ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the film legislation enacted by the PSOE between 2004 and 2010, once José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero gained power in the general elections of 2004. Particularly, it focuses on the Law 55/2007, passed by Fernando Lara as Head of the ICAA (2004–2009) under Carmen Calvo's term as Minister of Culture (2004–2007) because this is the first film law that introduced strategies to promote gender equality in the Spanish film industry. However, despite these measures, scholars such as Fátima Arranz (2007) and Annette Scholz (2020) conclude that women remain invisible in the Spanish film industry. Therefore, this chapter aims to explain the following issues. Firstly, the principles on which the Law was built; secondly, the struggles in the field of Spanish cinema between 2004 and 2008; thirdly, the demands from the key agents in the field that the Law addressed; finally, how far and in what ways the Law advanced gender equality in the Spanish film industry. In so doing, this chapter aims to provide a deeper insight on how the field of Spanish cinema operates regarding gender politics. This chapter does so by looking at the dynamics of power within the field of Spanish cinema that prevent such equality from being accomplished.
