ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the film Esencia de Verbena directed by Ernesto Gimenez Caballero. He was a Spanish writer, diplomat, and pioneer of Falangism. Subtitled as a "Poema documental de Madrid en 12 imagenes," the film thus first and foremost visualizes several Madrid festivals, presenting the city as a space of leisure and festivities. The film also includes some remarkable multiple-exposure shots, sometimes resulting in almost surreal juxtapositions such as a combination of a city gate with traffic, pigeons, and a depiction of the Virgin. The filmmaker also attempted to combine traditional religious imagery with modern artworks by Goya, Picasso, Picabia, and Maruja Mallo, who wrote a pamphlet entitled Verbena a few years before the film's release. The film was screened at the second Congres International du Cinema Independant in Brussels in November 1930, where it was praised by Jean Painleve among others.
