StatsBirth Name: Luis Buñuel Portolés Born: 22 February 1900 Died: 29 July 1983 Country of origin:  Spain Height: 5' 9" Ethnicity: White / Caucasian Relationship Status: Married Partner: Jeanne Rucar
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The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the university there, where his close friends included Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca.
After moving to Paris, Buñuel did a variety of film-related odd jobs in Paris, including working a
The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the university there, where his close friends included Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca.
After moving to Paris, Buñuel did a variety of film-related odd jobs in Paris, including working as an assistant to director Jean Epstein. With financial assistance from his mother and creative assistance from Dalí, he made his first film, the 17-minute Un chien andalou (1929), in 1929, and immediately catapulted himself into film history thanks to its shocking imagery (much of which - like the sliced eyeball at the beginning - still packs a punch even today). It made a deep impression on the Surrealist Group, who welcomed Buñuel into their ranks.
The following year, sponsored by wealthy art patrons, he made his first feature, the scabrous witty and violent L'âge d'or (1930), which mercilessly attacked the church and the middle classes, themes that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career. That career, though, seemed almost over by the mid-1930s, as he found work increasingly hard to come by and after the Spanish Civil War he emigrated to the US where he worked for the Museum of Modern Art and as a film dubber for Warner Bros.
Moving to Mexico in the late 1940s, he teamed up with producer Óscar Dancigers and after a couple of unmemorable efforts shot back to international attention with the lacerating study of Mexican street urchins in The Young and the Damned (1950), winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.
But despite this new-found acclaim, Buñuel spent much of the next decade working on a variety of ultra-low-budget films, few of which made much impact outside Spanish-speaking countries (though many of them are well worth seeking out). But in 1961, General Franco, anxious to be seen to be supporting Spanish culture invited Buñuel back to his native country - and Bunuel promptly bit the hand that fed him by making Viridiana (1961), which was banned in Spain on the grounds of blasphemy, though it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
This inaugurated Buñuel's last great period when, in collaboration with producer Serge Silberman and writer Jean-Claude Carrière he made seven extraordinary late masterpieces, starting with Diary of a Chambermaid (1964). Although far glossier and more expensive, and often featuring major stars such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve, the films showed that even in old age Buñuel had lost none of his youthful vigour.
After saying that every one of his films from Belle de jour (1967) onwards would be his last, he finally kept his promise with That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), after which he wrote a memorable (if factually dubious) autobiography, in which he said he'd be happy to burn all the prints of all his films - a classic Surrealist gesture if ever there was one.
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arnott added this to a list 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Liaison added this to a list 9 months ago
 Favorite Directors' Quotes (27 person items)""Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether."
"Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese."
"Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams."
"I love dreams, even when they're nightmares, which is usually the case. My dreams are full of the same obstacles, but it doesn't matter. My amour fou for"
 Directors to Watch (154 person items)"Movies
★★★★
An Andalusian Dog
L'Age d'Or
Watch-list: Los Olvidados, Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie ..."
m08221196 added this to a list 10 months, 1 week ago
Rath added this to a list 11 months ago
Mr. Saturn added this to a list 11 months, 4 weeks ago
Rath added this to a list 1 year ago
Pajson87pl added this to a list 1 year, 2 months ago
BadSmile added this to a list 1 year, 2 months ago
 My favorite directors (50 person items)"
Favorite film:
Seen:
*The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - 8/10
*The Exterminating Angel - 8/10
*Los Olvidados - 8/10
*An Andalusian Dog - 7/10
*Simon of the Desert - 7/10"
SpG added this to a list 1 year, 3 months ago
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Noctem added this to a list 1 year, 9 months ago
 Ingmar Bergman: opinions (25 person items)"A French critic cleverly wrote that "with Autumn Sonata Bergman does Bergman." It is witty but unfortunate. For me, that is. I think it is only too true that Bergman (Ingmar, that is) did a Bergman.... I love and admire the filmmaker Tarkovsky and believe him to be one of the greatest of all time. My admiration for Fellini is limitless. But I also feel that Tarkovsky began to make Tarkovsky films and that Fellini began to make Fellini films. Yet Kurosawa has never made a Kurosawa film. I have ne"
Ferz added this to a list 1 year, 11 months ago
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