In the wake of the 1920s vogue of discophilia, and with the arrival of the talkies, in 1930 Dulac was commissioned to make six short films designed to accompany records she had chosen. Like her three music-inspired “pure” films, many of these “illustrated records” are characterized as “cinegraphic impressions in listening to a record”. Danses espagnoles, which has been described as a “cubist representation” of Spanish dances, will be accompanied by the original recordings, “Cordoba” and “Sevillanas” by Isaac Albeniz. (Recordings courtesy of Alain Carou of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France)

Tami Williams