Josefina Molina
| Josefina Molina | |
|---|---|
| Born |
14 November 1936 Andalucía, Spain |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1966-1998 |
Josefina Molina (born 14 November 1936) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Her 1989 film Esquilache was entered into the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.[1] Her film Teresa de Jesús won several awards, including the Antena de Oro (1984), and the TP de Oro (1985, Best National Series).[2]
Life
Born in Córdoba, Andalusia in 1936, she studied Political Science and in 1962 she funded an experimental theater group in her native city directing a numbers of plays. By 1968 she had begun directing her first television documentaries for the series Aqui España (Here, Spain). During the period of her apprenticeship in television, Molina also pursued studies at the Escuela Oficial de Cine (EOC), completing her degree in 1969 as the first woman in the history of the film school to receive a degree in film direction.[3]
Molina first feature length film was Vera, un cuento cruel (1973) (Vera, a cruel story), a Gothic horror story. She continued to work on television directing more than forty dramatic programs for state television.[4] At the same time she worked on the theater directing a stage adaptation of Cinco Horas con Mario (Five hours with Mario) (1979) adapted from a popular novel written by Miguel Delibes.[4] She then scripted and directed a Cinéma vérité film involving the play's leading actress, Lola Herrera, and her real life estranged husband, Daniel Dicenta in Función de Noche (1980)(Evening Performance).[3] The film, which bared many of the intimate details of the couple's life, underscored certain feminist themes related to the legacy of Francoist culture on the social formation of Spanish Women. Though Molina previously had dealt with women's issues in her television dramas an adapting Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, and the documentary: La Mujer y el deporte (Women and sports), her films began to focus more on women's themes.[3]
One of Josefina Molina most successful works was her highly praised television docudrama, Teresa de Jesús (1984), a biopic of Teresa of Ávila, the sixteenth century Spanish saint and Doctor of the Church.[3] In 1988 she directed Esquilache a historical film starring Fernando Fernán Gómez as Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache. It was based on the play Un Soñador Para Un Pueblo by Antonio Buero Vallejo. She received a Goya Award nomination as best director for Esquilache. Her following film Lo mas natural (1990) (The most natural thing) had a feminist input. La Lola se va a los puertos (1993) (Lola goes to the ports), starring the singer Rocío Jurado, was her last feature film.[4] In 1998 she directed Entre naranjos, an adaptation of the eponymous novel written by Blasco Ibáñez a made for television project.[5] Since then Molina has retired from directing.
A pioneer in Spain of films directed by women, she funded CIMA (Asociación de mujeres cineastas y de medios audiovisuales), an association of female filmmakers together with Inés París, Chus Gutiérrez, Icíar Bollaín and Isabel Coixet of which she is honorary president. In 2011 the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave her an honorary Goya Award.[5]
Filmography as director
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Vera, a cruel tale | Vera, un cuento cruel | |
| 1981 | Evening Performance | Función de noche | |
| 1984 | Teresa de Jesús | Teresa de Jesús | Made for television. Antena de Oro (1984), and the TP de Oro (1985, Best National Series).[2] |
| 1989 | Esquilache | Esquilache | 10 Goya Awards nominations including best film and best director. |
| 1990 | A Very Natural thing | Lo más natural | |
| 1993 | Lola goes to the ports | La Lola se va a los puertos | |
| 1998 | Among the orange groves | Entre naranjos | |
Notes
- ↑ "Berlinale: 1989 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
- 1 2 Awards at IMDB for "Teresa de Jesús" (1984)
- 1 2 3 4 D’Lugo, Guide to the Cinema of Spain, p. 180
- 1 2 3 Torres, Diccionario Espasa Cine Español, p. 322
- 1 2 Josefina Molina, Goya de Honor 2011 RTVE.es
References
- D’Lugo, Marvin. Guide to the Cinema of Spain. Greenwood Press, 1997. ISBN 0313294747
- Torres, Augusto M. Diccionario Espasa Cine Español. Espasa Calpe, 1994, ISBN 84-239-9203-9