![]() ![]() In Un franco, 14 pesetas, the protagonists travel by train from Spain to Switzerland. He considers vehicles ‘privileged sites’ in terms of ‘journeys of and struggles over identity’, given that makers of accented cinema ‘engage in many deterritorializing and reterritorializing journeys including home-seeking journeys, journeys of homelessness, and homecoming journeys’. ![]() ![]() For Naficy, the vehicle constitutes one of several ‘important transitional and transnational places and spaces’ in accented works. The most obvious motif in this regard is vehicles and transportation. While Un franco, 14 pesetas is not without its problems – it is, at least in some ways, akin to the nostalgic revisioning of the past as seen in films such as Belle époque and La lengua de las mariposas – the visual vocabulary deployed in the film resonates not only with other Spanish films that deal with immigration, emigration and exile, but, also beyond the Spanish context, with diasporic or ‘accented’ cinema, to use Hamid Naficy’s term, and with the Hollywood road movie. Focused on the bromance between Martín and Marcos, Un franco, 14 pesetas is thus a road movie of sorts, set in the historical context of Spanish emigration. The film recounts the trials and tribulations of Martín and Marcos as they travel to Switzerland in search of a better future for them and their families. When Martín’s friend Marcos suggests they emigrate to Switzerland in search of work, Pilar – who is desperate for her family to have a home of their own – encourages him to do so. Surplus to requirements at his place of work, Martín loses his job. Set in Madrid in 1960, Un franco, 14 pesetas narrates the story of Martín, a middle-aged Spaniard living in his parents’ basement with his wife Pilar and their son Pablo. The film is one of several in director Iglesias’ filmography that deals with the theme of emigration from Francoist Spain: Ispansi (2010) is set during the Second World War and concerns the transportation of Spaniards out of Spain at this time, while 2 francos, 40 pesetas (2014) is the sequel to Un franco, 14 pesetas. Unlike Biutiful, which straddles two temporal moments, Un franco, 14 pesetas focuses solely on Spanish emigrants in the context of Francoist Spain. While Biutiful proffers a somewhat gritty portrait of the harsh realities of immigration, emigration and exile, the subject of this post – Un franco, 14 pesetas (Iglesias, 2006) – provides a more light-hearted depiction of these issues. Such patterns are often overlooked in discussions of the contemporary phenomenon of immigration to Spain. The father of protagonist Uxbal, who appears as a ghost in the film, indexes historical patterns of migration that predate Spain’s contemporary status as a host country. As an example, Biutiful(Iñárritu, 2010), which I analyse in my thesis, juxtaposes the Spaniard exiled from Francoist Spain with contemporary immigrants. In this context, Spanish exiles and emigrants are of both historical and contemporary relevance. A crucial counterpoint to this figure is the Spanish exile or emigrant, a figure relatively neglected in contemporary scholarship on Spanish migratory cinema. Visit for more information.As I’ve already mentioned elsewhere on this blog (see here and here), part of my PhD thesis focuses on the representation of immigrants and immigration in contemporary Spanish cinema. This program is presented in conjunction with the Columbus Moving Picture Show, whose members will receive our member price! The annual gathering of classic film collectors and enthusiasts runs May 23–26 at the Renaissance Hotel. Members of the 3-D Film Archive restoration team, including President and Founder Bob Furmanek and acclaimed animation historian Jerry Beck, will join us for the screening. Preceded by two restored 3D cartoons: Hypnotic Hick with Woody Woodpecker (6 mins., 2K DCP) and Boo Moon with Casper (8 mins., 2K DCP). The original prologue describing 3D technology is included in the program watch for cameos by puppets Beany and Cecil, actor’s actor Lloyd Nolan, and Miss USA Shirley Tegge (85 mins., 2K DCP). Also starring Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce. When big-game hunters sent from Britain are gobbled up too, Robert Stack (pre- Unsolved Mysteries) must take a stand against the killer beasts. The first feature film in color to use 3D technology, Bwana Devil follows the true story of the construction of the Uganda Railway and the railway workers who become the target of a pair of man-eating lions.
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