What Spanish people watched: non-fiction cinema during the Second Spanish Republic (1931-36)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to collect and analyze all the documentaries and newsreels that Spanish audiences could watch during the Second Republic. It will provide researchers with material to study afterwards on how these films affected people at that time. Our research is based on the telegrams that Boletín Oficial de Navarra and Boletín Oficial de La Coruña published on films approved or censored (all or part of films may have been censored) by the Dirección General de Seguridad. Its provisions were applied in the whole country. This organization reviewed 3.225 movies, both fiction and non-fiction. We have created a data base to make a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Also, we have used complementary resources (newspapers, film journals and magazines), which can add valuable information about the context and reception in the theatres. Non-fiction films were on the rise during the Second Republic. In 1936, non-fiction (documentaries, 25.4%) and newsreels (25.1%) made up more than half of the films which were censored in Spain. These particular films had great credibility and in actuality, they were the only «window» to the world for Spanish audiences. Perhaps these films affected how people saw reality. Films (and only films) showed foreign countries and cultures, historical events, politicians and kings and scientific discoveries. Therefore, documentaries and newsreels were part of the popular culture at that time and their influence on how spectators thought and felt was very relevant.