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The filmmaker, whose admirers included Stanley Kubrick, is best known for his flamenco choreographies.
Carlos Saura was one of the most influential Spanish filmmakers. His best-known films include “Blood Wedding” (1981) and the ballet film “Carmen” (1983). The latter received a Bafta Award (Best Foreign Language Film) and was nominated for an Oscar.
In 1966 and 1968 Carlos Saura was awarded the Silver Bear at the Berlinale. In 1981 he also received the Golden Bear for “Los, Tempo!”. Saura, who also photographed, painted and wrote novels, was active to the end and was due to receive an honorary Goya award from the film academy on Saturday.
Admired by Kubrick, shaped by Buñuel
Since beginning in 1955, Saura has directed more than 50 feature films and countless short films. The international audience remembered him above all for his passionate flamenco choreographies.
The director is regarded as the innovator of Spanish cinema after the decades of the Franco dictatorship. Saura, whose admirers included the US director Stanley Kubrick, criticized his country’s bourgeois society in his work. He was influenced by the work of the surrealist Luis Buñuel, with whom he was a close friend.
Now the director has died at the age of 91 at home surrounded by his family. This was announced by the Spanish Film Academy.
“The Film Academy deeply regrets the death of Carlos Saura (…), one of the most important filmmakers in Spanish film history,” the Academy wrote on Twitter.