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). 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 Eulàlia Ramon, 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 Film
Short film Year Title Director WriterNotes1957 La tarde del domingo1991Oragina Commercialadvertising short made for the experimental compilation film The King of Ads 2021 Goya: 3 de Mayo
Feature film Year Title Director Writer Notes 1960Los golfos 1963 Llanto por un bandido1965Muere una Mujer 1966 La caza also uncredited co-producer1967 Peppermint Frappé1968Stres-es tres-tres1969 La madriguera 1970 El jardín de las delicias 1973Ana y los lobos 1974La prima Angélica 1976Cría cuervos1977 Elisa, vida mía 1978 Los ojos vendados 1979 Mamá cumple cien años 1981 Deprisa, Deprisa Bodas de sangre 1982 Dulces horas Antonieta1983 Carmenalso producer 1984 Los zancos1986 El amor brujo1988 El Dorado 1989 La noche oscura1990 ¡Ay, Carmela!Los Cuentos de Borges: El Sur (TV) 1993 ¡Dispara! 1996Taxi1997Little Bird (Pajarico)1998 Tango1999 Goya en Burdeos 2001 Buñuel y la mesa del rey Salomón 2002 Salomé 2004 El séptimo día 2009 I, Don Giovanni2021 El rey de todo el mundo
Documentary works Short film Year Title Director Writer Notes1955 Flamencoalso producer and cinematographer 1956 El pequeño río Manzanares1958 Cuenca 2008 Sinfonía de Aragón 2021 Rosa Rosae: La Guerra Civilalso editor and artwork
Film Year Title Director Writer Notes1992 Sevillanas 1993Marathon1995 Flamenco 2005 Iberiaalso production designer2007 Fados 2010 Flamenco, Flamenco 2015 Zonda, folclore argentino 2016 Jota de Sauraalso art director 2018 Renzo Piano, an Architect for Santander2022 Las paredes hablanalso actor
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