España 1936 is a 1937 Spanish short documentary film.
Production
The film was directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois and produced and co-written by Luis Buñuel, about the early days of the Spanish Civil War. It contains much genuine newsreel footage. In 1937, Spanish newspaper El Sol said this of the film:
Although Buñuel made the film in association with the French Communist Party, the film lacks a lot of the overt biases common to political documentaries of this era. Buñuel chronicled this film in his typical style showcasing the inhumanity, death, and destruction of the Spanish Civil War rather than focusing solely on a political message supporting one side or the other. This notable style of Buñuel stands in contrast to other politically based documentaries of the time including Triumph of the Will, The Man with the Movie Camera, and Night Mail, among others.
See also
The Spanish Earth
Spain in Flames
Further reading
Cinema as Political Propaganda during the Spanish Civil War: España 1936 by Magí Crusells, University of Barcelona, December 2004. PDF download