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Found in Spain the alleged first “talkie” by a female director

Alexia Muiños Ruiz
Alexia Muiños Ruiz

The Spanish Filmoteca finds the alleged oldest soundtracked picture in Spain directed by a female director, María Forteza

Mallorca is an 8 minute film that has recently been found by Filmoteca Española . Dated in 1933 or 1934, the film could be the oldest talking film directed by a woman.

The mystery around this film has not been unveiled. Who is this director, Maria Forteza? In which system was the sound recorded? Why has this film been a secret since 1933?

For 38 years, Mallorca was hidden in the archives, wrongly identified as a silent 1926 film made by a male director. But as the lockdown began, Filmoteca workers took another look at this documentary and realized by the opening credits, that it had not been correctly labelled.

Until now, Rosario Pi’s 1935 film El gato montés (The Mountain Cat) was thought to be the first soundtracked picture in Spain, directed by a woman.

 

MALLORCA (María Forteza, c. 1933-34) from Filmoteca Española on Vimeo.

Headlines about this shortfilm being the first talkie  directed by a woman in Spain are welcome but clearly, we should think why there are still women’s names that have been erased and shelved.

How many treasures could be found in case the lockdown is extended?

Could we rewrite history perhaps?

 

More information about this finding from Filmoteca Española publishing