Before 1920 there were more women working in the film industry in the United States, in all areas of production, than at any other time in history, including the present. In Hollywood, women, in addition to being the most popular stars, occupied prominent creative positions and great responsibility, amassing more power than any other industry. However, only a few of these pioneers managed to resist the progressive disappearance of women that took place in the 20s with the development of the studio system and the corporate reorganization that it entailed. Those that managed to remain left an indelible mark on the history of American cinema.
This free public film series, presented by the American Space Madrid and American Cultural Studies programs, aims to shed some light on the crucial role played by these exceptional women, in front of and behind the camera, in the golden age of Hollywood in the 30s and 40s. The cycle is made up of a small selection of films that gives us the opportunity to better understand the genealogy of Hollywood and how the film industry, at a given time, offered tremendous professional opportunities to women , as well as enjoying some of the best movies ever produced.
Frances Marion, known as the voice of hollywood, was the most prolific and successful screenwriter of her time. From her She has to her credit more than 300 scripts and 130 produced films, which made her “the best screenwriter in the world of cinema”. From 1917 she was also the highest paid (surpassing all her male peers) in the silent film era and shining even higher with the advent of talkies. She took home the Academy Award twice, in 1930 and 1932, and earned a third nomination in 1934.
This sophisticated choral piece, produced with all the luxury of MGM, features some of the most prominent stars of the 30s (Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Billie Burke, Lionel Barrymore) portraying different characters from New York high society . In dinner at eight we see the nouveau riche trying to blend in with the established elite, the deep friendship of an old theater glory and her one-time admirer turned struggling businessman, a fading movie star breaking the heart of a young heiress, a hell-bent society lady in which nothing and no one disturbs your elegant evening. It is a night in which everything and nothing happens, where we are invited to witness the intimacies and joys of these characters, treated with care, finesse and humor, against an absolutely sumptuous backdrop supervised by David O. Selznick and George Cukor.
Cultural manager, expert in cinema and doctor in Humanities from the Carlos III University of Madrid. his thesis From Waste to Worth: Recycling Moving Images as a Means for Historical Inquiry focuses on the notion of the moving image as a critical thinking tool, specifically in cases that use historical events and their audiovisual records.
As a cultural manager, she has developed and produced various programs and events for institutions such as Medialab-Prado and ARCO. She coordinated the Retiro Experimenta citizen laboratory, part of the pioneering Experimenta Distrito program, in collaboration with the Madrid City Council. As an independent curator she was responsible for the exhibition Kill the father. He has published articles in specialized journals and has participated in conferences organized by institutions such as APME, CENDEAC, the Julio Caro Baroja Institute of Historiography and the Carlos III University of Madrid.
He is currently a member of the Research Group, financed by the Ministry of Education, Subjects, emotions and structures. For a critical social theory project, from the Department of Humanities: Philosophy, Language and Literary Theory of the Carlos III University of Madrid.