José Luis Garci

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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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His films are characterized for his classical style and the underlying sentimentality of their plots.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Early life and work

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1981 he obtained the Puerta de Oro Prize for his story Los mejores años de nuestra vida.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Feature films

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Garci second film Solos en la madrugada (Alone in the Dark, 1978)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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),<ref>40 años de Las verdes praderas (1979), de José Luis Garci. FilaSiete 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2024</ref> 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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the director changed gears with El Crack (1981),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The formula worked so well that two years later he made a sequel, Template:Ill (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.<ref name="Oscars1983">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His films Sesión continua (Double Feature, 1984) and Asignatura aprobada (Course Completed, 1987), which also received Academy Award nominations,<ref name="Oscars1985">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Oscars1988">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> gave emphasis to sentimentality. He won the Goya Award for Best Director for Asigantura aprobada in 1988.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Oscars1999">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Recently, Garci directed Una historia de entonces (You're the One, 2000), which was entered into the 51st Berlin International Film Festival,<ref>You're The One (Una historia de entonces). Berlinale Competition 2001. Retrieved 9 November 2024</ref> 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 Template:Ill (2019), the third part of the crime film saga El crack.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In addition to filmmaking, he is a popular television presenter in his homeland. His television program Template:Ill, 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Style

Garci does not have a computer, but writes all his scripts by hand or on an Olympia brand typewriter. When writing a collaborative script, Garci can base it on his own idea or that of the other scriptwriter, providing mutual feedback with ideas, characters and scenes until reaching the final result.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his films his preference for the shot and sequence stands out<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and are usually divided into two stages, one that goes from Asignatura pendiente (1977) to Asignatura aprobada (1987), another that begins with Canción de cuna (1994) and extends until El crack cero (2019). In its first stage, Garci places the action in the present or in the immediate past, showing throughout the film the social and political changes that occur at that moment,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while in the second stage it focuses on showing the past in an attempt to understand the present.

Personal life

Garci maintained a long-time relationship with Ana Rosa Quintana. In 1998 he began a relationship with Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, whom he met during the filming of El abuelo.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Since June 10, 2004, he has been married to the Uruguayan actress Andrea Tenuta.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A fan of football, he is a follower of Atlético de Madrid and Real Sporting de Gijón, of which he was a director for more than three years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Film

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

Writer only

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
1974	Los nuevos españoles
1975	Mi mujer es muy decente, dentro de lo que cabe
1975	La mujer es cosa de hombres
1976	La noche de los cien pajaros
1998	Yerma