Spain’s Stunning 1968 Eurovision Win Revisited in ‘La Canción,’ From ‘Hierro,’ ‘Rapa’s’ Pepe Coira and Fran Araujo
variety.comJohn Hopewell Chief International Correspondent From the 1950s, as foreign tourists poured onto its beaches, Spain lobbied hard to join the European Economic Community, presenting itself as a modern country, despite its rule by an arcane 1930s dictator.
By 1968, targeted reform notwithstanding, the only part of Europe Spain had entered was the Eurovision Song Contest, and it hadn’t even won that either.
Based often exactly on historical facts and real-life figures, “La Canción,” a Movistar Plus+, Buendía Estudios three-part miniseries world premieres at this week’s Malaga Film Festival, distributed outside Spain by Movistar Plus+ Internacional.
It begins with ageing dictator Francisco Franco entrusting minister Manuel Fraga with the task of winning the Eurovision Song Contest, which Fraga delegates to Spanish pubcaster TVE.
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