Josefina Molina Reig MML (born in Córdoba, 14 November 1936) is a Spanish feature film director, screenwriter, TV producer and scene director. She was one of the first female directors in Spain and is also known for directing such notable feature films as Función de noche (1981) and Esquilache (1988), as well as the television series Teresa of Jesus (1984). Esquilache was entered into the 39th Berlin International Film Festival. Teresa de Jesús won several awards, including the Antena de Oro (1984), and the TP de Oro (1985, Best National Series).
Biography
Josefina Molina was born in 1936 in Cordoba, Spain, in to a middle-class family. Her father was a Cordovan shopkeeper who traded in shoes and drugstore products. Her mother was a Catalan woman in charge of the housework and child care. The family business was very successful and despite the economic postwar difficulties she did not suffer any kind of deprivation.
Thanks to her parents stable financial situation, little Josefina was able to attend prestigious schools in Cordoba such as Hermanos de la Salle, where she was taught how to write and basic mathematics or Escolapias de Santa Victoria, where she finished high school.
She finished high school in 1969 and had the possibility to access Baccalaureate because her family belonged to the merchant class. In this way, Josefina decided to make the most of the academic education (mainly because her mother's determination) which her parents were able to offer her.
Her first contact with the world of cinema took place in the exhibition hall of her hometown, where her parents used to take her on Sunday afternoon. In addition, she also had a great love of reading and due to that, at the early age of thirteen, she discovered such important literary work as Episodios Nacionales (National Episodes) by Galdós (1843–1920). This collection of novels decisively influenced Josefina's vocation as a narrator, as well as her pronounced tendency towards realism. However, it was not until she was fifteen years old when Josefina saw the movie El río (The River) by Jean Renoir (1951), that her keen interest in telling stories through films awoke.
In her youth, she enthusiastically joined several groups of Cordovan intellectuals, all encouraged by artistic curiosity. She regularly attended projections and discussions organized by the Cineclub Senda (Senda Film Club) and Cineclub del Círculo de la Amistad (Circle of Friendship Film Club). She also attended the Círculo Juan XXIII (Juan XXIII Circle), the gathering place for the most progressive Cordovan youth in Francoist Spain. There she established the basis of the theatre group Teatro Ensayo Medea. Driven by a feminist spirit, it was leading this group that she worked for the first time as a theatre director, bringing on stage Casa de Muñecas (Dollhouse), from the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906). The first night of this play, which took place at the Salón Liceo del Círculo de la Amistad (Friendship Circle Lyceum Hall), was a resounding failure. The message expressed by Ibsen was way too forward-looking and direct to be easily understood.
Far from being discouraged by this first setback, Josefina Molina decided to go ahead with her career as a theatre director. She managed to release four stagings (or performances if you prefer) and, at the same time, she reached out to different important local showbiz and media figures. That was how, from 1962, she began to collaborate regularly with the Vida de espectáculos (Life of shows) radio program. It was broadcast with great success on Radio Vida in a section entitled La mujer y el cine (Women and Cinema).
Professional career
Molina studied political science and in 1962 she founded the theatre group Teatro de Ensayo Medea in her hometown and led several productions. In 1969 she became the first woman to obtain the degree in directing / producing in the Official Cinema School. In those days, she shot many dramas for the Spanish Television (Estudio 1 [Study 1], Hora once [Eleventh hour], Teatro de siempre [The same theater as always] etc.).
She was put in charge of an adaptation of The Metamorphosis by Kafka, of which she said: "it was a drudgery that no one wanted to do, but I put my heart into it and the people ended up saying: 'the poor girl has worked so hard that we have to something with it.' You cannot imagine how unbearable this kind of paternalism is."