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Bones of Contention
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BONES OF CONTENTION is the first nonfiction feature film to explore the theme of historical memory in Spain, focusing on the repression of lesbians and gays under Franquismo. Lining the roads of Spain, masked by miles and miles of pine trees, are unmarked graves in which over a hundred twenty thousand victims of the Franco regime are buried. Today the families of the desaparecidos lead a grassroots effort to uncover and identify the bones of their loved ones, despite opposition from the Spanish government.
Invisible to the eye but hyper-visible in the mind, these mass graves of Spain's missing persons are an apt metaphor for the historical memory conundrum. How does a country excavate a past that is actively suppressed?
The film weaves together two strands, the historical memory movement's campaign to uncover the past, and the search for the hidden lives of lesbians and gays under Franco. These strands are connected through the figure of Spain's most famous poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, who was killed by a right-wing firing squad in the first few weeks of the Spanish Civil War. The mystery of his missing remains and the debates over their significance provide the narrative spine of the documentary, as he has become the symbol today for both the historical memory movement and the LGBT movement.
The film features interviews with:
Laura Garcia Lorca, President, Garcia Lorca Foundation
Emilio Silva, Founder, Asociacion para la Recuperacion de la Memoria Historica
Antoni Ruiz and Silvia Reyes, imprisoned by the Franco regime due to their sexuality
Isabel Franc and Empar Pineda, lesbian witnesses and activists
Fernando Valverde, poet and Lorca scholar
'This chilling documentary revisits the fate of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, executed in 1936, and of others who are known only to their families.' - Screen International
'Andrea Weiss' sensitive film gives a voice to the victims from the LGBTIQ community ... Impressive archive material documents this repressed history which finds a painful echo in Lorca's poetry and music.' - SydneysBuzz
'Clear and concise!' - Dirty Movies
Citation
Main credits
Weiss, Andrea (film director)
Weiss, Andrea (film producer)
Weiss, Andrea (screenwriter)
Weiss, Andrea (editor of moving image work)
Other credits
Director of photography, Carmen Vidal Balanzat; editor, Andrea Weiss.
Distributor subjects
Desaparecidos; Franco; Federico Garcia Lorca; Gay Studies; History (World); LGBTQ; Lesbian Studies; Memory; Mystery; SpainKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:46.920
♪
00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:51.320
(speaking Spanish)
00:01:38.120 --> 00:02:11.720
♪
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:20.120
♪
00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:23.200
It was the Spanish Civil War
that brought Francisco Franco
00:02:23.200 --> 00:02:26.040
to power when the army
rose in revolt against
00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:28.280
the left-wing
Republican government.
00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.880
For three years, the
savage conflict raged,
00:02:30.880 --> 00:02:34.800
devastating the country,
killing over half a million
00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.200
soldiers and civilians.
00:02:37.200 --> 00:02:41.480
♪
00:02:41.480 --> 00:02:45.920
There are an estimated
120,000 missing people
00:02:45.920 --> 00:02:48.320
buried in unmarked mass graves
00:02:48.320 --> 00:02:51.280
all along the roads of Spain.
00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.840
These invisible roadside ditches
are filled with the victims
00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.080
of Franco\'s death squads.
00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.400
Today, the families
of the disappeared
00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:03.880
lead a grassroots
movement to uncover
00:03:03.880 --> 00:03:06.800
and identify the bones
of their loved ones
00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.520
with little to no help
from the Spanish government.
00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.680
The search for unmarked
graves is also a metaphor
00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:19.360
for exhuming Spain\'s
painful history.
00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.000
But how can a country
excavate a past
00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.760
that has been so deeply buried?
00:03:25.760 --> 00:03:29.080
♪
00:04:28.840 --> 00:04:31.720
(gunshots firing)
00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:32.680
♪
00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:34.840
Franco\'s nationalists
were supported by Hitler
00:04:34.840 --> 00:04:38.120
and Mussolini with planes,
tanks, and troops.
00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:41.680
The nationalists won, and
both supporters and critics
00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:46.040
called Francisco Franco
the Spanish Hitler.
00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:49.520
(crowd cheering)
00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:55.520
(speaking Spanish)
00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:02.600
Everyone knows
Federico Garcia Lorca
00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:03.680
was an important Spanish poet,
00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:07.480
that he was a victim
of the Spanish Civil War,
00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:11.400
of the very brutal repression
00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:14.320
at the hands of the fascists.
00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:18.360
And that\'s to say
00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:21.440
what a lot of people know.
