We have spent many many Thursday evenings in front of Spanish TV. Through the eyes of the middle class Alcántara family, we have experienced Spain’s day-by-day transformation from Franco fascism to modern democracy. Simple, honest, at times funny, at times tragic, without exaggerating characters or situations,  and with great acting and  great script writing - this is TV at it's best.

Cuéntame cómo pasó is a Spanish television series set during the last years of Francoist rule, and the transition to democracy in Spain. It has been broadcast by the Spanish public TV channel TVE1, since 2001.

Relying on a combination of micro and macrohistory, the series recounts the experiences of a middle class family, the Alcántara, during the last years of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition, and is both a chronology and a socio-political drama of the time.

The series was created to celebrate the first 25 years since the transition and its didactic spirit is clearly evident in some of the episodes. It includes documentary interviews with historical figures of the era, such as those concerned by the assassination of the then Prime Minister Carrero Blanco or the death of Franco.

From its first episode, broadcast on September 13, 2001, Cuéntame has reflected changes in Spain since 1968 (it starts in April 1968.) In December 2008, TVE and Ganga Group announced that the series, in its 10th season, had achieved very good audience levels, and would be renewed for up to 3 more seasons, with the storyline moving firmly into the 80s and the “Movida madrileña”.

The Alcántara's are a middle class family who live in Madrid, Antonio (the father), Mercedes (the mother), Ines, Toni, Carlos and Maria, are the members of that family, who live with the grandmother, called Herminia. Other Characters like Cervan (a man who sells the newspaper in a little shop) or Desi (who is the best friend of Antonio) represent the typical Spanish society in the last years of Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition (1975). (source: partly wikipedia)

And you can still watch all the old episodes on RTVE.ES

Movie night, Aug 10

El Corazón de la Tierra - Heart of the Earth reveals an unedited page of Spanish history from more than 120 years ago and it deals with issues still very relevant today: the conflict between economic interests and quality of life, pollution, colonialism, human rights, and the exploitation of child labor.

The film is based on a novel (Riotinto Mines/Minas de Riotinto) by the Spanish poet Juan Cobos Wilkins. It transports us to the Riotinto mine during the period from 1888 to 1957. In particular, the novel narrates the events of 1888, the year in which the Riotinto miners launched a rebellion against British rule.

It's a historical drama, set around the British-owned copper mines of Andalusia's Rio Tinto in 1888 and depicts the friendship of two women, one Spanish and the other British, against the social upheavals of the time. Based on the true story of the arrival of Cuban anarchist Maximiliano Tornet, which resulted in a strike -- the first ecological demonstration in history -- and a massacre. Blanca Bossa, age 9, and her British friend Kathleen, daughter of the mine's director, witness the horrific living conditions of mine workers, as well as air pollution and acid rain.People living in the huge area from Seville to Southern Portugal suffer from the toxic fumes the mining produces--as do animals.  Thousands of people from all over the Province of Huelva follow the revolutionary Maximilliano (with whom Blanca's mother falls in love) in the world's first ecological protest march. They peacefully demand better working conditions and the end of toxic gases, which British law had outlawed 30 years before. For economic reasons, the mine management refuses.Spanish soldiers, sent by the governor who is very loyal to the British mining firm, open fire on the protesters in Riotinto's Plaza. Decades later, Blanca and Kathleen, along with the mine owner and his bodyguards, attend a memorial ceremony marking the "year of the shots."

In the 50s the mines were returned to Spain. The film is dedicated to the memory of everybodywho died in the square of Rio Tinto.

While not so long ago you could count the women behind the cameras in Spain on the fingers of one hand, since the nineties Spain has become one of the leading countries in terms of numbers of female filmmakers worldwide.What's more, these days, films directed by women are not merely isolated cases with little media impact and a tendency towards the sweet or romantic. Instead, they enjoy great success at national and international festivals and are praised by both audiences and critics.

Movie night, Aug 3

Icíar Bollaín Pérez-Mínguez is a Spanish actress, director and writer. She made her début when she was 15 years old. Hola, estas sola? (Hi, are you alone?) (1995) was her first feature film as director, a story about two young girls who dream of finding an earthly paradise, and undertake a long trip towards the sea.

TAMBIEN LA LLUVIA is her tenth film as a director: Costa and Sebastian arrive in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to shoot a period film about Columbus's arrival in the Americas. Sebastian, the director, wants to upturn the entire conservative myth of Western Civilisation's arrival in the Americas as a force for good. His story is about what Columbus set in motion; the obsession with gold, the hunt for slaves by Spanish mastiffs, and punitive violence to those Indians who fought back. Costa, the producer, doesn't care what happened yesterday never mind five centuries ago, he just wants to get the job done on time and within budget. The battle to get their film made intertwines with the fight of their Bolivian crew members, deprived of their most basic rights, prohibited from collecting even the rain. As Sebastian and Costa struggle with their film, the violence in the community in which they shoot increases by the day until the entire city explodes into the now infamous Bolivian Water War of April 2000. Five hundred years after Columbus, sticks and stones confront the steel and gunpowder of a modern army. David against Goliath once again. Only this time they fight not about gold, but the simplest of life-giving elements: water. Winner, Audience Award, Berlin Film Festival 2011 Bridging Borders Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival Four Progressive Film Awards Thirteen Goya Award Nominations Spain's Official Entry for the 2011 Academy Awards (Bookdata)