Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura Atarés (4 January 1932 – 10 February 2023) was a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. With Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be among Spain's great filmmakers. He had a long and prolific career that spanned over half a century, and his films won many international awards.
Saura began his career in 1955 making documentary shorts. He gained international prominence when his first feature-length film premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 1960. Although he started filming as a neorealist, Saura switched to films encoded with metaphors and symbolism in order to get around the Spanish censors. In 1966, he was thrust into the international spotlight when his film The Hunt won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. In the following years, he forged an international reputation for his cinematic treatment of emotional and spiritual responses to repressive political conditions.
By the 1970s, Saura was the best known filmmaker working in Spain. His films employed complex narrative devices and were frequently controversial. He won Special Jury Awards for Cousin Angelica (1973) and Cría Cuervos (1975) in Cannes, and he received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film nomination in 1979 for Mama Turns 100.
In the 1980s, Saura was in the spotlight for his Flamenco trilogy – Blood Wedding, Carmen and El amor brujo, in which he combined dramatic content and flamenco dance forms. His work continued to be featured in worldwide competitions and earned numerous awards. He received two nominations for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film for Carmen (1983) and Tango (1998). His films are sophisticated expression of time and space fusing reality with fantasy, past with present, and memory with hallucination. In the last two decades of the 20th century, Saura concentrated on works uniting music, dance and images.
Early life
Saura was born in Huesca, Aragon on 4 January 1932. His father, Antonio Saura Pacheco, who came from Murcia, was an attorney and civil servant. His mother, Fermina Atarés Torrente, was a concert pianist. The second of their four children, Carlos had an older brother, Antonio Saura, and two younger sisters, María del Pilar and María de los Ángeles. Antonio became a well-known abstract expressionist painter. From their parents, the four siblings received a liberal understanding education. Because his father worked for the Ministry of the Interior, the Saura family moved to Barcelona, Valencia, and, in 1953, to Madrid. Saura's childhood was marked by the Spanish Civil War, during which the Nationalists fought against the Republicans.
Saura had vivid recollection of his childhood during the war. He later evoked some of them in his films – the games he played, and the songs he sang, as well as darker memories of bombings and hunger, blood and death. He was taught to read by a priest, a relative whom his parents sheltered from anticlerical extremists. At the war's end, Saura was separated from his parents and sent back to Huesca to live with his maternal grandmother and aunts. He described these relatives as "right wings and very religious" who imposed in the child the very antithesis of the liberal education he had received in the republican zone. After having studied civil engineering he began a career in the film industry on the advice of his brother Antonio Saura.
Career
During 1957–1958, Saura created Cuenca, his first film. In 1962, his film Los Golfos was recognized for its strong sociological impact in helping Spanish youth by tackling the issue of juvenile delinquency in Madrid's poorest districts. Four years later (1966), he was honored at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival, where he received the Silver Bear for Best Director for his film La caza. In 1967, his film Peppermint Frappé received the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. He won the Golden Bear in 1981 at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival for his film Deprisa, Deprisa.
The films La prima Angélica (Cousin Angélica) of 1973 and Cría cuervos (Raise Ravens) of 1975 received the special prize of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. His film Mamá cumple 100 años was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1980 Academy Awards.
Saura become known for movies featuring flamenco and other traditional dances. His Flamenco Trilogy of the 1980s includes Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding), Carmen, and El amor brujo featuring the work of Spanish flamenco dancer Cristina Hoyos. He later made the movies Flamenco (1995), Tango (1998), and Fados (2007).
His 1989 film La noche oscura was entered into the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.
Saura considered his film on surrealist master Luis Buñuel to be his best cinematic work. In an interview with an online film magazine, he said about Buñuel y la mesa del rey Salomón (Buñuel and the table of King Solomon – 2001): "That's the greatest film I’ve ever made. I like the film but nobody else seems to like it. I’m sure Buñuel would have loved this film. But perhaps only he would have loved it. Everything you see in the film is actually based on conversations I had with him."