00:05:21.440 --> 00:05:24.720
Maybe a lot of people,
not much else.
00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:33.840
♪
00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:38.560
Federico Garcia Lorca is the
best known victim of Francismo,
00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:42.680
and possibly the world\'s
most famous missing person.
00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.920
But for the most part, we have
little official information
00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:49.520
on either Franco\'s victims
00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:52.040
or their tortures.
00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:54.240
In Barcelona, tourists
and locals alike
00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:58.000
visit the castle on Montjuiïc,
but rarely learn that
00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.520
countless people were
imprisoned and tortured here,
00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:05.920
and then executed along the
wall of the castle\'s moat.
00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.880
In fact, we cannot really
comprehend the scale
00:07:08.880 --> 00:07:11.160
of repression
throughout the country
00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:13.040
from the beginning
of the Civil War
00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:16.360
to the end of the
Franco dictatorship.
00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:18.480
♪
00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:22.360
What we do know is that
every basic human right
00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:26.680
was trampled on with
deliberate cruelty.
00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:30.800
♪
00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:21.680
♪
00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.880
Today in Spain, over half a
million Republican prisoners
00:08:24.880 --> 00:08:27.440
are still in the hands
of their fascist jailers.
00:08:27.440 --> 00:08:30.360
Franco and the Falangists
ordered the execution of over
00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:34.560
a million Republican prisoners
during the Spanish War.
00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:37.280
Today, those remaining
in Falangist prisons
00:08:37.280 --> 00:08:39.440
were the least active
of those who opposed
00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.160
the rise of Franco\'s
fascists to power.
00:08:43.160 --> 00:08:45.640
♪
00:08:45.640 --> 00:08:48.320
And in sparing the
lives of even these,
00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:50.800
Franco\'s regime feels
it has been lenient,
00:08:50.800 --> 00:08:53.560
but only complete submission
and repentance on the part
00:08:53.560 --> 00:08:58.720
of their prisoners can satisfy
the new rulers of the new Spain.
00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:05.280
♪
00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:59.280
(groaning)
00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:56.720
(speaking Spanish)
00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:10.480
♪
00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:15.200
He lived his sexuality
with a lot of freedom.
00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:16.880
Of course, freedom within
00:12:16.880 --> 00:12:20.120
what a conservative society is.
00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.760
And what was important
about his being gay
00:12:24.760 --> 00:12:29.360
in terms of his work is
how that particular kind
00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.240
of exclusion served him
00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:35.000
to talk about exclusion
in general.
00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:53.400
(horn honking)
00:12:53.400 --> 00:12:56.480
(indistinct remarks)
00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:58.640
♪
00:12:58.640 --> 00:13:03.080
He had this theater
company, La Barraca.
00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.120
And they went
into remote villages
00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:10.400
throughout Spain
from north to south
00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:12.640
performing the classics.
00:13:12.640 --> 00:13:16.320
In places where there were no
radios, where there was nothing,
00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:20.440
and to see suddenly
these amazing plays.
00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:23.920
(singing in Spanish)
00:13:23.920 --> 00:13:25.560
Federico was the director.
00:13:25.560 --> 00:13:30.120
Salvador Dali did
some of the sets.
00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:33.320
It was a very important
thing they did,
00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:36.040
bringing art to the people.
00:13:36.040 --> 00:14:02.800
♪
00:14:02.800 --> 00:14:06.320
(crowd cheering)
00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:02.000
(singing in foreign language)
00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.080
♪
00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:05.320
The door to liberation
had opened for women
00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:08.800
during the Spanish Republic
only to slam shut and remain
00:15:08.800 --> 00:15:13.400
locked for the four
long decades of fascism.
00:15:13.400 --> 00:15:15.800
Women were subjugated
to their husbands,
00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:18.680
forced to attend wifehood
and motherhood classes
00:15:18.680 --> 00:15:23.640
run by the Catholic Church, and
were denied access to divorce
00:15:23.640 --> 00:15:27.520
and birth control
to guarantee no escape.
00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:30.000
And lesbians, what
was it like for them?
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:33.360
Independent women swimming
powerfully against the tide
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:39.280
in the 1930s only to drown
in the tsunami of fascism.
00:16:40.880 --> 00:16:43.840
♪
00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:03.560
♪
00:20:46.520 --> 00:20:53.640
♪
00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:58.040
(speaking Spanish)
00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:23.840
♪
00:21:27.280 --> 00:21:35.240
♪
00:21:41.040 --> 00:21:50.720
♪
00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:53.560
They lived in the
middle of this valley,
00:21:53.560 --> 00:21:54.720
the Vega of Granada,
00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:59.080
which is an
extraordinary landscape.
