ABSTRACT
In 1992, Spain achieved three milestones that secured its status as a fully modernised democratic nation on the global stage: the Barcelona Olympics, the Seville Expo ‘92 and Madrid's tenure as European City of Culture. In a similar fashion, a new generation of younger filmmakers entered the industry, with an unprecedented rise of women directors - with 158 first-time directors debuting feature-length films, 31 of whom were women. The 1990s also saw the most important shifts in the Spanish film industry, due to its progressive globalisation, and the birth of private television channels in 1990. This chapter therefore starts by mapping out what these changes were; secondly, it assesses how far and in what ways the R.D. 1282/1989, popularly known as the Semprún Decree, enacted under Jorge Semprún's position as Minister of Culture (1988–1991) and Miguel Marías as Head of the ICAA between 1988 and 1990, was essential in shaping those changes; finally, it traces whether the promise of a renewed generation entering the film industry in the early 1990s led to the establishment of solid careers for women or, to the contrary, it only advanced male careers.
