Women and the Shift from Theatre to Cinema in Spain: The Case of Helena Cortesina (1903-84)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify the main causes behind women achieving, on the one hand, important positions as theatre managers in Spain but, on the other, being relegated a marginal status in the shift to cinema. We use the career of the artist Helena Cortesina to illustrate the only known example of a woman becoming a silent cinema entrepreneur in Spain. An actress, producer, and director of Flor de España o la leyenda de un torero (Spanish flower or the bullfighter's story, 1921) Cortesina transitioned from the variety dances stage to silent film and became a theatrical manager. Her professional career exemplifies the inter-artistic relations between cinema and the scenic arts at the beginning of the twentieth century and the professional bridge between them. This article contributes to feminist film historiography. Following Monica Dall’Asta, it presents a ‘history that invites us to work using creative hypotheses and even imagination’. The article revisits Spanish Film History, reinterpreting the hegemonic production of knowledge that has been historically told from a (supposedly) un-gendered perspective. Our article seeks to disrupt this patriarchal narrative of firsts (including geniuses, technical discoveries, and masterpieces) that relegate women's experiences to the margins of History.