The 6th of February 1970 (On Paulino Viota’s Duración)

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the Spanish experimental film Duración (Duration, Paulino Viota, 1970), vindicating its unique nature as an example of both structural film and expanded cinema, as well as its original political dimension, considering the work not only as the film but also as the event of its tumultuous screening on the 6th of February 1970 in Bilbao. Each aspect of the film’s approach is analysed in detail, placing it in relation to the context of experimental film of the time, and considering its similarities and differences to the work of filmmakers like Andy Warhol, as well as contemporary music, particularly the relationship between John Cage and the minimalist music movement, shedding light on the film’s thought-provoking reflection on the relationship between time and duration and on the very nature of cinema itself.