The Cinema of Iciar Bollain

Director, actress, scriptwriter, and producer, Iciar Bollain is one of the liveliest of contemporary young Spanish filmmakers and the first female director to have had a film (Tambien la lluvia, 2010) shortlisted by the American Film Academy. Through detailed analysis of film form, socio-cultural contexts, and conditions of production and consumption, the book opens up key issues on gender, production, film authorship, the mediation of socio-historical realities and the whole question of "women's cinema." Covering all aspects of her career, this book begins by taking in her work in front of the camera, beginning with her emergence as a teenage star in Victor Erice's El Sur (1983), and following on with discussions of her mature roles, such as Un paraguas para tres and Leo . Discussion of her work as a producer and director focus on production and form, as well as on the socio-historical contexts to which they belong. Film scholars and students interested in the increasingly prominent place of modern Spanish cinema will find this highly readable book an indispensable guide to an outstanding film-maker who in her directed films addresses some of the more vibrant of contemporary themes: female friendship in Hola, ?estas sola?, immigration in Flores de otro mundo, domestic violence in Te doy mis ojos, tensions between public and private commitments in Mataharis, and socio-economic exploitation in Tambien la lluvia.

Isabel Santaolalla is Professor of Spanish and Film Studies at the University of Roehampton.