Residual Film Cultures: Real and Imagined Futures of Spanish Cinema

During the Zapatero years (2004-2011), film cultures in Spain were subjected to intense media debates around their purpose and funding. This article argues that these years were key to bringing to light certain elements of film cultures that were declining: the models of desirable national films together with the manner in which these were financed and the forms of consumption that are dear to the auteurist cinephiles who make up the bulk of cultural institutions such as the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas. These elements were challenged when non-auteurist film enthusiasts accessed power. It is argued here that these years showed deep weaknesses of the film as art model. In contrast, emergent practices that are linked to transformations of media industries attendant to a market-driven culture, and the increased transnational access to cultural contents on the Internet showed the future.