Made clandestinely using found footage and sound recordings from the Spanish Post-war period, the film couldn’t be released until after the dictator General Franco had died.
The film documents popular songs in the period immediately after the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, but when re-editing the images, Patino managed to dislocate them from their original purpose and intention, revealing new readings, meanings and questions.
Canciones para después de una guerra consists of a collage of signs rescued from oblivion; Songs of patriotic exaltation, religious devotion and victorious voices. Unusual and daring, dissenting with respect to any regulations, academic or aesthetic cannons, this masterpiece sent shockwaves throughout Spanish society, regardless of age and political leanings.
