Saturday Symposium: La Movida Madrileña

A series of talks by prominent academics and cultural commentators  culminating in an open panel discussion chaired by Nuria Triana-Toribio, Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Manchester.

Intermediate level – for those with some knowledge of film or cultural studies.

Livin’ la movida

We are pleased to welcome Jesús Ordovás, director and presenter of esteemed Spanish radio programme: Diario Pop and journalist Sabas Martin, Radio 3 Co-ordinator of Programmes, who will talk about their own experiences in Spain during la movida madrileña.

In association with the Instituto Cervantes, Manchester. Further guests to be confirmed.

Mark Allinson

The legacy of la movida: the case of Alaska

Professor Mark Allinson looks at the career of Spain’s first punk and movida icon Olvido Gara (otherwise known as Alaska) in terms of celebrity, politics, gender and sexuality.

Professor Mark Allinson is Head of the School of Modern Languages at the University of Leicester, author of A Spanish Labyrinth: The Films of Pedro Almodóvar (I.B. Tauris) and co-author of Spanish Cinema. A Student’s Guide (Hodder Arnold).

Paul Julian Smith

From Madrid to the City: Comics of the movida and Almodóvar’s LABYRINTH OF PASSION

This talk explores two texts of the Madrid movida:

the first is Rodrigo’s Manuel, a little known comic strip first published in the monthly magazine La Luna, the second is Almodóvar’s second feature LABYRINTH OF PASSION. Paul Julian Smith examines the city as a place for encounters, both social and sexual, amongst the liberated citizens of the post-Franco era.

Paul Julian Smith is Professor of Spanish at the University of Cambridge and a frequent contributor to Sight and Sound. He is the author of Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar (Verso Books) and Amores Perros: Modern Classic (London: British Film Institute).

Panel session

We will welcome back all of our speakers for an open discussion to be chaired by Nuria Triana Toribio. Dr Nuria Triana Toribio lectures in Spanish at the University of Manchester and has written extensively on Spanish Cinema, La movida, questions of national and transnational identities and is the author of Spanish National Cinema (Routledge).