Devuélveme la Voz

Since the beginning of the 20th century spread forms of leisure unknown so far. The film was one of them and was a revolution in the field of culture and the media. It allowed contemplation of images in movement, and the audience in the dark made her feel an experience that was individually and collectively at the same time. It did not know how to read or write and only needed a projector, a screen (which could be a simple white wall) and electric light, another innovative advancement. The first films were silent, very brief and often accompanied by piano music live as part of the narrative. At the beginning they projected in tents, barracks and theatres, and later in rooms built to purpose. Experience had shown that it was more cost-effective to have the peak audience at a low price that working for the rich traditional patrons: the cinema became a daily spectacle of masses. People of all strata of society went to the same session and they saw the same movies, although there were seats at different prices (the so-called 'henhouse' were cheaper).

In Alcoy, screening films had a remarkable development, especially since 1931 with the arrival from the United States of the talkies, coinciding with the second Spanish Republic and the founding of Radio Alcoy. One of the first important local enabled the projection was the circus Theatre, which had been founded in October 1903 as a symbol of modernity in the municipality (Alcoy was one of the 40 Spanish cities that had Theater Circus). It is estimated that there was a total of 11 cinemas in the city during the first half of the 20th century.

With the Francoism, cinema was the most popular entertainment. It allowed the escape of the harsh reality daily, although he was subjected to a rigid censorship and established the compulsory dubbing into Spanish of all films (precisely foreign films were the most successful, particularly American cinema). In addition, since 1943, movie theaters were forced to run, before each session, a propaganda official newsletter, the no-do, where the banality was the norm and whose main task was to misinform, outlining a world completely away from reality with unsettling purpose. There were many bombastic propaganda during the 1940s films, but from the 50 it tended to a cinema with Schema simple and carefree, especially after the creation in 1953 of the Festival of cinema of San Sebastián, where they performed in the 60s and 70 interesting Spanish movies from the 'escuela de Barcelona' and the 'new Spanish film', who only much later passed to regular theaters, some reserved only for 'Film Clubs' and 'Rooms of art', very minority.

It was between the late 1940s and early 1950s when launched in Alcoy theaters large and modern to date, such as Calderón (1944), the Avenida (December 1947), Goya (November 1949), Capitol (April 1950), Monterrey (summer of 1953) and so on. From 1956 to 1957 was also the Cinema Club Pax, one of the pioneers in all Spain. 

The film was very present in the programming of Radio Alcoy. Starting with billboard shows, announcing films that they projected in cinemas in the city and that it radiated to 14: 30 and 22: 00 daily. It seems that even is radiaron the dialogues of some releases in the 1950s, thanks to a line microphone (out of a total of 5) extended to the cinemaa Goya. But there were also specialized in cinematography in the 1960s, programs such as 'Reflejos' and ' Desde la Butaca'. 'Reflejos' was much audience and in addition to inform local Billboard weekly, said the most important premieres based on feedback from journals. Aired Mondays at 22: 30, with screenplay by Antonio Doménech and the collaboration of Mario Silvestre and the cinephile priest José Ferrer Giner, who was known as "Mossèn CIFESA" and was one of the creators of the aforementioned Cinema Club. 'Desde la butaca', for its part, was continued from the previous, although essentially informational, less critical and less successful. It was broadcast every day at 14: 00 and your manager was Mario Silvestre.

Some cinemas of Alcoy entered into crisis in the 1970s. In the 1980s, with the advent of home video, had been closed almost all. The radio was no longer talk about them

 More recordings Devuélveme la voz

Listings of recordings: Cinema

University of Alicante. University Library. Fonoteca