The Hearst Metrotone News Collection and the Spanish Civil War

To mark the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Silvia Ribelles de la Vega, a researcher and historian at the Packard Humanities Institute, presents a program featuring little-known footage of the war from the Hearst Metrotone News collection.

At that time, newsreels—short reports screened in movie theaters—were often the only moving-image records of unfolding events available to the international public. Hearst’s cameramen covered the conflict extensively and, surprisingly, filmed from both sides of the war. Ribelles’ presentation will follow a chronological order from 1936 to 1939 and will feature not only edited newsreels but also selections of longer, previously unpublished footage. 

 Describing the Hearst Metrotone News collection as “a treasure trove for any researcher,” Ribelles highlights the opportunities this now-accessible material offers to both scholars and history enthusiasts. Drawing on production records, maps, and related archival documents, he will analyze how these newsreels were shot, edited, and distributed, and how studying them today can bring forgotten stories to light and redefine our understanding of the Spanish Civil War. 

Ninety years after a conflict that tore a nation apart, these newsreels serve as vital audiovisual evidence and a testament to the lasting impact of making archival collections accessible to everyone.

The preservation of and access to the collection have only been possible thanks to the incredible efforts of the Packard Humanities Institute, in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, to expand access to one of the most important newsreel archives of the 20th century. This collection of 27 million feet of footage includes approximately 288 reels of film related to the Spanish Civil War.

Presentation by Gerardo Fueyo Bros, Consul General of Spain in Los Angeles, and Javier Muñoz-Basols, Executive Director of the Instituto Cervantes in Los Angeles. A 90-minute talk by historian Silvia Ribelles de la Vega, followed by a Q&A session with Ribelles moderated by May Hong HaDuong, Director of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.