Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura dies

In Seville, the final details were finalized on Friday for the 37th Goya Awards gala, the great festival of Spanish cinema that will take place tonight, at the Fibes Congress and Exhibition Center in that city. However, in the morning, the film community of that country received news that will mourn the ceremony. At the age of 91, filmmaker Carlos Saura, author of more than 50 films, a fundamental figure in European cinema and the last master of a era of Hispanic cinema (that was the golden age of the 60s and 70s) that has already lost its main figures. In fact, Saura was going to receive the Goya de Honor today, in recognition of his influential career.

Listing his masterpieces is an impressive exercise. There are many. Just a few: “La caza” (1965), “Cría cuervos” (1975), “Bodas de sangre” (1981) and “¡Ay, Carmela!” (1990). And on Friday, the tributes piled up. His virtuosity in using memory as inspiration was highlighted, but also the curiosity and gaze that led him to be an avant-garde filmmaker. “Rest in peace, friend,” Antonio Banderas said on Twitter. “He leaves behind him an indispensable work for deep reflection on the behavior of the human being”, he added. And Pedro Sánchez, president of the Spanish Government, pointed out: “His talent is and will always be the cultural heritage of our history.”

A heart attack last year and a subsequent fall gradually deteriorated his health. She transcended that her family had been warned of the situation a week ago. The Spanish Academy, which awards the Goya awards, as well. For this reason, the organization gave her her Goya “a few days ago” at her house. The organization added that the tribute she was going to receive will be maintained.

He was born in Huesca and the cinema discovered him as a child. However, then came his fascination with photography, a discipline that he developed for the rest of his life and that he even displayed in exhibitions throughout the world. In any case, it was moving images that dominated his career. His first film was “Los golfos” (1960), which led him to compete in Cannes. That time he did not win anything, but later he would do so with “La cousin Angélica” (Jury Prize in 1974), “Cría cuervos” (Grand Jury Prize in 1976) and “Carmen” (Technical Grand Prize in 1983). He won the Berlin Film Festival in 1981, with “Quick, quick”, and was chosen Best Director for “La caza”, in 1966, and “Peppermint Frappé”, in 1968. Before the lifetime achievement award he received this year, he won two Goyas for “¡Ay, Carmela!” He nominated for an Oscar three times, with “Mamá cumple 100 años” (1979), “Carmen” (1983) and “Tango” (1998).

In the 1980s, Saura began to explore the multiple possibilities offered by the musical genre. This is how more masterpieces were born, such as the trilogy that associated him with Antonio Gades (“Blood wedding”, “Carmen” and “Amor brujo”) and others such as “Flamenco, flamenco” (2010) and “El rey de todo el mundo” (2021). “Goya in Bordeaux” (1999), “Buñuel and King Solomon’s Table” (2001) and “The Seventh Day” (2004) are other of his most outstanding recent works.

He was married twice, had seven children, and among his most famous partners was the actress Geraldine Chaplin, with whom he made nine films.

Saura was tireless and stayed active until the end. He was not only preparing a series on Federico García Lorca, just last week he released a new film, the documentary “The walls speak.” And also, last month he premiered a theatrical show called “Lorca de Saura”, starring the singer India Martínez.