Summary

Throughout the 20th century, a constant exchange of artists and film coproductions took place between Spain and Mexico. Prominent names such as the Spaniard Luis Buñuel were linked to the history of the Mexican big screen, but there were also numerous producers, cameramen, and actors, among them Antonio Moreno, Jorge Mistral, and Armando Calvo, who, since the beginning of the 20th century, worked for the Mexican industry. At the same time, Mexican cinema reflected the reality of Spanish emigration, and several Mexican actors played Spanish characters, recreating stereotypes such as that of poor Spaniards in search of a fortune.

The presence of Spaniards was especially remarkable during the 1940s and 1950s when some Mexican films introduced Spanish musical genres (copla, flamenco) and included Spanish singers such as Paquita la de Ronda in the 1940s and Lola Flores and Carmen Sevilla in the 1950s. In addition, some 1960s films starred the Spanish twins Pili and Mili in the company of the Mexican singers Alberto Vazquez (Vestidas y alborotadas, 1968) or Enrique Guzmán (La princesa hippie, 1969). From then on, in the context of the construction of a progressively transnational cinema, many of these Mexican films continued to recreate stereotypes of the imaginary of Spain while contributing to the spread of Spanish musical genres such as the copla and the tonada andaluza.