Esencia de verbena

“A documentary poem about Madrid in 12 images”, screened at San Sebastian as the short film before Buñuel’s An Andalusian Dog. The work bears the imprint of avant-garde cinema: graphic continuity of movement, a liking for speed and life “as it is”, humour (more or less black), figures of surrealism and musicality. In 1947, the filmmaker added a voice-over extolling the national myths typical of Franco’s regime.