José Luis Garci
Encyclopedia
José Luis Garci is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) is a producer
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, critic, TV presenter, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, screenwriter and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
in Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. He earned worldwide acclaim and his country's first Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for Begin the Beguine
Begin the Beguine (film)
Begin the Beguine is a 1982 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Antonio Ferrandis. The plot follows the story of a Spaniard who returns to his homeland after many years in exile when he wins the Nobel Prize in literature...
(1982). Four of his films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, more than any other Spanish director.
Early life and work
Born in 1944 in a family from AsturiasAsturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, after completing a pre-university course, Garci began working as an administrative assistant in a bank. His love for cinema from an early age led him to pursue filmmaking as a career. In the early 1960s, aged twenty, he began writing reviews for a number of film magazines such as: Signos, Cinestudio, Aun and Resena, winning an award in 1968 from the Circulo de Escritores Cinematograficos for his movie criticism.
At the same time, he wrote his first literary works, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
stories like : Bibidibabibidibú, Adam Blake, and La Gioconda está triste. He also published the essay: Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
humanista del futuro and an article about science fiction films in the Encyclopedia Buru-La.
In 1969 he became involved in scriptwriting, receiving his first screen credits for Antonio Giménez Rico The Cronicón (The Chronicle) (1970).
Between 1972 and 1977 he scripted five more films: León Klimovsky La casa de las chivas (The House of the goats); Pedro Olea No es bueno que el hombre esté solo (1972), (A Man Shouldn’t be Alone); Eloy de la Iglesia
Eloy de la Iglesia
Eloy de la Iglesia was a Spanish screenwriter and film director.De la Iglesia was an outspoken gay socialist filmmaker who is relatively unknown outside of Spain despite a prolific and successful career in his native country...
Una gota de sangre para morir amando, (1973) (A drop of blood to die loving); Antonio Drove Mi mujer es muy decente dentro de lo que cabe (1974) o Roberto Bodegas Vida conyugal sana (1973)(Healthy Married Life) and Los nuevos españoles (1974)(New Spaniards). During this same period, Garci also wrote the made for T.V film La Cabina (1972)(The Cabin) directed by Antonio Mercero
Antonio Mercero
Antonio Mercero is a Spanish director of the series Verano azul and later Farmacia de guardia. He is best known as the director of a 1972 surrealist short horror film titled La cabina, that won an Emmy Award...
. He then directed his first short films: !Al Futbol! (!To Football!) Mi Marilyn, (My Marilyn) (both 1975) and Tiempo de gente acobardada (People Cowed Time) (1976).
Feature films
In 1977 José Luis Garci directed his first feature film Asignatura pendienteAsignatura pendiente
Asignatura pendiente is a 1977 Spanish drama film co- written and directed by José Luis Garci.The film was one of the most successful films in the 70's with 2,305,924 admissions....
(Unfinished Business) from a script by Gonzalez Sinde, a love story between an old pair of lovers which runs parallel to the social and political changes lived in Spain after the fall of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
’s regime. The film was well received by critics and audiences, becoming the most successful representative of the Spanish film of the generation of the Transition from dictatorship to democracy who saw themselves in a social and political limbo. A simple story of an amorous seduction by the film’s hero is set around a series of topical references to a generation of Spaniards born in the immediate post-civil war period who frustrations and nostalgia are embodied in the film’s protagonist. Gaci took his narrative cues from the visual patterns followed in the traditional Hollywood narrative.
Garci second film Solos en la madrugada
Solos en la madrugada
Solos en la madrugada is a 1978 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring José Sacristán and Fiorella Faltoyano. The film built on the success of Garci's previous and successful film Asignatura pendiente, but did not have the same results.- Plot :José Miguel García, a...
(Alone in the Dark) (1978) became skilled tackling progressive social themes intended for an audience interested neither in elite art cinema nor in the popular style of most Spanish comedies. He used this same pattern in his third film, Las verdes praderas
Las verdes praderas
Las verdes praderas is a 1978 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Alfredo Landa. The film is a reflection of the years of prosperity lived in Spain after the transition to democracy that followed the death of Francisco Franco....
(The Green Meadows) (1979), in which heavy sentimentality, a constant in his films, became more apparent.
The director changed gears with El Crack, in which he used the figure of the hard boiled detective in a story inspired by the novels of Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
, to whom the film is dedicated, and employing elements of the American film noirs of the 1930s and 40s giving it a Spanish flavor. The formula worked so well that two years later Garci made a sequel, El crack II (1983).
Between this two films, Garci made his most emblematic work Volver a empezarBegin the Beguine
Begin the Beguine (film)
Begin the Beguine is a 1982 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Antonio Ferrandis. The plot follows the story of a Spaniard who returns to his homeland after many years in exile when he wins the Nobel Prize in literature...
, (Begin to Beguine) (1982), a sentimental story of an aging writer who returns to Spain after many years in exiled following the civil war. The film was the first Spanish motion picture to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Sesión continua
Sesión continua
Sesión continua is a 1984 Spanish drama film written, produced and directed by José Luis Garci.José Luis Garci wanted to cast Alfredo Landa and José Sacristán, but both actors refused because of professional rivalry between them. By the time the film was produced, Garci also worked as radio...
(Double Feature), (1984, which also received an Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination, and Asignatura aprobada
Asignatura aprobada
Asignatura aprobada is a 1987 Spanish drama film written, produced and directed by José Luis Garci.-Awards:The film was an Academy Award nominee as Best Foreign Film. Garci won the Goya Award as Best Director....
