José Luis Garci

Spanish film director

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is  García and the second or maternal family name is  Muñoz.

José Luis Garci

Garci in 2013

Born|

José Luis García Muñoz

(1944-01-20) 20 January 1944 (age 80)

Madrid, Spain

Occupation| Filmmaker
Years active| 1977–present

José Luis García Muñoz (born 20 January 1944), known professionally as José Luis Garci, is a Spanish film director, producer, critic, TV presenter, screenwriter and author. One of the most influential film personalities in the history of film in Spain, he earned worldwide acclaim and his country's first Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for Begin the Beguine (1982).[1] Four of his films, including also Sesión continua (1984), Asignatura aprobada (1987) and El abuelo (1998), have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, more than any other Spanish director.[2] His films are characterized for his classical style and the underlying sentimentality of their plots.[3]

## Early life and work

[edit]

Born in 1944 in a humble family from Asturias. After completing a pre-university course, Garci began working as an administrative assistant in a bank.[4] His love for cinema from an early age led him to pursue filmmaking as a career. At age twenty he began writing reviews for a number of film magazines such as Signos and Cinestudio, winning an award in 1968 from the Circulo de Escritores Cinematograficos for his work as film critic.

At the same time, he wrote his first literary works, science fiction stories like: Bibidibabibidibú (1970), Adam Blake (1972), and La Gioconda está triste y otras extrañas historias (1976). He also published the essay: Ray Bradbury humanista del futuro (1971).[5]

In 1969 he became involved in scriptwriting, receiving his first screen credits for Antonio Giménez Rico El Cronicón (The Chronicle, 1970). Between 1972 and 1977 he scripted five more films: León Klimovsky's La casa de las chivas (The House of the goats); Pedro Olea's No es bueno que el hombre esté solo (A Man Shouldn't be Alone, 1973); Eloy de la Iglesia's Una gota de sangre para morir amando, (A drop of blood to die loving, 1973); Antonio Drove's Mi mujer es muy decente dentro de lo que cabe (1974) or Roberto Bodegas' Vida conyugal sana (Healthy Married Life, 1973) and Los nuevos españoles (New Spaniards, 1974). During this same period, Garci also wrote the made for T.V film La Cabina (The Telephone Box, 1972) directed by Antonio Mercero. He then directed his first short films: !Al Futbol! (!To Football!) Mi Marilyn, (My Marilyn), both in 1975, and Tiempo de gente acobardada (People Cowed Time, 1976).[6]

## Feature films

[edit]

In 1977, José Luis Garci directed his first feature film Asignatura pendiente (Unfinished Business) from a script by Gonzalez Sinde, a love story between an old pair of lovers which runs parallel to the social and political changes lived in Spain after the fall of Francisco Franco's regime. The film was well received by critics and audiences, becoming the most successful representative of the Spanish film of the generation of the Transition from dictatorship to democracy who saw themselves in a social and political limbo. A simple story of an amorous seduction by the film's hero is set around a series of topical references to a generation of Spaniards born in the immediate post-civil war period whose frustrations and nostalgia are embodied in the film's protagonist. Garci took his narrative cues from the visual patterns followed in the traditional Hollywood narrative.[7][8]

Garci second film Solos en la madrugada (Alone in the Dark, 1978)[9] became skilled tackling progressive social themes intended for an audience interested neither in elite art cinema nor in the popular style of most Spanish comedies. He used this same pattern in his third film, Las verdes praderas (The Green Meadows, 1979),[10] in which heavy sentimentality, a constant in his films, became more apparent.

After founding the production company Nickel Odeon with José Esteban Alenda in 1980,[11] the director changed gears with El Crack (1981),[12][13] in which he used the figure of the hard boiled detective in a story inspired by the novels of Dashiell Hammett, to whom the film is dedicated, and employing elements of the American film noirs of the 1930s and 40s giving it a Spanish flavor. For this film Garci won the CEC Award for Best Screenplay from the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos.[14] The formula worked so well that two years later he made a sequel, El crack II [es] (1983).

