Performance and Spanish film is the first book to provide a detailed study of screen acting in Spanish film. With fifteen original essays by leading scholars of Spanish film, the book casts light on the manifold meanings, methods and influences of Spanish screen performance, from the silent era to the present day. In doing so, the book provides bold new readings of the work of significant Spanish actors and filmmakers, from Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Alfredo Landa, to Pedro Almodóvar, Carlos Saura and Alejandro Amenábar. The fine-grained study of acting in each chapter also provides a means of exploring broader questions surrounding Spanish film practices, culture and society.

Performance and Spanish film will be essential reading for both students and scholars of Spanish film alike, as well as to those more broadly interested in the history of screen acting.

'For enthusiasts of Spanish cinema and anyone bewitched by screen acting, this is a dream book. The editors bring together some of the most exciting and imaginative experts on Spanish Cinema writing in English today, as well as presenting a substantial and brilliant introduction to the topic. Each chapter has its own compelling revelations, whether by way of fine-grained analysis or wide new conceptual framings, whether on single named actors, particular films, modes of training, or successive new ways of making films.'
Chris Perriam, Professor of Hispanic Studies, the University of Manchester

'For enthusiasts of Spanish cinema and anyone bewitched by screen acting, this is a dream book. The editors bring together some of the most exciting and imaginative experts on Spanish Cinema writing in English today, as well as presenting a substantial and brilliant introduction to the topic. The range of the chapters is spectacular and the perspectives compelling.'
Chris Perriam, Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Manchester

‘Performance and Spanish film is an excellent collection of essays on a subject too rarely explored. From sophisticated comedy to pornography and from Basqueness to fatness, this book offers a fascinating account of the vital contribution of acting to Spanish cinema from the 1920 to the present day.’
Paul Julian Smith, Distinguished Professor in the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Program at The City University of New York

‘Performance and Spanish film is the first scholarly book that gives screen acting in Spain the attention it has long deserved. This superbly edited volume is essential reading for scholars and students of Spanish film alike.’
Tatjana Pavlovic, Professor of Spanish at Tulane University, New Orleans

‘…the book is a remarkable contribution that contextualizes many questions about performance in Spanish cinema presenting them attractively to international audiences. Of interest to both academics and students, it deserves the attention of film scholars and historians working in Spanish studies or looking for comparative references, as the rich film history of Spain has much to offer.’
Panagiotis Zestanakis, University of Crete, Historical Journal of Film Radio of Television

Tom Whittaker is Senior Lecturer in Film and Spanish Studies at the University of Liverpool

Dean Allbritton is Assistant Professor in Spanish at Colby College

Alejandro Melero is Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Carlos III University, Madrid