In 1990, he received the Goya Award for the best director and best script for ¡Ay, Carmela!. He was chosen as director for the official film of the 1992 Olympic Games of Barcelona, Marathon (1993).
In 2008, Carlos Saura was honoured with a Global Life Time Achievement Award at the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival, organized by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image.
In 2013, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 18th International Film Festival of Kerala.
Personal life and death
Carlos Saura was married three times. He first married Adela Medrano. They had two sons, Carlos and Antonio. In 1982, he married Mercedes Pérez, with whom he had three sons, Manuel, Adrián, and Diego. Between those two marriages, Saura had a son Shane with actress Geraldine Chaplin. He was the father of a daughter named Anna from his third marriage to actress , whom he began a relationship in the wake of the shooting of Outrage. They married in 2006. His daughter Anna was his agent (as well as right hand and producer of his films) in his late years.
He was an avid photographer and had a collection of over 600 cameras. His photographs were exhibited several times. He began to take photographs having reached the age of eight years, and later built his own camera by himself and became the photographer of the Granada Film Festival.
Saura was a close friend of fellow Aragonese filmmaker Luis Buñuel. They met at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
Saura lived in Collado Mediano since the early 1980s.
Saura died of respiratory failure in his residence of Collado Mediano on 10 February 2023 at the age of 91. He was due to receive the life-achievement Goya honorary award the following day during the 37th Goya Awards.
Filmography
Films
Feature films
Short films
Documentaries
Feature films
Short films
Selected awards and nominations
Academy Awards
1980 - Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film - Mamá cumple 100 años
1984 - Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film - Carmen
1999 - Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film - Tango
BAFTA Award
1983 - Won: BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film - Carmen
Berlin Film Festival
1964 - Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear - Llanto por un bandido
1966 - Won: Silver Bear for Best Director at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival for his film La caza
1966 - Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear - La caza
1968 - Won: Silver Bear for Best Director at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival for his film Peppermint Frappé
1968 - Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear - Peppermint Frappé
1969 - Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear - La madriguera
1981 - Won: Golden Bear at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival for his film Deprisa, deprisa
1989 - Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear - La noche oscura
Camerimage
1998 - Won: Special Award (Film Direction with a Special Visual Sensitivity)
2009 - Won: Cinematographer-Director Duo Award (shared with Vittorio Storaro)
Cannes Film Festival
1960 - Nominated: Golden Palm - Los golfos
1973 - Nominated: Golden Palm - Ana y los lobos
1974 - Won: Jury Prize at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival for his film La prima Angélica
1974 - Nominated: Golden Palm - La prima Angélica
1976 - Won: Grand Prix of the Jury at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival for his film Cría cuervos...
1976 - Nominated: Golden Palm - Cría cuervos...
1977 - Nominated: Golden Palm - Elisa, vida mía
1978 - Nominated: Golden Palm - Los ojos vendados
1983 - Won: Technical Grand Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival for his film Carmen
1983 - Won: Award for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival for his film Carmen
1983 - Nominated: Golden Palm - Carmen
1988 - Nominated: Golden Palm - El Dorado
European Film Awards
2004 - Won': Lifetime Achievement Award
2008 - Nominated: Best Documentary Award - Fados
Golden Globe Awards
1978 - Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film - Cría cuervos...
1984 - Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film - Carmen
1999 - Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film - Tango
Goya Awards
1991 - Won: Goya Award for Best Director - ¡Ay, Carmela!
1991 - Won: Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Rafael Azcona) - ¡Ay, Carmela!
