanish Civil War. It uses footage from both sides of the war, music from the period and voice-over testimonies of various people.

Madrid

March 1987 •Spanish

Hans, a German director, is in Madrid to film a television production about the capital and the Civil War, 50 years after it occurred. Accompanied by Lucía, his editor, and Goyo, his cinematographer, he films shots of the modern city, searching for spaces and people related to its past. At the same time, he views materials related to the past. In this search, Hans questions the point of his project, and disagrees with his producers until he discovers a project that he is passionate about.