00:21:59.080 --> 00:22:02.880
That\'s very present
throughout his work.
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:07.640
Granada has that strong
presence in many senses
00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:10.760
with all that a small city has
00:22:10.760 --> 00:22:13.600
seen suffocating,
and this has always been
00:22:13.600 --> 00:22:15.680
an extremely conservative city.
00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.320
He, of course, felt the
need to leave Granada,
00:22:19.320 --> 00:22:22.880
but he kept coming back, he was
extremely attached to this.
00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.880
This was a source
of inspiration.
00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:55.600
(speaking Spanish)
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:21.480
♪
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:25.240
Well, this house,
they came while Federico
00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:28.280
was here with my grandparents.
00:23:28.280 --> 00:23:29.640
♪
00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:34.440
This is Federico\'s
bedroom where he wrote
00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:37.920
a lot of his most
important works.
00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:41.400
The fascists came
to search the house.
00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:45.520
Actually ripped the piano open,
because they thought
00:23:45.520 --> 00:23:49.320
that Lorca had a radio
where he was communicating
00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:52.440
with the Soviet Union.
00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:56.480
And he wasn\'t here either
of the two times they came.
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:58.720
It\'s amazing, but
that\'s what happened.
00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.800
And then they got
together in the house.
00:24:01.800 --> 00:24:04.400
He came back and my grandfather
said, \"Look, you know,
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:06.560
it really looks like
you\'re in danger.
00:24:06.560 --> 00:24:11.280
There are different
things that we can do.\"
00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:44.480
And when they were
out one afternoon,
00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:48.480
the--he was taken.
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:50.920
♪
00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:54.560
(speaking Spanish)
00:24:55.720 --> 00:25:21.400
♪
00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:27.240
The deep scars and bitter
memories of the Civil War
00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:30.880
gradually fade from the
cities and the countryside
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.120
as the nation undergoes
an economic rebirth.
00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:36.480
Spain is predominantly
agricultural,
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:39.480
and change comes slowly,
but it does come,
00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:42.400
stimulated in great
measure by financial help
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:44.760
from the United States.
00:26:44.760 --> 00:26:48.520
Despite Franco\'s totalitarian
rule, the United States
00:26:48.520 --> 00:26:51.640
seeks out Spain as an ally.
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:54.320
Franco receives arms
and economic aid,
00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:57.000
and America, in turn,
is permitted the use
00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:00.720
of Spanish air and naval bases.
00:27:01.520 --> 00:27:05.040
Tourism contributes also
to the revitalization
00:27:05.040 --> 00:27:06.880
of the economy of Franco Spain.
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:10.080
The action, color, and
excitement of the bull ring,
00:27:10.080 --> 00:27:14.280
the history, the pageantry,
the majesty of fabled Spain
00:27:14.280 --> 00:27:18.920
combine to attract tens of
thousands of visitors each year.
00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:23.320
(crowd screaming)
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:32.720
♪
00:29:28.560 --> 00:29:32.720
(bells chiming)
00:30:56.800 --> 00:30:58.400
Spain\'s jails are still full.
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.560
Official figures alone show that
over 2,000 people were arrested
00:31:02.560 --> 00:31:06.840
in the first six months of 1971,
and held without trial.
00:31:06.840 --> 00:31:12.400
This indeed is the Spain
which the tourists do not see.
00:32:06.280 --> 00:32:10.320
Carabanchel Prison in Madrid
was a notorious symbol
00:32:10.320 --> 00:32:12.760
of fascist repression.
00:32:12.760 --> 00:32:15.320
Built after the
Spanish Civil War
00:32:15.320 --> 00:32:17.360
by the very political prisoners
00:32:17.360 --> 00:32:19.480
who would be incarcerated there
00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:23.200
throughout the Franco regime.
00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:25.360
Political prisoners
were segregated
00:32:25.360 --> 00:32:28.160
from social prisoners,
a term referring
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:32.480
to anyone found guilty
of committing a crime.
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:36.760
As social prisoners, gay men
were treated as common criminals
00:32:36.760 --> 00:32:39.920
and often thrown in
with hardened felons
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:42.280
such as murderers,
00:32:42.280 --> 00:32:44.800
rapists, and thieves.
