Enrique Irazoqui

Born on July 5, 1944, in Barcelona, ​​Enrique Irazoqui was the son of a Spanish psychiatrist and an Italian businesswoman. He was studying Economics in Barcelona, ​​when he traveled to Italy, the country of his mother, at the age of 19, in order to raise funds for the then illegal Democratic Union of Students.

There he met the poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini , who recruited him to give life to Christ, in The Passion According to Saint Matthew , from 1964, despite the fact that he had no experience in front of the cameras. “When I met him, he began to shout “I have found Jesus, Jesus is in my house!”, I did not understand what was happening,” recalled the actor. “But I began to give my usual speech: “Spanish universities and their organizations against fascism, etcetera, etcetera…”. And he, instead of interrupting me like everyone else did, stood up and began to circle around me”, The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Festival.

Subsequently, Enrique Irazoqui did not do much in the cinema, although he participated in Noche de vino roto , by José María Nunes , Dante is not only severe , by Joaquim Jordà  and Jacinto Esteva , one of the mythical titles of the so-called Barcelona School; and he withdrew from the cinema. After traveling to the United States where he studied Literature, he became a professor of this discipline.

He would return sporadically to the screen, for example to participate in 2008 in  A la solitude , again under the orders of Nunes. He was also John the Baptist in another evangelical film, Das neue Evangelium , filmed shortly before his death.

In 2014 he joined Podemos, although he ended up resigning due to his position against the independence movement in Catalonia. In 2011 she received the Honorary Citizenship of the city of Matera (Italy), where the film was shot; In October of the same year, she participated in the tribute that the Filmoteca de Valencia paid to the director with a complete retrospective of his filmography. In September 2014, she received a tribute from the Venice Film Festival.