The Year of the Discovery

An almost forgotten piece of social history is revived in a bar in Cartagena, Spain, through the stories of strikers who took part and discussions among young people about class consciousness, the economic crisis and the role of unions. Immersion in the present and a confrontation with past conflicts. Shot on Hi-8 videotape entirely within a smoky snack bar, with occasional interruptions by archival news bulletins and TV commercials, Luis López Carrasco’s second feature excavates the forgotten histories of 1992—a pivotal year in which Spain celebrated both the Olympic Games in Barcelona and the quincentenary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, and ushered in a new age of neoliberalism.