José Luis Borau

Film critic for the Heraldo de Aragón (Zaragoza) from November 1952 to January 1956; brilliant student at IIEC (the old school of film) participating in 1960 in the “cape of good hope” –a group of graduates who sowed the seeds for the future New Spanish Cinema –before directing, working on commission, his first two professional feature films–Brandy (1964) and Double Edged Crime (1965)–; producer and advertising director, creator of numerous popular TV adverts in the 60s; scriptwriting teacher at EOC (Official Cinematography School: the new name for the school, adopted in 1962), admired and respected by disciples such as Iván Zulueta, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, Pilar Miró, Antonio Drove, José Luis García Sánchez, Ángel Fernández-Santos, Fernando Méndez-Leite, Josefina Molina, Cecilia Bartolomé or Luis Megino; director of several television documentaries between 1965 and 1968; producer for filmmakers such as Iván Zulueta –Un, dos, tres, al escondite inglés (1970)–, Jaime de Armiñán –Mi querida señorita (1972)– or Gutiérrez Aragón –Black Litter (1977)–; producer of all his own films from 1973 onwards –B Must Die (1975), Poachers (1975), La sabina (1979), Downstream (1984), Dear Nanny (1986), Niño Nadie (1997) and Leo (2000)–; also distributor for some of them; scriptwriter for all of them, without exception; important actor in one of them –Poachers–, star of another made by Gutiérrez Aragón –Misadventure (1988)– and with more humble or episodic presence in many more by other directors; President of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences between 1994 and 1998; member of the San Luis Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Zaragoza), the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Madrid) and the Royal Spanish Language Academy; creator of the foundation that bears his name, set up in 2008 to award grants to film students and to promote research work...