Celebrity Biographies
Jose Luis Borau
The veteran José Luis Borau was one of the most risky and personal directors in Spanish cinema. In addition, he was the author of books, and occupied the B chair of the Royal Academy of Language, which was left empty by Fernando Fernán Gómez.
Born in Zaragoza, where today he has his own street, on August 8, 1929, José Luis Borau Moradell studied at the Colegio San Agustín, and graduated in Law in 1929. For a time he worked as a film critic for El Heraldo de Aragón. In Madrid he manages to become an official of the National Housing Institute, but without saying anything to his parents, he enrolls in the Institute of Cinematographic Research and Experiences. As a final year practice he shoots the short En el río , and his teachers consider him one of the great promises of Spanish cinema.
He shoots his first two commissioned feature films. It is about the western Brandy and the thriller Double Edged Crime , but she is disillusioned with the cinematographic world and decides to dedicate herself to advertising. For this, she founds her production company, El Imán, and in addition to achieving immense prestige in that field, she earns enough money to finance her return to the cinema. Thus, he shoots You have to kill B. , the first film that he considers strictly personal. Borau was also a scriptwriter for Mi querida señorita , along with its director, Jaime de Armiñán .
His biggest commercial success was Furtivos , which won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Festival. Follow in the footsteps of Ángel ( Ovidi Montllor ), a poacher who takes home a young woman who escaped from a reformatory ( Alicia Sánchez ), which her mother ( Lola Gaos ) does not quite like.
Despite how well it did at the box office, it took Borau four years to return to the cinema, with La Sabina , about a group of foreigners in Andalusia, and an ancient mythological being. Her most ambitious film is Río abajo , shot in English, with David Carradine and Victoria Abril .
One of her favorite actresses from her childhood, Imperio Argentina , stars under her orders Tata mía , in which she was accompanied by Alfredo Landa and Carmen Maura . After Niño nadie , she won the Goya for best director for Leo . He also directed the series Celia , which was based on a series of children’s stories by Elena Fortún .
From his time as president of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, between 1994 and 1999, his gesture of showing his hands painted white, to show his opposition to ETA terrorism, is remembered. He has written the narrative books “Eleven-rod Shirt”, “Christmas, Horrible Christmas” and “The Winter Friend”. In 2008 he was appointed academic of the Royal Spanish Academy. He is also president of the Board of Directors of the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE). In 1988 he received the Gold Medal for merit in Fine Arts and, in 2002, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the National Cinematography Award.
He died on November 23, 2012 due to throat cancer.