Between this two films, Garci made his most emblematic work Volver a empezar, (Begin to Beguine, 1982), a sentimental story of an aging writer who returns to Spain after many years in exiled following the civil war. The film was the first Spanish motion picture to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[15][16]

Garci signing books at the Madrid Book Fair in 2024

His films Sesión continua (Double Feature, 1984) and Asignatura aprobada (Course Completed, 1987), which also received Academy Award nominations,[17][18] gave emphasis to sentimentality. He won the Goya Award for Best Director for Asigantura aprobada in 1988.[19] Canción de cuna (Cradle Song, 1994), a film adaptation of Gregorio Martinez Sierra play, was awarded with the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 18th Montreal World Film Festival.[20] Garci's subsequently films include La herida luminosa (The Wound of Light, 1997), and El abuelo (The Grandfather, 1998), which was Spain's submission for the Best Foreign Film category of the Academy Awards in 1999, getting the final nomination.[21]

Recently, Garci directed Una historia de entonces (You're the One, 2000), which was entered into the 51st Berlin International Film Festival,[22] Historia de un beso (Story of a Kiss, 2002), Tiovivo c. 1950 (2004), Ninette (2005), Luz de domingo (2007), Sangre de mayo (2008), Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days (2012), and the prequel El crack cero [es] (2019), the third part of the crime film saga El crack.[23] In addition to filmmaking, he is a popular television presenter in his homeland. His television program ¡Qué grande es el cine! [es], which was broadcast on Televisión Española between 1995 and 2005 on the occasion of the first centenary of the history of cinema, presented a feature film weekly and was attended by three experts, who debated after the screening of the chosen film.[24]

## Filmography

[edit]

### Film

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer  | Editor  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|

1977  | Asignatura Pendiente | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  |
1978  | Alone in the Dark | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  |
1979  | Las verdes praderas | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  |
1980  | Viva la Clase Media | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  |
1981  | El Crack | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  |
1982  | Volver a Empezar | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film winner, 1982
1983  | El Crack II | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  |
1985  | Bras Fe Fer | No  | No  | Executive  | Yes  |
1984  | Sesión continua | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee
1987  | Asignatura Aprobada | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee
1988  | El Tesoro | No  | Yes  | Executive  | No  |
1994  | Canción de cuna | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
1997  | La herida luminosa | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  |
1998  | El Abuelo | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee
2000  | Una historia de entonces | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | European Film Academy Best European Director nominee
2002  | Historia de un beso | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2003  | Hotel Danubio | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  |
2004  | Tiovivo c. 1950 | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2005  | Ninette | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  |
2007  | Luz de Domingo | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2008  | Sangre de Mayo | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2012  | Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2019  | El Crack Cero | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |

#### Writer only

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Notes

|
|

1966  | Las últimas horas | Uncredited
1967  | Los chicos de Peru |
1969  | Las nenas del mini-mini | Uncredited
1970  | El Cronicón |
1972  | La casa de las chivas |
1973  | No es bueno que el hombre esté solo |
Una gota de sangre para morir amando |
Ceremonia sangrienta | Uncredited
1974  | Vida conyugal sana |
Los nuevos españoles |
1975  | Mi mujer es muy decente, dentro de lo que cabe |
La mujer es cosa de hombres |
1976  | La noche de los cien pajaros |
1998  | Yerma |

#### Producer only

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Notes

|
|

1985  | Extramuros |
1986  | La gran comedia |
1987  | ¡Biba la banda! |
1989  | El río que nos lleva | Executive producer
1992  | Las cadenas del deseo |
1995  | Elisa, de Jean Backer |
1997  | La furia | Associate producer
Momentos robados |
1999  | La venganza | Associate producer
Un homo perbene |
Shacky Carmine |
2000  | Cóndor cux |
Yoyes | Executive producer
Érase otra vez |
Leo |
2002  | Nowhere |
2003  | La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón | Uncredited

## Honours

[edit]

Garci was honoured with the National Cinematography Award [es] in 1992, the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 1996 and the Ciudad de Alcalá Award for Arts and Letters  [es] in 2013, among many others. He is a member of the Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[25]

In 2024 he recieved the EGEDA Gold Medal at the 30th edition of the Forqué Awards, recognizing his career as a director, producer and screenwriter in Spanish cinema and his role as a disseminator.[26]

## Sources

[edit]

