José Luis Dibildos: Productor de la Tercera Vía del cine español (1970-1977)

Identifier:  TDX:3270

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3270

Authors:  Varela Santiago, Lucía

Abstract:
The cinematographic movement called the Third Way was carried out in our country mainly by the producer José Luis Dibildos, from around 1970 to 1977. This cinema, proposed by Dibildos, was an attempt to dignify the commercial films that already existed. The producer had the ability to combine the commerciality of ‘costumbristas’ comedies (comedy of manners) with his own elements, a cinema that was more intellectually and critically engaged. The phenomenon brought a whole series of films, mostly comedies, which included a certain critical perspective on the reality of the moment. Films such as Españolas en París (Roberto Bodegas, 1971), Vida conyugal sana (Roberto Bodegas, 1973) and Los nuevos españoles (Roberto Bodegas, 1974) promoted a new image of the country, and represented a citizenry enthusiastic to assimilate attitudes and customs from European societies. Likewise, the type of spectators who welcomed this ‘way’ belonged to a recognizable middle class, which had begun to enjoy a certain standard of living in those years. The Third Way was the result of a cinema in transition. In this movement certain elements are exposed, which give these films the capacity to be used as a means to analyze and to know certain social traits of the time in which they were produced. Dibildos, a committed producer and tireless entrepreneur, conceived a singular way of making cinema as a product of consumption at a time so complex in the history of our country, at the end of Francoist Spain and the early years of democracy. Therefore, the Third Way forms an unmistakable heritage of information and documentation that helps to understand Spanish social history.