About
Considered to be one of Spain's most renowned filmmakers alongside Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, this Award-winning Spanish film director endured a nearly 50-year career. He was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, for Carmen, Tango, and Mama Turns 100. He died in February 2023 at the age of 91, the day before he was due to receive the lifetime-achievement Goya honorary award at the 37th Goya Awards.
Before Fame
He began making documentary shorts in 1955. His first feature premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 1960.
Trivia
He rose to prominence in 1966 after his film The Hunt won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He was known for his cinematic treatment of repressive political conditions and the emotional and spiritual responses to them. Also, a writer, his script, Ay Carmela, received a Goya Award for best script and best director.
Family Life
He was born and raised in Huesca, Aragon. His father, Antonio Saura Pacheco, was an attorney and his mother, Fermina Atarés Torrente, was a concert pianist. He had one older brother and two younger sisters. He was married three times, to Adela Medrano, Mercedes Pérez, and Eulàlia Ramon. He had five children: Manuel, Adrián, Diego, Shane, and Anna.
Associated With
He had a long-term relationship with Geraldine Chaplin, who starred in many of his films in the 1970s.