00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:47.800
(indistinct conversations)
00:32:47.800 --> 00:32:51.000
(metal door rattling)
00:32:52.320 --> 00:32:54.920
(door creaking)
00:32:54.920 --> 00:32:57.880
(footsteps)
00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:47.120
♪
00:33:47.120 --> 00:33:51.480
(speaking Spanish)
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:01.240
Franco is now 78 years old,
00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:04.480
hence, he named Prince
Juan Carlos of Borbón
00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:08.040
as his heir and future
king of Spain.
00:34:08.040 --> 00:34:10.080
(applause)
00:34:10.080 --> 00:34:13.680
At 33, Juan Carlos waits
to inherit the throne
00:34:13.680 --> 00:34:16.840
since only Franco\'s death
will give him the crown.
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:21.000
But the problems in store for
this royal family are big ones,
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.240
for no one knows if the new
generation of Spaniards
00:34:24.240 --> 00:34:28.000
will remain passive
once Franco has gone.
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:32.240
Francisco Franco, 82,
dictator of Spain for 36 years,
00:34:32.240 --> 00:34:34.120
lay in state tonight
in his palace.
00:34:34.120 --> 00:34:36.920
In Madrid, the Generalísimo\'s
passing was marked
00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:40.000
by artillery salvos
every 15 minutes,
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:42.760
and these will continue
until he goes to his grave
00:34:42.760 --> 00:34:44.640
on Sunday in the
Valley of the Fallen,
00:34:44.640 --> 00:34:49.560
the monument Franco had built
after the Spanish Civil War.
00:34:49.560 --> 00:34:52.400
♪
00:35:33.200 --> 00:35:37.600
(indistinct remarks)
00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:02.880
(mixed conversations)
00:36:03.200 --> 00:36:05.480
A last testament
released after his death,
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:07.680
Franco warned against
Spain\'s enemies,
00:36:07.680 --> 00:36:12.920
and said his authoritarian
policies must continue.
00:36:12.920 --> 00:36:15.120
At a rally and march last night,
00:36:15.120 --> 00:36:17.280
party members
rededicated themselves
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:21.200
to the policies
of Franco\'s regime.
00:36:21.200 --> 00:36:26.040
And vowed to defend
them at whatever cost.
00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:30.680
The conspiracy of silence
settled like a thick, gray fog
00:36:30.680 --> 00:36:35.000
refusing to budge until
long after Franco\'s death.
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:38.160
Politicians on the right
and the left colluded
00:36:38.160 --> 00:36:40.280
in an unwritten
Pacto del Olvido.
00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:45.360
An agreement that Spain\'s
painful past be best forgotten.
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:47.240
Those on the left
demanded amnesty
00:36:47.240 --> 00:36:51.920
for the many political prisoners
crowding Franco\'s jails.
00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:55.000
But the Amnesty Law of 1977
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:58.720
came to be seen by some
as a devil\'s bargain,
00:36:58.720 --> 00:37:01.640
because it also
absolved the Francistas
00:37:01.640 --> 00:37:04.520
of their crimes
against humanity.
00:37:04.520 --> 00:37:09.040
The Amnesty Law was a first
cousin to the Pacto del Olvido,
00:37:09.040 --> 00:37:12.560
conflating the concepts
of amnesty and amnesia
00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:17.000
tightly together in
the national psyche.
00:40:12.640 --> 00:40:16.280
(speaking in Spanish)
00:40:36.600 --> 00:40:38.400
(indistinct chatter)
00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:06.800
Under pressure
from the Grassroots
00:42:06.800 --> 00:42:08.640
Historical Memory Movement,
00:42:08.640 --> 00:42:11.560
the law for the Recovery
of Historical Memory
00:42:11.560 --> 00:42:13.880
was passed in 2007.
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:17.000
It acknowledged that
there were in fact victims
00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.200
on both sides,
and it ordered the removal
00:42:20.200 --> 00:42:22.760
of tributes to Franco
with the exception
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:24.600
of those on church property.
00:42:24.600 --> 00:42:27.560
So the government of Spain
finally admitted
00:42:27.560 --> 00:42:28.920
that there were victims,
00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:31.320
but not that
there were perpetrators.
00:42:31.320 --> 00:42:34.840
The state essentially
pardoned itself for its crimes.
00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:40.000
No murderers have been
brought to trial nor will be.
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:42.440
No government official
has apologized
00:42:42.440 --> 00:42:46.240
to the victims
or their families.
