Camino, Jaime

b. 1936, Barcelona

   Filmmaker

   In the 1960s Camino directed a variety of films, including Mañana será otro dia (Tomorrow will be Another Day) (1966), a critique of Spanish society in the form of a light farce on the theme of unemployment, España otra vez (Spain Once Again) (1968), based on the reactions of a man who had fought in the International Brigades returning to Spain thirty years later, and Un invierno en Mallorca (A Winter in Majorca) (1969), a highly praised study of the love of Chopin and George Sand. In 1988 he made Luces y Sombras (Lights and Shadows), a film which mixes historical and contemporary elements, moving between the court of Philip IV and the present day. It is, however, probably for the films which deal with the outbreak, course and consequences of the Civil War that Camino is best known. Coscripted with Gutiérrez Aragón in 1975, and set in a country holiday resort near Barcelona, Las largas vaciones del 36 (The Long Holidays of 1936) drew on the reminiscences of Camino's own family. It was shown at Cannes in 1976, though unofficially, because of a controversial final scene in which, as the Republican army retreats, the Moorish cavalry which formed Franco's advance guard appear over the horizon. In La vieja memoria (Old Memories) (1976), Camino builds a picture of the war from old documentaries and interviews with survivors, accompanied by a dramatic sound track. In 1991, in El largo invierno (The Long Winter), he portrays Catalan opposition to Franco and the suppression of their autonomy and language.

   See also: censorship; film and cinema

   Further reading

   - Higginbotham, V. (1988) Spanish Cinema under Franco, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press (one of the most comprehensive surveys of this period).

   - Hopewell, J. (1986) Out of the Past: Spanish Cinema After Franco, London: British Film Institute (a very readable general account of contemporary trends).

   - Molina-Foix, V. (1977) New Cinema in Spain, London: British Film Institute (a comprehensive overview of current trends).

   EAMONN RODGERS