New Books in Popular Culture Santiago Fouz-Hernández, "The Films of Bigas Luna" (Manchester UP, 2025)
Feb 20, 2026
Santiago Fouz-Hernández, Professor in Film and Iberian Studies at Durham University, offers a concise mini bio and guides listeners through his comprehensive study of Bigas Luna. He discusses archival research, haptic and erotic cinema, thematic trilogies, food and national identity, sensory experience on 35mm screens, meta-cinema, and the politics of the cinematic gaze.
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Early Personal Discovery Of Bigas Luna
- Santiago Fouz-Hernández first saw Bigas Luna's Bilbao on late-night Spanish TV as a minor and it hooked him early on.
- That early viewing and later cinema experiences like Jamón Jamón shaped his long personal and scholarly engagement with Luna.
Tribute Series Sparked Deeper Research
- Fouz-Hernández co-founded a Bigas Luna Tribute series after meeting Luna's daughter and staged over 150 screenings worldwide.
- The ongoing tribute and podcast reinforced his research and public engagement with Luna's cinema.
Watch Films Many Times And Use Archives
- Do watch films repeatedly on different screens and take detailed notes to understand texture and detail.
- Combine screenings with archival research (reviews, screenplays, interviews) to ground film analysis.