00:44:14.160 --> 00:44:17.680
In today\'s news,
Spain is again at the center
00:44:17.680 --> 00:44:18.880
of European crisis...
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:22.600
For the Recovery
of Historic Memory...
00:44:22.600 --> 00:44:25.120
Who lies in
the unmarked mass graves...
00:44:25.120 --> 00:44:26.400
But as these graves
are exhumed...
00:44:26.400 --> 00:44:28.280
In spite of official attempts
to block their efforts...
00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:33.640
The country may be forced
to confront its bloody past.
00:44:33.640 --> 00:44:36.680
Mass graves continue
to be excavated...
00:44:36.680 --> 00:44:40.400
(mixed remarks)
00:45:35.760 --> 00:46:20.680
♪
00:46:22.680 --> 00:46:25.800
(speaking in Spanish)
00:48:13.160 --> 00:48:16.280
(siren beeping)
00:48:59.400 --> 00:49:01.840
We\'re the second country
after Cambodia
00:49:01.840 --> 00:49:03.000
with the most disappearance,
00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:05.360
and my grandfather
is one of them.
00:49:05.360 --> 00:49:07.000
He\'s in one mass grave.
00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:11.080
In 2010, I managed to find him,
00:49:11.080 --> 00:49:15.120
and I know exactly in
which mass grave he\'s buried
00:49:15.120 --> 00:49:16.080
in (unintelligible), right,
00:49:16.080 --> 00:49:17.480
but we\'re not allowed
to unbury him
00:49:17.480 --> 00:49:19.880
and give him a decent burial,
because the government,
00:49:19.880 --> 00:49:21.800
who\'s governing
this country now,
00:49:21.800 --> 00:49:23.040
they\'re the inheritants
of Franco,
00:49:23.040 --> 00:49:27.520
so they don\'t wanna touch
anything to do with the past.
00:49:27.520 --> 00:49:31.200
According to them, it\'s like
unburying the wounds again,
00:49:31.200 --> 00:49:33.760
and they don\'t
understand that, for us,
00:49:33.760 --> 00:49:35.080
it\'s the other way around.
00:49:35.080 --> 00:49:40.600
We need to unbury them to heal.
00:49:40.600 --> 00:49:43.240
(singing in Spanish)
00:49:43.240 --> 00:50:50.040
♪
00:50:55.440 --> 00:50:58.520
(speaking in Spanish)
00:51:07.600 --> 00:51:09.160
♪
00:51:09.160 --> 00:51:14.120
Today, they\'ve discovered
a new document
00:51:14.120 --> 00:51:16.400
from 1965...
00:51:16.400 --> 00:51:20.400
from the government,
which was never made public.
00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:24.840
♪
00:51:55.680 --> 00:51:59.880
The term used, they said,
00:51:59.880 --> 00:52:04.920
\"homosexualism\"
and \"aberrations\"
00:52:04.920 --> 00:52:07.640
that are publically known.
00:52:07.640 --> 00:52:22.000
♪
00:52:22.720 --> 00:52:26.040
Federico Garcia Lorca
functions paradoxically
00:52:26.040 --> 00:52:29.160
as both establishment
face of democratic Spain
00:52:29.160 --> 00:52:32.760
and as the ultimate
contracultural gay symbol.
00:52:32.760 --> 00:52:36.280
As if there were only room
in the cultural register
00:52:36.280 --> 00:52:38.320
for one queer icon at a time,
00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:40.520
Lorca\'s renown
has eclipsed the stories
00:52:40.520 --> 00:52:44.400
of once prominent
lesbian writers and artists
00:52:44.400 --> 00:52:47.280
of the Spanish Republic.
00:52:48.880 --> 00:52:51.280
The many lesbians
who disappeared
00:52:51.280 --> 00:52:53.480
into the mists of history
00:52:53.480 --> 00:52:57.760
are in essence
cultural desaparecidas.
00:54:03.560 --> 00:54:08.240
Margarita Xirgu was already
then a very well-known actress
00:54:08.240 --> 00:54:12.760
who loved Lorca\'s work
from the start
00:54:12.760 --> 00:54:14.720
and wanted to help him,
so her presence
00:54:14.720 --> 00:54:18.640
when he started as a playwright
was very important,
00:54:18.640 --> 00:54:22.200
because she already
had a big name,
00:54:22.200 --> 00:54:25.120
and she believed in him
and followed him
00:54:25.120 --> 00:54:27.520
until the very end.
