Celebrity Biographies
Ivan Zulueta
He was one of the most atypical directors that Spanish cinema has produced. Iván Zulueta only directed two feature films, but even so he is considered a cult director. He was also the poster designer for emblematic films by Pedro Almodóvar. The filmmaker died at the age of 66 in San Sebastián, his hometown, due to respiratory failure on December 30, 2009.
Born on September 29, 1943, Juan Ricardo Miguel Zulueta came from a wealthy family. After the Civil War ended a few years ago, his father was not allowed to register him as “Iván”, apparently due to the Russian origin of his name. His interest in plastic arts and cinema runs in the family, since his father was the director of the San Sebastián Festival, and his mother was a painter, although not a professional.
He studied Decoration in Madrid, and stayed for a while in the United States, where he enrolled in advertising drawing and oil painting at the Arts Student League.
Back in Spain, he began his studies at the Official School of Cinematography, where he became the protégé of filmmaker José Luis Borau . As practices he shot two shorts: Ágata and Ida y vuelta . When riots occurred for political reasons at the School, which led to its closure, Zulueta was unable to obtain the union card that was needed to be a film director in Spain.
After directing “Último grito”, a musical program presented by José María Íñigo , José Luis Borau produces through his company, El Imán, the first feature film by Iván Zulueta, Un, dos, tres, al escondite inglés, about a group of passionate about music who decide to boycott the Mundocanal festival, a parody of Eurovision. As Zulueta still did not have a union card, José Luis Borau appeared as director.
In the 1970s, Zulueta began a long stage as a poster author. He also directs several shorts like Massage and Frank Stein . He befriends Pedro Almodóvar , for whom he worked as a cameraman in his super 8 feature film El sueño (o la estrella) . He was also the designer of the Labyrinth of Passions posters . What have I done to deserve this? and Between darkness .
An architect from Leon decides to finance Zulueta’s second feature, Arrebato , which had problems during filming. It took more time than expected to shoot it, and such chaos ensued that many technicians finally decided to resign, especially those on the set. This caused the film to be dubbed in post-production, with Pedro Almodóvar dubbing Helena Fernán Gómez with a falsetto voice.
The cryptic film narrates the creative crisis of José Sirgado, director of series B. It took a long time to be released, and had hardly any repercussions, but it became the cult film par excellence of Spanish cinema.
In the 1980s, Zulueta’s career was ruined due to his recognized addiction to heroin. He did not direct a feature film again, but he did direct the medium-length film Párpados , which belongs to the television series Delirios de amor , and Ritesti , an episode of the series Crónicas del mal . He also continued to do the odd poster, for titles like Ataque verbale and Leo . At the beginning of the 21st century, he was vindicated as a cult director with exhibitions of his work, the revival of Arrebato and the DVD edition of the film.