It is with great joy that I announce that my friend and fellow early cinema researcher, Francisco Griñán, has been awarded his Ph.D. by the University of Malaga.
I was honored to be invited to form part of his doctoral committee. The defense took place on February 5th and was witnessed by all of Paco's friends and family.
 and committee.jpg "Paco (2nd from L) and his committee")
Paco (2nd from L) and his committee
I've blogged about Paco's work over the last few years. He's already published some of his early results, and his book won a prize.
Francisco helped me re-trace Alice Guy's steps through southern Spain and find the locations for some of the films she made there. I wrote about those trips here and here.
The thesis fills in many knowledge gaps about early cinema in Spain, including the films made by Alice Guy there, and analyzes the effect of cinema on the formation of the Spanish myth, the way Spain is seen by outsiders and even by Spaniards.
His these also corrects some errors in the earlier research. I will be writing about those new discoveries in future blogs. For now, enjoy a beautiful panorama of Malaga from the restaurant where we celebrated Paco's accomplishment.
Panorama of Malaga