00:54:27.520 --> 00:54:30.640
In fact, when
the Civil War started,
00:54:30.640 --> 00:54:33.640
he was about to go to Mexico,
00:54:33.640 --> 00:54:35.680
because she was performing
00:54:35.680 --> 00:54:37.600
three of his plays
in Mexico City,
00:54:37.600 --> 00:54:41.760
and he was going
to join her there.
00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:46.440
In fact, she was one
of the first to hear
00:54:46.440 --> 00:54:49.520
the news of his assassination.
00:54:49.520 --> 00:55:08.560
♪
00:55:08.560 --> 00:55:11.240
(sobbing)
00:55:14.800 --> 00:55:18.880
(speaking in Spanish)
00:56:22.080 --> 00:56:26.280
♪
00:56:26.280 --> 00:56:29.200
(singing in Spanish)
00:56:29.200 --> 00:59:11.520
♪
00:59:11.520 --> 00:59:14.360
(insects chirping)
01:00:40.920 --> 01:00:44.160
(speaking in Spanish)
01:00:57.560 --> 01:01:03.560
♪
01:01:03.560 --> 01:01:06.160
(whistle blowing)
01:01:06.160 --> 01:01:22.440
♪
01:01:22.440 --> 01:01:25.320
In the 1970s,
while gay liberation
01:01:25.320 --> 01:01:26.760
was bursting out of the closet
01:01:26.760 --> 01:01:29.200
all over the rest
of the Western world,
01:01:29.200 --> 01:01:33.200
Spain was still under
the dark cloud of fascism,
01:01:33.200 --> 01:01:34.880
and yet a recent
Pew poll reveals
01:01:34.880 --> 01:01:39.720
that Spain\'s now more accepting
of same-sex relationships
01:01:39.720 --> 01:01:42.760
than any other country
in the world.
01:01:42.760 --> 01:01:46.560
How could Spain rocket
from the extreme persecution
01:01:46.560 --> 01:01:47.280
of homosexuality
01:01:47.280 --> 01:01:50.760
to become the LGBT capital
of Europe?
01:01:50.760 --> 01:01:53.720
(drumming)
01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:25.920
(indistinct chanting)
01:04:30.080 --> 01:04:40.120
♪
01:06:14.440 --> 01:06:17.040
(speaking in Spanish)
01:08:55.360 --> 01:08:58.680
But the literal bones
01:08:58.680 --> 01:09:03.560
are, we feel, of no interest,
of no importance.
01:09:42.920 --> 01:09:48.000
Looking for his remains,
I feel, is, um...
01:09:48.720 --> 01:09:50.280
fetishistic?
01:09:50.280 --> 01:09:55.440
Is sort of an abuse
of his memory.
01:10:10.560 --> 01:10:14.360
Well, hopefully
they won\'t find him.
01:10:15.240 --> 01:10:19.360
I believe he should
be left alone.
01:10:52.240 --> 01:11:12.600
♪
01:11:12.600 --> 01:11:14.120
Here lies the dilemma
01:11:14.120 --> 01:11:17.240
at the heart
of historical memory.
01:11:17.240 --> 01:11:20.480
You can\'t remember
what you never knew.
01:11:20.480 --> 01:11:25.040
Not knowing eats away
at a person and at society.
01:11:25.040 --> 01:11:30.720
When so much erasure and denial
have obscured the truth,
01:11:30.720 --> 01:11:35.280
how can we ever really
reconcile with the past?
01:11:35.280 --> 01:11:41.280
♪
01:11:41.280 --> 01:11:47.320
The ghosts of Spain
continue to haunt the present.
01:11:47.320 --> 01:11:50.080
So where can this story end?
01:11:50.080 --> 01:11:51.640
♪
01:11:51.640 --> 01:11:54.560
Antonio Ruiz lives
in the same village
01:11:54.560 --> 01:11:56.640
where he was born, grew up,
01:11:56.640 --> 01:11:59.800
and was arrested
and banished from.
01:11:59.800 --> 01:12:01.720
♪
01:12:01.720 --> 01:12:04.800
Today, they sort of apologized.
01:12:04.800 --> 01:12:06.920
♪
01:12:06.920 --> 01:12:10.880
A small sliver of justice.
01:12:20.480 --> 01:12:23.000
(applause)
01:12:23.000 --> 01:12:56.120
♪
01:12:57.120 --> 01:15:10.560
♪
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 75 minutes
Date: 2017
Genre: Expository
Language: English; Spanish
Color/BW: /
Closed Captioning: Available
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