Twenty years of cinema history in Catalonia (1990-2009)

Àngel Comas analyzes in detail the events that have marked cinema in Catalonia in the last two decades, focusing on the financing channels of cinema and how they influence factors such as globalization, large multimedia conglomerates or the latest technologies that are always in constant change.

Angel Comas
Edited by Laertes
Barcelona, 2010

This book analyzes the history of the last two decades of cinema in Catalonia between 1990 and 2009. During this time, the world has changed rapidly, with the communication industry being one of the basic drivers of change. Cinema, more of an isolated event, is part of an audiovisual environment with more global approaches.

Àngel Comas reviews the financing channels for cinema and how factors such as globalization, large multimedia conglomerates or the latest technologies, always in constant change, influence the industry in Catalonia.

Twenty years of cinema history in Catalonia (1990-2009) presents in detail, year by year, the fundamental events that have affected and affect Catalan cinema, its authors and their works. The work raises the difficulty of making films in an environment where art and industry are confused, where there is a fight against monopolies to obtain a space in the exhibition and where one depends on aid from the Administration marked by criteria that are not normally shared. It also addresses the controversy that usually surrounds cinema in Catalan, the awards, the missing filmmakers, the trends of new Catalan cinema, the documentary, the fantastic cinema... But it also talks about the men and women who, by overcoming these impediments, ensure that cinema made in Catalonia has achieved its own seal, a designation of origin, a differentiated but varied style, recognized throughout the world.

The book includes files on all feature films produced in Catalonia or by Catalan directors made outside of Catalonia; an exhaustive "Who's who" of the people who have made this cinema possible (directors, producers, actors, actresses or technicians) and a special look is given to television productions.

From reading it it can be deduced that from 1990 to 2009 the cinema of Catalonia has a creative vitality unique in the Spanish state and even in Europe, which extends from minority or experimental works to commercial cinema of international scope.