A Radical Intimate Realism: An Other New Spanish Cinema Made by Women

Abstract

This article reflects on the rise of a new generation of female directors in contemporary Spanish cinema, in which we can glimpse a kind of cinematic avalanche that presents us with problems, hopes and challenges, as it does for so many female creators and spectators. What we refer to here as the Other New Spanish Women’s Cinema has fortunately become simply an Other New Cinema, but one made by women who exhibit a degree of collective consciousness. Our vindication of cinema made by women is based on a need to hear these filmmakers in all their heterogeneity, their otherness, never as a category or flawed label. We argue that cinema made by women is neither essentially feminine—because there is no ontology of the feminine—nor directly or necessarily feminist. Along these lines, we argue that ONSWC also understands cinema as a device for ideas and an artistic device that works on the subconscious, testing out a certain kind of writing of an intimacy presented as obstinate and strange. We consider it essential to approach these films with attention to the details of the writing, the subtleties of the screenplay, and especially the filmic forms related to the body that invite interpretation.