* Moret, Andrés, Una vida de repuesto. El cine de José Luis Garci, Hatari Books, Sociedad Limitada, 2022; ISBN 978-84-94788-55-0
* Emotion pictures. El cine de José Luis Garci, foreword by José Luis Garci, Notorious Ediciones, Madrid, 2018; ISBN 978-84-15606-62-8
* Benavent, Francisco María, Cine Español de los Noventa, ediciones Mensajero, 2000; ISBN 84-271-2326-4
* D'Lugo, Marvin:  Guide to the Cinema of Spain, Greenwood Press, 1997; ISBN 0-313-29474-7
* Stone, Rob, Spanish Cinema, Pearson Education, 2002; ISBN 0-582-43715-6
* Torres, Augusto, Diccionario del cine Español, Espasa Calpe, 1994; ISBN 84-239-9203-9

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "José Luis Garci". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
2. ^ Claudia Santana. "Las 8 películas españolas más destacadas de los Oscars". The Showroom Mag. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
3. ^ Valeriano Durán Manso. "Nostalgia y melodrama en el cine de José Luis Garci (1982-1996)". Revista de comunicación audiovisual y publicitaria. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
4. ^ "José Luis Garci". Feria del Libro de Badajoz. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
5. ^ "José Luis Garci (España)". La Tercera Fundación. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
6. ^ "Biografía de José Luis Garci". Decine21. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
7. ^ Faulkner, Sally (2013-04-11). A History of Spanish Film: Cinema and Society 1910-2010. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781623567422.
8. ^ "Pix Rang Up $210-Mil At Spain's Boxoffice in 1977". Variety. November 8, 1978. p. 29.
9. ^ "Solos en la madrugada". City of Madrid Film Office (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-24.
10. ^ 40 años de Las verdes praderas (1979), de José Luis Garci. FilaSiete 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2024
11. ^ Ángeles González-Sinde (June 16, 2013). "José Luis Garci: «No volveré a hacer cine»". Jot Down. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
12. ^ "23 Breathtaking Spanish Thriller Movies You Must Watch Now!". April 17, 2023.
13. ^ "El Crack (1981)" - via www.blu-ray.com.
14. ^ "Premios CEC a la producción española de 1981". Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
15. ^ "The 55th Academy Awards (1983) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
16. ^ Robert Dickinson (1991). Garci's Trilogy of Melancholy and the Foreign Language Oscar (PDF). University of Southern California.
17. ^ "The 57th Academy Awards (1985) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
18. ^ "The 60th Academy Awards (1988) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
19. ^ "Asignatura aprobada". Premios Goya. Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
20. ^ "18th World Film Festival Montreal". Interfilm. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
21. ^ "The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
22. ^ You're The One (Una historia de entonces). Berlinale Competition 2001. Retrieved 9 November 2024
23. ^ Mikel Zorrilla - Espinof. "'El crack cero': una estimable precuela donde José Luis Garci rinde homenaje al cine negro y el Madrid de los 70". Retrieved 17 December 2021.
24. ^ "¡Qué grande es el cine!". RTVE. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
25. ^ "José Luis Garci en diálogo con Eduardo Torres-Dulce". Fundación Juan March. 20 January 2022. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
26. ^ "José Luis Garci, Medalla de Oro de los 30 Premios Forqué". Infobae. 4 November 2024. Retrieved 2024-11-09.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to José Luis Garci.

* José Luis Garci at IMDb

* v
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Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

1947–1955
(Honorary)|

* 1947: Shoeshine – Vittorio De Sica
* 1948: Monsieur Vincent – Maurice Cloche
* 1949: Bicycle Thieves – Vittorio De Sica
* 1950: The Walls of Malapaga – René Clément
* 1951: Rashomon – Akira Kurosawa
* 1952: Forbidden Games – René Clément
* 1953: No Award
* 1954: Gate of Hell – Teinosuke Kinugasa
* 1955: Samurai, The Legend of Musashi – Hiroshi Inagaki

1956–1975|

* 1956: La Strada – Federico Fellini
* 1957: Nights of Cabiria – Federico Fellini
* 1958: My Uncle – Jacques Tati
* 1959: Black Orpheus – Marcel Camus
* 1960: The Virgin Spring – Ingmar Bergman
* 1961: Through a Glass Darkly – Ingmar Bergman
* 1962: Sundays and Cybèle – Serge Bourguignon
* 1963: 8½ – Federico Fellini
* 1964: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Vittorio De Sica
* 1965: The Shop on Main Street – Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos
* 1966: A Man and a Woman – Claude Lelouch
* 1967: Closely Watched Trains – Jiří Menzel
* 1968: War and Peace – Sergei Bondarchuk
* 1969: Z – Costa-Gavras
* 1970: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – Elio Petri
* 1971: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Vittorio De Sica
* 1972: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel
* 1973: Day for Night – François Truffaut
* 1974: Amarcord – Federico Fellini
* 1975: Dersu Uzala – Akira Kurosawa

