Documentary film
Germany/Spain, 2018, 97 Min
Spanish & German, with English, French, German & Spanish subtitles

Following the success of "Franco’s Settlers", their first confrontation with Franco’s dictatorship, filmmakers Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios turn in "Franco on Trial" to one of the darkest chapters of European history: the systematic and allegedly organized extermination carried out in Spain under General Francisco Franco’s regime between 1936 and 1975. Having seized power with the support of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Portugal, Franco presided over decades of repression whose crimes remain largely unpunished. To this day, no one has been prosecuted for the regime’s atrocities; victims have not been rehabilitated, and more than 100,000 people remain missing.

In 2010, a Spanish judge’s attempt to indict Franco and his generals for crimes against humanity was blocked. In response, survivors and relatives of victims filed a groundbreaking complaint in Buenos Aires, the so-called Querella Argentina. Argentine investigative judge María Servini subsequently issued 24 international arrest warrants against senior figures of the Franco dictatorship. The filmmakers closely accompanied Judge Servini in her efforts to initiate legal proceedings, documenting a historic attempt to hold the perpetrators accountable and demonstrating how overdue a reckoning with Spain’s darkest past remains.

"Franco on Trial" examines specific criminal cases presented in the Argentine lawsuit. By interweaving never-before-seen archival material with contemporary footage, and by rigorously contextualizing each case, the film itself contributes new evidence to the historical record. One of its most powerful moments captures the urgency of the proceedings as a suspected perpetrator is confronted directly with the accusations, by the plaintiff, the investigating judge, and the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Developed over more than eight years, the film grants rare access to voices on both sides of the conflict. Among them is the daughter of a general involved in the 1936 coup, who still keeps a silver-framed portrait and a personal gift from Nazi leader Hermann Göring, objects that chillingly testify to the enduring legacy of Franco’s alliances and ideology.

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As far as I am concerned it is the best film about this subject. Its biggest accomplishment is that it positions the “Argentinean complaint” in a broader international context. This is crucial from a legal point of view as it places crimes against humanity in an international context.
Ana Messuti (Doctor of Law and lawyer for the victims of Francoism)

Once again, Palacios and Post have made a powerful documentary about Francoism. As in Franco´s Settlers, they manage to talk both with the victims and the perpetrators. The viewer will have to decide if this film is a therapy, or if it simply confirms the “banality of evil”.
Fernando Rovetta Klyver, Professor of Philosophy of Law, UCM. Expert in Human Rights.

“In Franco on Trial  the filmmakers are introducing us to a dark and not much known period of European history which influenced many parts of the world. And, it gives an idea of hidden processes involved in contemporary politics in Spain and behind.”
Kerstin Stutterheim (Dr phil, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Bournemouth University, UK)

An extraordinary film. It removes the francoist repression from the context of the Civil War and reviews the 40-year dictatorship. An essential document for political discussion.
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technische Universität Berlin, Faculty of Humanities)

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Official movie site: https://playloud.org/francoontrial/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8013338
Purchase DVD: https://www.playloud.org/archiveandstore/en/dvd/619-franco-on-trial.html
Purchase 2 DVD + Book: https://www.playloud.org/archiveandstore/en/books/617-francos-settlers-package.html