The first film school in Spain, a story that comes to the screen in Luis E. Parés’ first feature film

The feature film La primera mirada premiered this Monday, October 23rd as part of the Dama Dialogues, a novelty in this 68th Seminci, together with the section in which it is inserted, Memory & Utopia. The ‘dialogues’ of the company Derechos de Autor de Medios Audiovisuales is a meeting point, debates and reflections shared between authors and public, as a reflection of the good state of the Spanish film industry. Luis E. Parés, the director, and Valeria Camporesi, director of the Filmoteca Española, were present during the screening and the subsequent colloquium.

La primera mirada tells the story of the first film school that was founded in Spain through film practices and from which emerged such outstanding names as Berlanga, Bardem, Saura, Picazo, Borau, Camus, Martín Patino, Mercero and Erice, as well as Josefina Molina, Cecilia Bartolomé and Pilar Miró.

Parés, who said he was «quite nervous» before the presentation of his first feature film, thanked the Valladolid International Film Festival for having trusted in his project: «The fact that the Seminci has considered that the film could be part of the festival is the best thing I could imagine». He also thanked the national film library for its collaboration and made a plea in favor of uniting «the private and the public». «It’s the best thing we can do to mend the cultural heritage of this country. I think this is the way», he said.

About the 243 film internships at the Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias Cinematográficas (IIEC) to which the director had access, he talked about the difficulty of choosing the ones that finally appear in the documentary: «At the beginning you want to tell everything and as you develop the process you realize that you can take off. I remember a lot of practices that are very good and that I didn’t include, but I don’t regret it».

In addition, the director from Madrid has also reflected on the general lack of knowledge about these archives that are part of the history of Spanish cinema and why it happens: «There is a lack of knowledge. These films were not known and you can’t love what you don’t know. On the other hand, there is a cultural aspect that is prejudice, that is, we all think we know what it is but we don’t consider that it goes beyond that».