1976–2000|

* 1976: Black and White in Color – Jean-Jacques Annaud
* 1977: Madame Rosa – Moshé Mizrahi
* 1978: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs – Bertrand Blier
* 1979: The Tin Drum – Volker Schlöndorff
* 1980: Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears – Vladimir Menshov
* 1981: Mephisto – István Szabó
* 1982: Volver a Empezar ('To Begin Again') – José Luis Garci
* 1983: Fanny and Alexander – Ingmar Bergman
* 1984: Dangerous Moves – Richard Dembo
* 1985: The Official Story – Luis Puenzo
* 1986: The Assault – Fons Rademakers
* 1987: Babette's Feast – Gabriel Axel
* 1988: Pelle the Conqueror – Bille August
* 1989: Cinema Paradiso – Giuseppe Tornatore
* 1990: Journey of Hope – Xavier Koller
* 1991: Mediterraneo – Gabriele Salvatores
* 1992: Indochine – Régis Wargnier
* 1993: Belle Époque – Fernando Trueba
* 1994: Burnt by the Sun – Nikita Mikhalkov
* 1995: Antonia's Line – Marleen Gorris
* 1996: Kolya – Jan Svěrák
* 1997: Character – Mike van Diem
* 1998: Life Is Beautiful – Roberto Benigni
* 1999: All About My Mother – Pedro Almodóvar
* 2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Ang Lee

2001–present|

* 2001: No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
* 2002: Nowhere in Africa – Caroline Link
* 2003: The Barbarian Invasions – Denys Arcand
* 2004: The Sea Inside – Alejandro Amenábar
* 2005: Tsotsi – Gavin Hood
* 2006: The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
* 2007: The Counterfeiters – Stefan Ruzowitzky
* 2008: Departures – Yōjirō Takita
* 2009: The Secret in Their Eyes – Juan José Campanella
* 2010: In a Better World – Susanne Bier
* 2011: A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
* 2012: Amour – Michael Haneke
* 2013: The Great Beauty – Paolo Sorrentino
* 2014: Ida – Paweł Pawlikowski
* 2015: Son of Saul – László Nemes
* 2016: The Salesman – Asghar Farhadi
* 2017: A Fantastic Woman – Sebastián Lelio
* 2018: Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
* 2019: Parasite – Bong Joon-ho
* 2020: Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
* 2021: Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
* 2022: All Quiet on the Western Front – Edward Berger
* 2023: The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer

* v
* t
* e

Goya Award for Best Director

1980s|

* Fernando Fernán Gómez (1986)
* José Luis Garci (1987)
* Gonzalo Suárez (1988)
* Fernando Trueba (1989)

1990s|

* Carlos Saura (1990)
* Vicente Aranda (1991)
* Fernando Trueba (1992)
* Luis García Berlanga (1993)
* Imanol Uribe (1994)
* Álex de la Iglesia (1995)
* Pilar Miró (1996)
* Ricardo Franco (1997)
* Fernando León de Aranoa (1998)
* Pedro Almodóvar (1999)

2000s|

* José Luis Borau (2000)
* Alejandro Amenábar (2001)
* Fernando León de Aranoa (2002)
* Icíar Bollaín (2003)
* Alejandro Amenábar (2004)
* Isabel Coixet (2005)
* Pedro Almodóvar (2006)
* Jaime Rosales (2007)
* Javier Fesser (2008)
* Daniel Monzón (2009)

2010s|

* Agustí Villaronga (2010)
* Enrique Urbizu (2011)
* J. A. Bayona (2012)
* David Trueba (2013)
* Alberto Rodríguez (2014)
* Cesc Gay (2015)
* J. A. Bayona (2016)
* Isabel Coixet (2017)
* Rodrigo Sorogoyen (2018)
* Pedro Almodóvar (2019)

2020s|

* Salvador Calvo (2020)
* Fernando León de Aranoa (2021)
* Rodrigo Sorogoyen (2022)
* J. A. Bayona (2023)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Italy
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Catalonia

People|

* Trove
* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* IdRef

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