A Vernacular National Cinema: Amateur Filmmaking in Catalonia (1932–1936)

This essay argues that the development of amateur cinema in Catalonia in the 1930s is key to understanding the role that film played in Spain's complex engagement with modernity. I pose amateur cinema as a forgotten avant-garde that spearheaded the emergence of film culture beyond the commercial screen in regions with minor film industries. I examine the particular visual regime fostered by these filmmakers, the distribution of social bodies in their films, and their class-oriented view of reality. I argue that their films embodied the anxiety of a dominant class faced with the reality that public life suddenly had to be shared with the so-called masses who were advancing to the foreground of society. Therefore, I understand the cultural production of Catalan amateurs as a reflection of the archaic class relations that were fueling radicalization in the Spanish sociopolitical realm. The amateur archive is thus a necessary repository to aid our understanding of how moving images became the most widespread form of cultural representation—but also social domination and indoctrination—throughout the twentieth century.