Transitions and Beyond: Women's Work in Spanish and Portuguese Cinema & TV

Transitions and Beyond: Women's Work in Spanish and Portuguese Cinema & TV

(Scroll down for the full schedule)

The two-day symposium brings Spanish and Portuguese cinema and television into conversation by comparing the 1970s to the present day. It examines ‘then’ and ‘now’ by considering legacies, genealogies and trans-generational memory. It also reflects on patterns of mentoring, and inspiration, among women in these fields. It explores both individual, and indicative, instances of women as filmmakers or TV directors in the 1970s and after, as well as considering women’s work in its widest senses: in above- and below-the-line roles; curatorship; and journalism.

In addition to the papers and panels, the symposium includes two film screenings: Mulheres do meu País (Women of My Country, 2019) by Raquel Freire on Friday, March 20 and ¡Vámonos, Bárbara! (Barbara, Let’s Go!, 1978) by Cecilia Bartolomé on Saturday, March 21. Conference attendees are required to book their tickets for the screenings separately via the links provided.

Please note that by registering for any and all of the events you consent to be photographed for promotional purposes.

Please email Savina Petkova (szp21@cam.ac.uk) with any further dietary or accessibility requirements.

Photography will take place during the event for use on our internal communications and/or social media channels. If you would prefer not to be photographed, please let us know in advance.

Conference Schedule

Day 1: Friday 20 March 2026

9:30 - 10:00

Coffee and registration

Location: Lubbock Room, Peterhouse

10:00 - 10:15

Welcome and introduction

(JD Rhodes, Co-Chair of Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics and Director of Cambridge Screen; Andy Parker, Master of Peterhouse)

Lubbock Room

10:30 - 12:30

Panel 1: Portugal

Lubbock Room

• ‘Sex on the side’: Portugal, Spain, and Post-censorship Cinema

Hilary Owen (University of Oxford)

• Women, Democracy and a New History of Portuguese Film

Mariana Liz (Lisbon)

• "I have always engaged in a variety of roles, moving from one profession to another": Rita Azevedo Gomes and cinema as a space of experimentation and creative practice

Caterina Cucinotta (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos)

Chair: Raquel Freire

12:30 - 13:30

Buffet lunch

Lubbock Room

13:30 - 15:30

Panel 2: Connecting Past and Present

Lubbock Room

• Bridging the gap with a screen: Repertory curatorial practices in Spain and Eastern Europe

Savina Petkova (University of Cambridge)

• Longing for belonging: exploring nostalgia in the affects of contemporary women filmmakers in Spain towards their counterparts in the 1970s.

Cristina Pujol (Open University of Catalonia)

• Visibility of feminisms in film and television as represent (post)-crisis female subjects in contemporary Spain

Abigail Loxham (University of Liverpool)

Chair: Eliana Maestri (University of Exeter)

15:30 - 16:00

Coffee break

Lubbock Room

16:00 - 18:15

Screening of Mulheres do meu País (Women of My Country, 2019), Dir. Raquel Freire. In Portuguese with English Subtitles. With introduction by, and Q and A with, Raquel Freire.

Peterhouse Theatre

Chair: Savina Petkova (University of Cambridge)

18:15 – 19.00

Drinks Reception

Lubbock Room

Conference Schedule

Day 2: Saturday 21 March 2026

9:00 - 9:30

Coffee

Lubbock Room

9:30 - 11:30

Panel 3: Spain

Lubbock Room

• “Primeras y, durante mucho tiempo, únicas.” Mariví Romero and Mari Carmen Izquierdo
  Nuria Triana Toribio (University of Kent)

• “Sí se os podía dejar solos.” Documenting Politics: From Cecilia & José Bartolomé’s Después de…(1983) to Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar’s El silencio de otros (2018).

Elena Martínez-Acacio (University of Cambridge)

• Identity, Modernity and Touch: A Speculative Approach to Costume Designer Maike Marín’s 1970s Spanish Films
  Sally Faulkner (University of Cambridge)

Chair: Melanie Bell (University of Leeds)

11:30 - 12:00

Coffee break

Lubbock Room

12:00 - 13:00

Round table discussion: the challenges of comparative work between Spain and Portugal

Peterhouse Theatre

Chair: Sally Faulkner (University of Cambridge)

13:00 - 14:30

Buffet lunch

Lubbock Room

14:30 – 16:30

Screening of ¡Vámonos, Bárbara! (Barbara, Let’s Go!, 1978), Dir. Cecilia Bartolomé, introduced by Isaías Fanlo (University of Cambridge). In Spanish with English Subtitles created by the Subtitling World Cinema Project (Universities of Cambridge and Exeter).

Followed by a Q and A on Subtitling with Eliana Maestri (University of Exeter), and members of the Subtitling World Cinema Project team.

Peterhouse Theatre

Chair: Isaías Fanlo (University of Cambridge)

16:30 - 17:30

Closing remarks & Closing Drinks

Lubbock Room