2005 - Nominated: Best Director - El 7º día
2006 - Nominated: Best Documentary - Iberia
2008 - Nominated: Best Documentary - Fados
2022 - Won: Honorary Goya Award
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
1982 - Won: Special Prize of the Jury - Bodas de sangre
2000 - Won: Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema
Montréal World Film Festival
1983 - Won: Most Popular Film of the Festival - Carmen
1986 - Won: Prix Special du Festival for his trilogy (Bodas de sangre, Carmen, El amor brujo), on the occasion of the presentation of El amor brujo
1995 - Won: Grand Prix Special des Amériques ("On the occasion of the centennial of cinema, for his exceptional contribution to the cinematographic art")
1997 - Won: Best Director - Pajarico
1997 - Nominated: Grand Prix des Amériques - Pajarico
1999 - Won: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Goya en Burdeos
1999 - Won: Best Artistic Contribution - Goya en Burdeos
1999 - Nominated: Grand Prix des Amériques - Goya en Burdeos
2002 - Won: Best Artistic Contribution - Salomé
2002 - Nominated: Grand Prix des Amériques - Salomé
2004 - Won: Best Director - El 7º día
2004 - Nominated: Grand Prix des Amériques - El 7º día
San Sebastián International Film Festival
1958 - Won: Special Mention - Cuenca
1979 - Won: Special Prize of the Jury - Mamá cumple cien años
1996 - Nominated: Golden Seashell - Taxi
2001 - Nominated: Golden Seashell - Buñuel y la mesa del rey Salomón
Venice Film Festival
1968 - Nominated: Golden Lion - Stress-es tres-tres
1984 - Nominated: Golden Lion - Los zancos
1993 - Nominated: Golden Lion - ¡Dispara!
Other awards and honours
1977 - Won: Prix Léon Moussinac - Best Foreign Film at the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics for his film Cría cuervos...
1984 - Won: Best European Film at the 1984 Bodil Awards for his film Carmen
1985 - Won: Guild Film Award - Silver: Foreign Film at the Guild of German Art House Cinemas for his film Carmen
1991 - Won: ADIRCAE Award - Best Director for his film ¡Ay, Carmela!
1999 - Won: Jules Verne Award at the Nantes Spanish Film Festival for his film Pajarico
1999 - Won: SDFCS Award - Best Foreign Language Film at the San Diego Film Critics Society AwardsWon: Lifetime Achievement Award at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
2002 - Won: Lifetime Achievement Award at the Istanbul International Film Festival
2002 - Won: Special Career Award at the Fantasporto
2007 - Won: International Award at the Barcelona Film Awards
2008 - Won: International Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bombay International Film Festival
2011 - Won: Special Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Fotogramas de Plata
2013 - Won: Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Film Festival of Kerala
2015 - Won: Premio Feroz de Honor
2016 - Won': Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Film Festival of India.
Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain
1970 - Won: CEC Award; Best Director - La madriguera.
1977 - Won: CEC Award; Best Director - Cría cuervos...
1978 - Won: CEC Award; Best Director - Elisa, vida mía
1984 - Won: CEC Award; Best Director - Carmen
Sant Jordi Awards
1967 - Won: Sant Jordi; Best Film - La caza
1968 - Won: Sant Jordi; Best Film - Peppermint Frappé
1972 - Won: Sant Jordi; Best Film - El jardín de las delicias
1975 - Won: Sant Jordi; Best Film - La prima Angélica
2000 - Won: Sant Jordi; Best Film - Goya en Burdeos
Notes
References
External links
Official Webpage in Spanish
Carlos Saura. Film. Biography and works. Spain in culture: official Website of Culture in Spain. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
Paul Julian Smith: Cría cuervos...: The Past Is Not Past. DearCinema.com, 13 August 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
1932 births
2023 deaths
People from Huesca
Spanish film directors
Film directors from Aragon
Spanish screenwriters
Spanish male writers
Male screenwriters
Spanish photographers
Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
European Film Awards winners (people)
Filmmakers who won the Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award
Best Director Goya Award winners
Silver Bear for Best Director recipients
Directors of Golden Bear winners
Tango film directors
Kristián Award winners