Fourteen Kilometres To Paradise. Images Of Migration To Andalusia In Spanish Cinema

Abstract

The article depicts narrative strategies in twelve Spanish films about migration from North Africa to Andalusia. This problem has been gaining increasing interest of Spanish filmmakers since 1990s, which is a concomitant of intensification of migration itself. Andalusia, as an autonomous region located closest to Africa is a fulfilment of European Dream but also a place of disillusionment. Oftentimes it is also merely a brief stop on way to the more industrialized regions of Spain or other countries of western Europe. The fourteen kilometres that separate Africa from Europe in the narrowest spot of the Strait of Gibraltar eventually became a metaphor in order to render the paradox of intercontinental distance. The analysis focuses on different narrative perspectives, racial stereotypes and new racism reflected in cinematography images.