| |
|
|
Fiestas cristianas / Fiestas profanas / Christian Feasts / Secular Feasts
1934-1935 - 16mm, B&W, silent, approx. 36 min.
This title currently applies to three reels shot in the region of Murcia by Val del Omar and other filmmakers who took part in the Misiones Pedagógicas on a more or less regular basis. (One of those who are known to have been involved is Rafael Gil.)
This material was conserved for many years by Cristóbal Simancas, a lifelong friend of Val del Omar's who worked closely with him in this period and eventually gave it to María José Val del Omar and Gonzalo Sáenz de Buruaga. According to Simancas, these were three separate documentaries, although they have in common a series of various feasts and rituals characteristic of different places in Murcia: Lorca, Cartagena and the capital that gives its name to the region.
According to some film historians and experts, the images seem to be the work of several hands or, to put it another way, of several more or less personal approaches, which would explain the fact that while many sequences have a simple descriptive function, others are far more elaborate in their formal construction and visual charm, bearing Val del Omar's distinctive stamp.
There has also been speculation that these films would have fallen outside the institutional programme of the Missions, since some of the locations where they were shot are not on the official record of places visited. This would suggest that at times Val del Omar departed from the established itineraries, following his intuition to explore other subjects that particularly attracted him.
With some minor differences from the original order of the three reels, the series is now structured in the following sections:
- Holy Week in Lorca and Cartagena
- Holy Week in Murcia
- Spring festivities in Murcia
Under the generic title Murcia Val del Omar presented one of these reels in 1935, probably the third, at the Cineclub GECI (Grupo de Escritores Cinematográficos Independientes) together with Vibración de Granada. [EB]
^ |
|
| |
|
|
