The Archive
What was assembled, and why it can only be seen in this film.
Little Spain pulled together, for the first time, an archive that reveals the untold history of the Spanish-American presence in Manhattan. It is the reason the film exists and the reason it is held where it is held.
The research unveiled a treasure trove of old photographs and other documents. These photographs are copyrighted material and can only be seen in this film. They are not published, not licensed for reproduction, and not available anywhere else.
How it was gathered
The film took several years of work on different levels. Between 2009 and 2010 the director was artist-in-residence at La Nacional, living in the building at 239 West 14th Street while researching and filming, and working through, among others, the Society’s own holdings — material that had accumulated across more than a century and had never been assembled or shown.
The archive is not the Society’s archive. A substantial part of the material the film rests on was never held by La Nacional: it came out of research in other local sources. What the film assembled had never existed as a single body of material anywhere, in any institution.
Robert Sanfiz, president of La Nacional, took part directly: he tells the history of the Society himself on camera and reads the voice-over. Eight residents and members give their testimony. Among them is Francisco Santamaría, who had left A Coruña more than fifty years earlier.
What it contains
Photographs and documents of the 14th Street colony across the twentieth century, including the shopfronts and interiors of businesses that no longer exist. Unpublished footage. The video of the last procession of Santiago Apóstol, filmed at the end of the 1980s. A photograph of Valentín Aguirre outside his Hotel Santa Lucía, from the world of the Centro Vasco Americano. Testimony recorded from people who have since died.
The Spanish colony of New York, by the director’s estimate, reached close to thirty thousand residents. Almost nothing of it was documented before this film.
Why it is not published
The archive is not a website and will not become one. The material is copyrighted and is released in one form only: the film. That is why Little Spain became a much-sought source for researchers, academic libraries, college libraries, specialized writers of fiction and non-fiction, and public libraries across the United States — and why, in 2016, the Spanish novelist María Dueñas bought three copies while researching Las hijas del Capitán.
To see the archive is to watch the film.
For institutions
Licence terms for academic, college and public libraries are set out on Libraries & Universities.
Enquiries: dvd@littlespainfilm.com