María Olga García-Defez

María Olga García-Defez is a postdoctoral researcher and academic affiliated with the Universitat de València, where she earned her PhD in 2019. She is associated with the Faculty of Geography and History and the Department of History of Art, specializing in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising. Her research is centered on Spanish popular cinema and television during the late Francoist period (1965–1975), with a particular focus on films starring Paco Martínez Soria.

Her research interests include Spanish cinema, gender studies, cultural history, film studies, audiovisual communication, and political discourse in media. She critically examines representations of masculinity and femininity, urban and rural spaces, and ideological narratives in popular media of Francoist Spain.

Her recent publications reflect a strong trend in analyzing the intersection of culture, politics, and identity in 20th-century Spanish media. She investigates how films and television series from the late Franco era reflected and shaped societal transformations, particularly regarding gender roles and modernity. Her work combines film analysis with historical and cultural context, contributing to the understanding of Spain’s cultural memory.

She has been funded by the postdoctoral program PINV2020-Universitat Jaume I and participated in the I+D project 'Cultura popular y modernismo reaccionario en España' (UJI-B2029-10), indicating active involvement in academic research. Though no awards or students are listed, her scholarly output is consistent and thematically cohesive.

María Olga García-Defez has contributed to academic discourse through journal articles and book reviews in publications such as Revista Panamericana de Comunicación, Pasajes: Revista de pensamiento contemporáneo, and FILMHISTORIA Online. Her work is part of an ongoing effort to understand the cultural mechanisms of Francoist Spain through its audiovisual productions.