For years, rumors circulated about the possible survival of the negatives, which disappeared from Capa's Paris studio at the beginning of the conflict.
The 126 rolls – over 4.500 photos – actually belonged not only to Capa, but also to his illustrious colleagues Gerda Taro and David “Chim” Seymour, known for their touching images of the Spanish Civil War.
Capa, Taro and Seymour, young Jewish photographers in their early twenties originally from Hungary, Germany and Poland, had found refuge in the cosmopolitan Paris of the early 1930s.
From 1936 they began to travel together to Spain to to document with passion and courage one of the most devastating conflicts of the 20th century.
Gerda Taro herself, unfortunately, did not survive the civil war: died tragically before her twenty-seventh birthday during the Battle of Brunete, run over by a Republican tank.
His funeral drew thousands of people to the streets of Paris, a testament to the profound impact his work and his image had already had at the time.
The journey of the negatives to Mexico City remains shrouded in mystery.
However, given Mexico's crucial role during the war and its generosity in welcoming Republican refugees, it was natural that the suitcase would find refuge there.
Capa had entrusted his negatives to his colleague and friend Imre “Csiki” Weiss, also a Hungarian Jew.
Before being interned in a prison camp in Morocco, Weiss managed to deliver the boxes to a person who agreed to take them to a Mexican consulate.
Weiss survived the war and settled in Mexico, where he lived until his death, a few steps from General Aguilar's house, where the Mexican Suitcase was kept for nearly seventy years.
General Aguilar had been Mexican ambassador to Vichy and was entrusted with the three boxes for safekeeping. Cziki Weiss died without ever knowing the fate of the precious photographs.
The Mexican Suitcase analyzes and explores the images of the Spanish Civil War captured by these three extraordinary photographers and recount the journey of these negatives.
It tells the story of how Mexico opened its doors to thousands of Spanish refugees when the rest of the world turned its back on them, offering a glimpse into today's Spain, where, despite 70 years of silence and repression, people continue to wonder what happened to their disappeared relatives.
Supported by a soundtrack composed largely by Michael Nyman, The Mexican Suitcase and its content thus fit into a broader narrative that explores photography as an art form, the origins of photojournalism during the Spanish Civil War and, in an emblematic way, touches the very heart of twentieth-century history, intertwining the themes of exile, loss of memory and the search for identity.
TEAM
“Ziff weaves together personal, often painful, biographies of those who survived the war by fleeing Spain, many of whom still struggle to forget today.”
FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
“…even for the most casual students of photography, journalism, and history, this beautiful, soulful film should be required viewing.”
Thanks Camera - Italian Center for Photography, Turin for the kind provision of contacts and materials.
