Spanish cinema production started in Barcelona in the late nineteenth century. The first movie shot was Eduardo Jimeno's People Coming out of the Noontime Mass at the Cathedral of the Virgin of Pilar in Zaragoza (1897), while the first actual Spanish film was Café Brawl (1897), written, directed, produced and performed by the pioneering Fructuoso Gelabert. The most memorable film from that period was Segundo de Chomon’s spectacular fantasy, The Electric Hotel (1905). Spanish films of that time reflected contemporary Spanish life.

In the 1920s, Spanish movie-making moved to Madrid, and Spanish literature became a source of material for moviemakers. The Spanish film industry was producing about 60 pictures a year at this point. It was during this time that Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali's surrealist short The Andalusian Dog (1928) was screened in Paris, catapulting Bunuel into fame. Francisco Elias' The Mystery of the Puerta de Sol (1929) was the first sound picture produced in Spain. But Spanish cinema was unable to keep pace with the technological innovations sweeping across America and the rest of Europe, and many film professionals migrated to Hollywood and Paris.

The period just prior to the Civil War was the golden age of Spanish cinema. Spanish cinema had a strong domestic following, and film stars such as Miguel Ligero, Manuel Luna, Rosita Diaz Gimeno and Antonita Colome became famous throughout Spain. Some of the hits of the time were Rey's Mama's Suitor and Benito Perojo's On the Road to Cairo. The urban milieu still provided the content. After the Civil War, and Franco’s ascent to power, there was little room for a liberated, creative cinema. Films were made to exalt the values of Franco’s regime.

Juan de Orduna's Follow the Legion and Antonio Roman's Martyrs of the Philippines glorified the honor of fighting and dying for the cause. Idealization of the past was theme which spawned opulent costume dramas like de Orduna's Love Crazy and Agustina of Aragon. Religious-themed films, like The Saintly Queen and Loyola, the Soldier Saint, were also standard fare. In the 1950s, a dissident voice crept in, and was noticeable in films like the Bardem-Berlanga collaboration That Happy Pair, Marco Ferreri and Rafael Azcona’s—El Pisito and El Cochecito, and Carlos Saura's The Delinquents. Saura has one of the most prestigious careers in Spanish cinema, a career that continues today with pictures like Tango.

With Franco's death came true liberalization, and the birth of geniuses like Pedro Almodovar, J.J. Bigas Luna (Jamon, Jamon), Vicente Aranda (Mad Love) and Fernando Trueba (Calle 54). With them came a generation of new Spanish stars including Victoria Abril, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz. Directors such as Alejandro Amenabar, Julio Medem and Alex de la Iglesia have chosen to embrace many of the strengths of commercial narrative moviemaking, while maintaining a refreshing degree of individuality and personal authorship.