Capital Cinema

Capital Cinema examines how cinematic representations of Madrid reveal the cultural and material endurance of authoritarianism fifty years after the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. This book examines a corpus of Spanish urban films from well-known directors such as Luis García Berlanga, Carlos Saura, and Pedro Almodóvar, as well as works from lesser-studied filmmakers such as Víctor Moreno. Engaging with the theoretical frameworks of memory studies, affect theory, and media studies, Spanish studies professor Jacqueline Sheean positions cinema as both a spatial and ideological medium in order to map Francoist power structures and their material and affective landscapes in Spain's capital. Through an analysis of fiction and non-fiction films spanning from the Franco dictatorship to the late 2010s, the book examines the survival and evolution of fascist ideologies, even in democratic Spain. Ultimately, the book frames Francoism as an ongoing, spatially embedded process rather than a historical rupture, thus contributing to conversations on cultural memory, authoritarian legacies, and the politics of urban space.