The documentary work of Llorenç Soler as a precursor to the new subjectivities of real cinema

Abstract

The article analyses the film path of the Valencian documentary filmmaker Lloren Soler as one of the most unique and unknown filmmakers of contemporary Spanish culture and yet a forerunner of many of the new subjectivities of real cinema. From the background of documentary film and the historical reflection on its role in reality, this researc follows the career of Soler, understood as Chaim against the living conditions of the lower social classes in the context of Spain under dictator Franco rule. In early 1971 there was a turning point where the documentary filmmaker expresses an certain creative crisis divided between a cinema of social content and another of a more experimental nature. From film and, especially, thematic analysis, the study of his documentaries is addressed in relation to this tension. A tension that not only exemplifies the various theoretical contributions that converge in the conceptualization of the documentary, but also serves as a testament to the doubts and choices that the author shows around three main thematic axes: the commitment to alterity, the social political militancy, and the artistic cultural axis. The conclusions point to how Soler’s critical gaze shows the need to seek for new narrative forms, as a precursor to the most recent approaches to the real that, especially from the possibilities of digital tools, alter the conventional relationship between author and viewer, the role of memory and the different mechanisms or forms of representation.