The Spirit of Lorca (1986)

In a brief life filled with prodigious artistic achievements, Federico García Lorca’s greatest legacy may well be his complex and compelling personality. Filmed on location in Spain, this BBC Arena documentary profiles the immortalized poet/dramatist, capturing the potent essence of Spanish culture in the process. Extracts from his poems, plays, and letters demonstrate his duende—burning passion—for the arts, while the details of his life and violent death, as told by his biographer Ian Gibson, contemporaries Rafael Alberti and Luis Rosales, and others, present a thoughtful perspective on Spain’s revered literary icon.