Helena Lumbreras’s foundational filmmaking experience in Italy during the 1960s: an artistic biography

Abstract

Helena Lumbreras (1935–95), founder of the Colectivo de Cine de Clase in Francoist Spain, started her film career at Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. The politically charged atmosphere of 1960s Italy marked a turning point for the young filmmaker professionally and ideologically. Her Italian sojourn proved remarkably influential, since it allowed her to delve into cultural materials that were censored in Spain and drew her into left-wing intellectual circles. During these years (1962–70), she encountered film directors and theorists like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Cesare Zavattini, who deepened her interest in collective film movements. She took her first step towards politically engaged cinema with her graduation film, España (1964). In the following years, her deepening involvement with the anti-Francoist movement coincided with her prioritization of documentary over fiction. This veered her career away from representational political cinema towards militant political cinema, which she would eventually put into practice in her homeland.