Carlos Saura, key director of Spanish cinema and Goya de Honor Award 2023, dies

Carlos Saura, one of the greatest, great directors of Spanish cinema, He died on Friday 10 February at the age of 91 from respiratory failure. On the same Saturday 11, the director would have received the Goya of honor after 67 years of career in which he has left us important titles such as ‘Cría cuervos’, ‘La cugina Angélica’, ‘La Caza’ or ‘Ay, Carmelo!’.

Carlos Saura, the teacher who transformed Spanish reality into cinema, dies. A few days ago he received the #Goya2023 Honor at home. https://t.co/d5TUp14ZBx pic.twitter.com/5IQFLNMXiu

? Goya Awards (@Goya Awards) February 10, 2023

Although her latest film, ‘The Walls Talk’, a documentary on the very origin of art, was released in theaters on February 3, just a week before her death, Saura had been struggling with health problems for some time, for this reason the statuette of honor was delivered to him at his home a few days before the Goya gala, which will now serve as a space to commemorate “the memory of an unrepeatable creator”. The statement released by the organization, the Academy highlights the director as “bold and impatient, eager to fragment the routine to which conventional cinema had accustomed us, bringing new components that accelerated its break; he transferred to the big screen a reflective gaze on the palpable difficulties of Spanish society of the time and an inexorable symbolism from the wounds of the Spanish Civil War”.

Saura was born in Huesca in 1932 and graduated in film directing from the Institute for Cinematographic Research and Experiences in Madrid. You began by directing short films and moved into feature films with “Los Golfos” in 1960, for which you were nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Six years later ‘La caza’ will arrive, a drama set in the Civil War that will mark the beginning of his collaboration with Elías Querejeta, with whom he will make thirteen feature films. ‘La caza’ is still a reference work in the history of Spanish cinema and thanks to it Saura began to be considered one of the most relevant directors of our cinema.

Together with Querejeta, he made films such as ‘Peppermint frappé’, ‘El jardín de las delicias’, ‘La madriguera’ and ‘La cugina Angélica’, a film that would serve to consolidate him in the international market. In 1976 with ‘Cría cuervos’, Saura would go on to win the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Followed by ‘Elisa, my life’, ‘The blindfold, ‘Mamma turns 100’ and ‘Hurry up, hurry up’.

In 1981, Saura saw the stage ballet “Bodas de sangre” and joined forces with Antonio Gades and producer Emiliano Piedra to, by adapting Federico García Lorca’s work, invent a new genre that mixed dance and cinema. It is the first part of a flamenco trilogy that will be completed with “Carmen” and “El amor brujo”. But his contribution to the musical does not end there, he will continue to work on this genre from fiction with ‘Salomé’ or ‘Tango’ and from documentary with ‘Sevillanas’, ‘Flamenco’ or ‘Iberia’.

Of his long, fruitful and impressive career, we must also highlight such titles as “The Dark Night”, “Oh, Carmela!”, “Taxi”, “Buñuel and King Solomon’s Table”, “The Seventh Day”, ” I, Don Giovanni’, ‘The King of the Whole World’, ‘Rosa Rosae. The Civil War’ or ‘Goya May 3’. Saura innovated when the country was in lockdown, he got around censorship and fought, from his cinema, against the legacy and wounds of Francoism. He was an eclectic and radical creator, always curious, sometimes direct and other times abstract, concerned with reflecting on social problems, but also with exploring new forms of artistic expression. He’s always on the front line.

Throughout his career, Saura has, among other awards, won the Silver Bear for Best Director in Berlin for ‘La caza’ and ‘Peppermint frappé’ and the Golden Bear for ‘Quick, quick’; He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language / Foreign Language Film for ‘Mama’s 100th Birthday’, ‘Carmen’ and ‘Tango; he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts in 1991 and with the Gold Medal of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain in 1992, and also with the Biznaga de Oro of the Malaga film festival in 2022. In his wonderful obituary in El País, Gregorio Belinchon describes Saura, Luis Buñuel , Luis García Berlanga and Pedro Almodóvar as “the quartet of masters, the engines that promoted national cinematography”.

Cinema says goodbye

Before the news, actors, actresses, directors and sector journalists greeted Saura on their social networks:

With Carlos Saura dies a very important part of the history of Spanish cinema. He leaves behind an essential work for a profound reflection on human behavior.

Rest in peace, friend.#DEP #CarloSaura pic.twitter.com/B7AU9wGWbU

? Antonio Banderas (@antoniobanderas) February 10, 2023

Farewell to a cinema giant. see you forever #CarloSaura. In @DiasDeCine Today we give everything for him. The schedule will be different than what was planned, but it will be my copy of #Crows for breeding of the @BFI signed by him and by #AnaTorrent pic.twitter.com/E1jIu4egSv

? Gerardo Sanchez (@GerardoQuietMan) February 10, 2023

Is dead #CarloSaura, Charles I the Stubborn, last king of Aragon; I have collected a few words in memory of him. “Find the stubborn his King Solomon’s table.” https://t.co/yDcnPwsZPC

? Rodrigo Cortes (@rodrigocortes) February 10, 2023

Carlos Saura died, modern director where there are, history of cinema and Spain https://t.co/9sd7sJ1eJN #goyas2023

? Pepa Blanes (@pepablanes) February 10, 2023

One of the essential glimpses of the history of our cinema. One of the best European directors of his generation. A huge sin and a huge loss. https://t.co/o36D6crXSH

? Juan Diego Botto (@JuanDiegoBotto) February 10, 2023

His latest film, Las paredes habla, was released last Friday, showing his tireless activity and love for his craft right up to the last moment. Tomorrow, at the Andalusia Auditorium in Seville, the 37th edition of the Goya will commemorate the memory of an unrepeatable creator.

? Film Academy (@Film Academy) February 10, 2023

In addition to being a director, Saura has written four novels: ‘Lonely bird’, ‘Quella luce!’, ‘Elisa, my life’ and ‘Le absences’; and various books on photography. He has directed theater and opera and his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions. Saura, one of the last great classical masters of Spanish cinema, never stopped working on what he loved most, stories, and at 91, he still had at least one feature film and series in production. Today we can pay homage to him as he deserves, at the cinema, where his latest film, ‘Las paredes habla’, has just been released, a journey from the first artistic expressions of the Paleolithic to the avant-garde of urban art.