Figure of European cinema and director in particular of Breeding ravens In 1975, the Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura died Friday at the age of 91, announces the Spanish Academy of Cinema. “The Academy deeply regrets to announce the death of Carlos Saura […]one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema, died today at his home at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones”she announced on Twitter. “His last film, the walls speak [“les murs parlent”], was released on Friday, proof of his tireless activity and his love for his profession until his last moments.underlines the institution.
The filmmaker was to receive an honorary Goya on Saturday at the Spanish cinema awards ceremony held in Seville. A tribute will be paid to “the memory of an irreplaceable creator”continues the Academy. “Carlos Saura has left us. Filmmaker, photographer, total artist […] he had received all the prizes imaginable during his career and above all the affection and recognition of all those who appreciated his films.for his part reacted on Twitter the Spanish Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta.
The Film Academy deeply regrets to announce the death of Carlos Saura, Goya de Honor 2023. Saura, one of the fundamental filmmakers in the history of Spanish cinema, died today at his home at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones. pic.twitter.com/VJMJZYnzm7
— Academy of Dinner (@Academiadecine) February 10, 2023
Director in 1975 of Breeding ravens, allegory of the dictatorship that suffocated his country, jury prize at Cannes and nominated for the César for best foreign film, Carlos Saura first placed his work under the sign of social realism before favoring musical films, particularly on flamenco .
Born on January 4, 1932 in Huesca, in northern Spain, into a family of artists, Saura has made a total of fifty films. He obtained his first international recognition in 1966 in Berlin by winning the Silver Bear for the hunt. The filmmaker also saw three of his films nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film: Mom turns 100 (“Mom turns 100”) in 1979, Carmen in 1984 and Tango in 1999.
Ambassador of Spanish Culture
Prolific, Saura was a filmmaker of the game and the imagination, with a sophisticated aesthetic, a style that was both lyrical and documentary, centered on the fate of the most disadvantaged. He often depicted characters from the bourgeoisie, tormented by their past, floating between reality and fantasy.
After Franco’s death in 1975 and the democratic transition that followed, this music and dance madman gradually moved on to something else: love hymns to tango and fado, Argentine folklore and jota, dance of his native Aragon, to the opera and, above all, to his beloved flamenco, becoming, somewhat in spite of himself, an ambassador of Spanish culture. Several times married and the father of several children, he had notably been in a relationship with Geraldine Chaplin, his muse with whom he had had a child.