(Course Completed, 91987) gave emphasis to sentimentality. Canción de cuna (Cradle Song, 1994), a film adaptation of the sentimental Gregorio Martinez Sierra play. Garci's subsequently films include La herida luminosa (The Wound of Light, 1997), and El abuelo ( The Grandfather, 1999), which was Spain's submission for the Best Foreign Film category of the Academy Awards, getting the final nomination.
Recently, Garci directed Una historia de entonces (You're the One, 2000), Historia de un beso (Story of a Kiss, 2002)), Tiovivo c. 1950
Tiovivo c. 1950
Tiovivo c. 1950 is a 2004 Spanish film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Elsa Pataky, María Adánez and Carlos Hipólito.The film was nominated for six Goya Awards in 2005, and won the award for Best Production Design.-Plot:...
(2004), Ninette
Ninette
Ninette is a Spanish comedy film directed by José Luis Garci. Released in 2005, it is based on the plays Ninette y un señor de Murcia and Ninette, modas de París by Miguel Mihura.-Plot:...
(2005), Luz de domingo (2007) and Sangre de mayo
Sangre de Mayo
Blood of May is a 2008 Spanish film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Quim Gutiérrez and Paula Echevarría. The plot is based on a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós and takes place around the events of May 2 1808, when the people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation.-Plot:Year...
(2008). In addition to filmmaking, he is a popular television and radio sportscaster in his homeland.
Filmography
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Subject Pending Asignatura pendiente Asignatura pendiente is a 1977 Spanish drama film co- written and directed by José Luis Garci.The film was one of the most successful films in the 70's with 2,305,924 admissions.... |
Asignatura pendiente | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee |
| 1978 | Alone in the Dark Solos en la madrugada Solos en la madrugada is a 1978 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring José Sacristán and Fiorella Faltoyano. The film built on the success of Garci's previous and successful film Asignatura pendiente, but did not have the same results.- Plot :José Miguel García, a... |
Solos en la madrugada | |
| 1979 | The Green Meadows Las verdes praderas Las verdes praderas is a 1978 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Alfredo Landa. The film is a reflection of the years of prosperity lived in Spain after the transition to democracy that followed the death of Francisco Franco.... |
Las verdes praderas | |
| 1982 | Begin the Beguine Begin the Beguine (film) Begin the Beguine is a 1982 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Antonio Ferrandis. The plot follows the story of a Spaniard who returns to his homeland after many years in exile when he wins the Nobel Prize in literature... |
Volver a empezar | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film winner, 1982 |
| 1982 | The Crack El crack (1982) El Crack is a 1981 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Alfredo Landa. The plot was inspired by the works by Dashiell Hammett, to whom the film is dedicated... |
El crack | |
| 1983 | The Crack II | El crack II | |
| 1984 | Double Feature Sesión continua Sesión continua is a 1984 Spanish drama film written, produced and directed by José Luis Garci.José Luis Garci wanted to cast Alfredo Landa and José Sacristán, but both actors refused because of professional rivalry between them. By the time the film was produced, Garci also worked as radio... |
Sesión continua | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee |
| 1987 | Course Completed Asignatura aprobada Asignatura aprobada is a 1987 Spanish drama film written, produced and directed by José Luis Garci.-Awards:The film was an Academy Award nominee as Best Foreign Film. Garci won the Goya Award as Best Director.... |
Asignatura aprobada | |
| 1994 | Lullaby | Canción de cuna | |
| 1997 | The Wound of Light La herida luminosa The Wound of Light is a 1997 Spanish film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Fernando Guillén, Mercedes Sampietro and Julia Gutiérrez Caba. The plot is based on a novel by Josep María de Sagarra. It was previuolsy filmed in 1956 in a production directed by Tulio Demicheli-Plot:Dr... |
La herida luminosa | |
| 1998 | The Grandfather | El abuelo | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee |
| 2000 | You're the One You're the One (2000 film) You're the One is a 2000 Spanish film directed by Jose Luis Garci. It was Spain's submission to the 73rd Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.-Cast:* Lydia Bosch ,... |
Una historia de entonces | European Film Academy Best European Director nominee |
| 2002 | Story of A Kiss | Historia de un beso | |
| 2004 | Tiovivo c. 1950 Tiovivo c. 1950 Tiovivo c. 1950 is a 2004 Spanish film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Elsa Pataky, María Adánez and Carlos Hipólito.The film was nominated for six Goya Awards in 2005, and won the award for Best Production Design.-Plot:... |
Tiovivo c. 1950 | |
| 2005 | Ninette Ninette Ninette is a Spanish comedy film directed by José Luis Garci. Released in 2005, it is based on the plays Ninette y un señor de Murcia and Ninette, modas de París by Miguel Mihura.-Plot:... |
Ninette | |
| 2007 | Sunday Light Sunday Light Sunday Light is a 2007 Spanish film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Álex González, Paula Echevarría and Alfredo Landa. The plot, set in rural Asturias in the early 20th-century, is based on a novel by Ramón Pérez de Ayala.-Plot:... |
Luz de domingo | |
| 2008 | Blood of May Sangre de Mayo Blood of May is a 2008 Spanish film directed by José Luis Garci and starring Quim Gutiérrez and Paula Echevarría. The plot is based on a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós and takes place around the events of May 2 1808, when the people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation.-Plot:Year... |
Sangre de Mayo | |