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Luis Buñuel
Director

Luis Buñuel

22 Feb 1900Born
29 Jul 1983Died
83Age at death
51Credits

Biography

Luis Buñuel Portolés (Spanish: [ˈlwis βuˈɲwel poɾtoˈles]; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel's work was known for its avant-garde surrealism which was also infused with political commentary and social satire.

Often associated with the surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel made films from the 1920s through the 1970s.

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He collaborated with prolific surrealist painter Salvador Dali creating the films Un Chien Andalou (1929), which was made in the silent era and L'Age d'Or (1930). The two films are seen as the birth of Cinematic surrealism. From 1947 to 1960 he developed his skills as a director filming in Mexico making grounded and human melodramas such as Gran Casino (1947), Los Olvidados (1950), and Él (1953). Here is where he gained the fundamentals of storytelling.

Buñuel than transitioned into making artful, unconventional, surrealist, and political satirical films. He earned acclaim with the morally complex arthouse drama film Viridiana (1961) which criticized the Francoist dictatorship. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. He then criticized political and social conditions in The Exterminating Angel (1962), and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise (1972) the later of which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. He also directed Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), and Belle de Jour (1967), as well as his final film That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) the later of which earned the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director.

Buñuel earned five Cannes Film Festival prizes, two Berlin International Film Festival prizes, and a BAFTA Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. Buñuel received numerous honors including National Prize for Arts and Sciences for Fine Arts in 1977, the Moscow International Film Festival Contribution to Cinema Prize in 1979, and the Career Golden Lion in 1982. He was nominated once for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. Seven of Buñuel's films are included in Sight & Sound's 2012 critics' poll of the top 250 films of all time.

Known for

Filmography

  1. 2024Constel·lació PortabellaFilm: (archive footage)
  2. 2000Eating Sea UrchinsFilm: Director
  3. 1997La novia de medianocheFilm: Screenplay
  4. 1992Paco, mi padreFilm
  5. 1984A Play About Remembering and DyingFilm: Novel
  6. 1977That Obscure Object of DesireFilm: Director, Screenplay
  7. 1974The Phantom of LibertyFilm: Condemned Man (uncredited), Director, Writer
  8. 1973Fall of a BodyFilm: Un invité (uncredited)
  9. 1972The MonkFilm: Screenplay
  10. 1972The Discreet Charm of the BourgeoisieFilm: Screenplay, Director
  11. 1971Johnny Got His GunFilm: Writer
  12. 1970TristanaFilm: Director, Screenplay
  13. 1969The Milky WayFilm: (voice) (uncredited), Director, Writer
  14. 1967Belle de JourFilm: Man in Gardencafe - Left from the Duke (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
  15. 1965There Are No Thieves in This VillageFilm
  16. 1965Simon of the DesertFilm: Director, Screenplay
  17. 1964Weeping for a BanditFilm: El verdugo
  18. 1964Diary of a ChambermaidFilm: Director, Writer
  19. 1962The Exterminating AngelFilm: Director, Screenplay
  20. 1962ViridianaFilm: Screenplay, Director
  21. 1960The Young OneFilm: Director, Screenplay
  22. 1959Fever Mounts at El PaoFilm: Director, Writer
  23. 1959NazarínFilm: Screenplay, Director
  24. 1956Death in the GardenFilm: Director, Screenplay
  25. 1956That Is the DawnFilm: Director, Writer
  26. 1955The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la CruzFilm: Writer, Director
  27. 1954The River and DeathFilm: Writer, Director
  28. 1954Robinson CrusoeFilm: Screenplay, Director
  29. 1954Wuthering HeightsFilm: Director
  30. 1954Illusion Travels by StreetcarFilm: Director
  31. 1953The Proud and the BeautifulFilm: Smuggler (uncredited)
  32. 1953ÉlFilm: Director, Screenplay
  33. 1953The BruteFilm: Writer, Director
  34. 1952A Woman Without LoveFilm: Director, Screenplay
  35. 1952Mexican Bus RideFilm: Director
  36. 1951Daughter of DeceitFilm: Director
  37. 1951SusanaFilm: Director, Writer
  38. 1951Si usted no puede, yo síFilm: Writer
  39. 1950The Young and the DamnedFilm: Screenplay, Director
  40. 1949The Great MadcapFilm: Director
  41. 1947Gran CasinoFilm: Director
  42. 1937Spain 1936Film: Screenplay
  43. 1936Who Loves Me?Film: Screenplay
  44. 1935Don Quintin the BitterFilm: Screenplay
  45. 1933Land Without BreadFilm: Director, Screenplay
  46. 1930L'Âge d'orFilm: (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
  47. 1929Un Chien AndalouFilm: Man in Prologue (uncredited), Screenplay, Director
  48. 1929MontparnasseFilm
  49. 1928The Fall of the House of UsherFilm: Writer
  50. 1926MaupratFilm: Monk / Guardsman
  51. 1926CarmenFilm: Contrebandier chez lillas pastia

Biography and credits from TMDB. This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.