Sunday 16 March at 21:15

In this film the director Basilio Martín Patino evokes the years of post-war Spain through a poignant editing exercise. With ironic and contrapuntal style, he uses popular songs of the era, re-appropriating the “official” archival material. In doing so, the film reveals the true face of a country plunged into hunger and misery. Shot in 1971, Songs for After a War was initially censored and shortened into a medium-length film, before finally being banned by the then Prime Minister, Luis Carrero Blanco. The film was shown in Spain after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the gradual advent of democracy.

Restoration by Filmoteca Española.