Luis GarcÃa Berlanga
Luis García Berlanga Martí ( born June 12, 1921 in Valencia, † November 13, 2010 in Madrid) was one of the foremost Spanish film directors.
Life
Berlanga grew up in Valencia and in Switzerland. After the Spanish Civil War Berlangas father was imprisoned as a member of the Popular Front. Berlanga as a member of the Falange his father tried to improve the situation by voluntarily to the Blue Division came forward and fought one year for the Germans on the Eastern Front. On his return he took up his studies in philosophy again, painted and founded a film club in Valencia. After the end of World War II, he began his film studies at the Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias Cinematográficas. There he met Juan Antonio Bardem, with whom he Esa Pareja Feliz realized with his first feature film after several documentaries in 1952. The following year, Bardem wrote the script for Welcome, Mr. Marshall, Berlanga 's first major success as a director. The film was awarded at Cannes in 1953 for Best Comedy.
Berlanga had meanwhile removed from the Falange, and took a more libertarian position, but was not pursued because of its success of the Falange. Berlanga had but with his presence and the Spanish Society mocking films permanent problems with the Spanish censorship. His next big film Los jueves, milagro came only after years in the cinema. After his film Placido had received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film, he succeeded in 1963 with El Verdugo, a masterpiece of black humor. General coined a rather pessimistic mood his later films; his characters were able to manage only by black humor.
Berlanga and Bardem are now considered the most important Spanish directors of the time of the Franco regime. After the end of Franco's regime in Spain Berlanga was also highly revered and honored. He was since 1986 Honorary President of the Spanish Film Academy; In 1986 he also received the Prince of Asturias Award. Berlanga in 1987 was honored as the first personality with an Honorary Goya for his life's work.