Luis García Berlanga

Luis García Berlanga (born in Valencia, on 12 June 1921) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter.

When young, he decided to study Philosophy but his true vocation pushed him to enter in 1947 the Institute of Cinematographic Investigations and experiences (Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias cinematográficas) in Madrid.In his youth he enrolled in the Blue Division to avoid political reprisals for the post his father had held during the Republic (he had been Governor of Valencia).

His debut as a film director in 1951 was with the film "That Happy Couple" in which he worked with Juan Antonio Bardem. With Bardem, he is considered to be one of Spanish film renovators after the Spanish civil war. Among his films stand out several unforgettable ones of Spanish film history, as "Welcome Mr. Marshall!" or "The Executioner". He worked on seven occasions with screenwriter Rafael Azcona.

Characteristic of his films are their sense of irony and the satires of different social and political situations. During the Franco dictatorship his ability to outwit the censorship and to carry out daring projects as Miracles on Thursdays stood out.

In 1986 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Arts and in 1993 the Goya for best director for "Everyone to Jail!" His film "Placido" was nominated in 1961 for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Gold Medal for Fine Art ("Medalla de Oro de las Bellas Artes") in 1981, Spanish National Cinematography Price ("Premio Nacional de Cinematografía") in 1980, and has been granted with the Italian Commendatore Order.

He has won international prizes in the most important film festivals: Cannes Film Festival, International Film Festival of Valencia, Montreal World Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival. In the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival he won a prize as one the world’s ten most prominent film directors. He has also been awarded a countless number of national acknowledgements.

Filmography as director

* "Esa pareja feliz" (1951) co-written and co-directed
* "Welcome Mr. Marshall! (¡Bienvenido Mister Marshall!) (1952)
* "Novio a la vista" (1953)
* "Calabuch" (1956)
* "Miracles on Thursdays" (Los jueves, milagro) (1957)
* "Plácido" (1961)
* "Las cuatro verdades" (1962)
* "El Verdugo" (1963)
* "Las Pirañas ("aka La boutique, in Spain") (1967)
* "¡Vivan los novios!" (1969)
* "Tamaño natural" (1973)
* "La escopeta nacional" (1977)
* "Patrimonio nacional" (1981)
* "Nacional III" ( (1981)
* "La vaquilla (1985)
* "Moros y Cristianos (film)" (1987)
* "Everyone to Jail! (¡Todos a la cárcel!) (1993)
* "París-Tombuctú (1999)

Filmography as actor

* "Corazón de bombón" (2000) (actor)
* "Strangers to Themselves" (Extranjeros de sí mismos) documentary, (2001) (actor)

External links

* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/berlanga.html Luis García Berlanga] - Luis Garcia Berlanga's biography at Senses of Cinema
* [http://www.todocine.com/bio/00092510.htm Luis García Berlanga] - In Spanish