If you want to know the history of ALCINE, it is ideal to consult "History(s) of a Film Festival", a work written by Cristina Aparicio and Juan Manuel Ruiz in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the festival. This free-access book traces the extensive journey of the festival's first fifty years, highlighting the most significant moments, exhibiting all its posters and a rich variety of graphic material, anecdotes, awards and more.
After two first editions organized by the City Council, in the context of the Ciudad de Alcalá Awards, the Nebrija Cine-Club takes charge of the Amateur Film Contest, a moment that is considered the official birth of what we know today as ALCINE – Alcalá de Henares Film Festival/Community of Madrid.
After its first and only year without an edition in 1979, the Alcalá de Henares Film Festival opens the decade by establishing the name by which it will be known from now on. The turbulent years of the Transition are reflected in highly politicized programming; In the previous edition, The Battle of Chile had already been screened, with the emotional presence of Salvador Allende's widow.
After various comings and goings, the baton of direction is picked up by Pedro Medina and the festival, with a renewed team in which fundamental figures such as Anabel Hidalgo will join other historic members of the team such as Pepe Martín and Ramón Garrido, advances towards the moment of splendor that the decade of the nineties will bring.
During the nineties, the Spanish short film seems to be experiencing its best days. This moment of glory occurs parallel to the boom of young creators who seem to have reconciled Spanish cinema with the box office. The short occupies a cultural and media space never imagined at the end of the eighties.
With the new century a generational change occurs. After three editions co-directing with Pedro Medina, Luis Mariano González takes the helm and the festival faces the imminence of digital while setting its eyes on Europe. Coinciding with the signing of an ambitious agreement with the Community of Madrid, the official name becomes Alcalá de Henares Film Festival/Community of Madrid.
After several exhibition sections, samples and cycles throughout its first three decades, ALCINE finally makes the international leap. The European Short Film Contest will be consolidated as the second competition of the festival with a level of participants and spectators similar to the national one.
In the festival's most recent publication, Cortografias, authors Cristina Aparicio, Juanma Ruiz and Jara Yáñez try to draw a map of short films in the last decade by joining seemingly dispersed points. The "generations" or groups that previously formed festival by festival have moved to the school environment and there is talk of "ECAM style" or "this short is very ESCAC."
