El cuarto poder

Forum 50 2020

In 1970, Spain was a dictatorship. The essay film El cuarto poder asks how the media behaved in response. The conclusion is depressingly clear: by toeing the line and being loyal to the regime. What can be done? A sceptical stance can be maintained and a counter-public created, for example, by reading between the lines, accessing foreign newspapers and forming one’s own channels of information.

by Helena Lumbreras, Mariano Lisa Spain 1971 Spanish 38’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director	Helena Lumbreras, Mariano Lisa
Screenplay	Helena Lumbreras, Llorenç Soler
Editing	Helena Lumbreras

Produced by

Colectivo Cine de Clase

Helena Lumbreras

Born in Cuenca, Spain in 1935. After studying at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, she worked as a director and producer for Italian television. Lumbreras then returned to Spain to document the anti-Franco movement. Starting in 1968, she made politically motivated documentaries and founded the militant film collective Class Cinema Collective together with Mariano Lisa. She died in 1995.

Filmography

1960 A los toros; 4 min. · Telegrama; 7 min. 1968 España 68 (El hoy es malo pero el mañana es mío) (Spain 68); 30 min. 1975 El campo para el hombre; 50 min., co-directed by Mariano Lisa 1976 O todos o ninguno (Everyone or No-one); 45 min., co-directed by Mariano Lisa · Primer aniversario de la muerte de Txiki en Cerdanyola · Manifestació Diada a Sant Boi de Llobregat 1977 A la vuelta del grito; 45 min., co-directed by Mariano Lisa · ¿El Prat? Un río a desviar · Diada, 11 de Septiembre de 1977 1983 Escuela de San lldefonso

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020

Mariano Lisa

Born in Albalate de Cinca, Spain in 1945. He studied and taught Philosophy. Together with his wife Helena Lumbreras, Lisa founded the militant film collective Class Cinema Collective, which advocated a radically democratic cinema: in the 1970s, Lumbreras and Lisa went to Spanish factories and made films together with the workers in order to draw attention to the living and working conditions of the workforce.

Filmography

1975 El campo para el hombre; 50 min., co-directed by Helena Lumbreras 1976 O todos o ninguno (Everyone or No-one); 45 min., co-directed by Helena Lumbreras 1977 A la vuelta del grito; 45 min., co-directed by Helena Lumbreras

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020