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

ABSTRACT: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.