Spanish film director (1953?2023)
In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Villaronga
and the second or maternal family name is
Riutort
.
Agusti Villaronga
|
---|
Villaronga in 2020
|
Born
| Agusti Villaronga Riutort
(
1953-03-04
)
4 March 1953
|
---|
Died
| 22 January 2023
(2023-01-22)
(aged 69)
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Film director, screenwriter, actor
|
---|
Years active
| 1976?2023
|
---|
Agusti Villaronga Riutort
(
Catalan pronunciation:
[??us?ti
βi????oŋ??]
; 4 March 1953 ? 22 January 2023)
[1]
[2]
was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor.
[3]
He directed several feature films, a documentary, three projects for television and three shorts. His film
Moon Child
was entered into the
1989 Cannes Film Festival
.
[4]
His auteur approach to filmmaking was described by
ScreenDaily
as demostrative of "a keen insight into human pain and cruelty".
[5]
In 2011 he won the
Goya Award for Best Director
for
Black Bread
. The Catalan-language film was selected as the Spanish entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
at the
84th Academy Awards
,
[6]
but it did not make the final shortlist.
[7]
Life and career
[
edit
]
Agusti Villaronga was born on 4 March 1953 in
Palma
. His grandparents were itinerant puppeteers and his father was a child of the
Spanish Civil War
, a background that would resurface repeatedly in the director's filmography.
[8]
Since childhood, his father encouraged his love for films and from early in his life he wanted to become a film director. He worked as an actor and made some shorts.
[
citation needed
]
Villaronga made his directorial debut in 1986 with the film
In a Glass Cage
, which was selected by the
Berlin film festival
receiving critical praise and many awards. The plot follows a former Nazi doctor, now paralyzed and depending on an iron lung to live, who begins to be taken care of by a young man, one of the children he abused during the war.
In a Glass Cage
already shows some of the key elements in Villaronga's filmography: a disturbed childhood marked by violence, an early discovery of sexuality.
[
citation needed
]
His second film,
Moon Child
(1989), is about a child who goes to Africa to join a tribe awaiting the arrival of white child God.
[9]
In 1992 he made a documentary,
Al-Andalus
, produced by Sogetel and the
MoMa
of
New York city
.
[10]
[11]
For some years Villaronga tried unsuccessfully to find financing to adapt a novel by
Merce Rodoreda
,
La mort i la primavera
.
[12]
Instead he had to take some commission works. One of these was
El pasajero clandestino
, an adaptation of a
Georges Simenon
novel, that lacked the personal characteristics of his filmography.
[13]
[14]
Called by actress
Maria Barranco
, Villaronga directed the 1997 horror film
99.9
, which won the award for Best Cinematography at the 1997
Sitges Film Festival
.
[15]
In 2000, Villaronga came back with a project of his own:
El mar
, a story set in
Mallorca
about three former childhood friends, traumatized by the violence they experienced during the Spanish civil war, that are reunited ten years later as young adults. The key elements in Villaronga's filmography are present in this story: childhood, sexual awakening, homosexuality and violence.
[16]
[17]
In 2002, Villaronga co-directed with
Lydia Zimmermann
and
Isaac Pierre Racine
the film
Aro Tolbukhin: In the Mind of a Killer
. In 2005 he directed a music video for French superstar
Mylene Farmer
's song
Fuck Them All
.
[18]
In 2007 he made
Despues de la lluvia
, a made for television project adapting a stage play. It was only until 2010 with
Black Bread
, when Villaronga finally achieved wider appeal. This film, winner of nine
Goya Awards
including best film and best director, tells the story of an eleven year old boy who growing up in the harsh period of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in
Catalonia
's countryside discovers the world of lies around him.
[
citation needed
]
Villaronga followed
Black Bread'
s success with
A Letter to Evita
, a TV miniseries co-produced by TV3, which recounts a real episode in the life of
Eva Peron
while visiting Spain in the late 1940s.
[
citation needed
]
Villaronga was openly gay.
[17]
He died on 22 January 2023 in
Barcelona
, at the age of 69.
[19]
At the time of his death, he had one project,
Stormy Lola
, outstanding. It was shot in 2022, and was his first comedy film.
[20]
[21]
[1]
Villaronga received the
Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts
on 1 December 2022.
[22]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Short film
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Director
|
Writer
|
Notes
|
1976
|
Anta mujer
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
1980
|
Al Mayurka
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Laberint
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
2000
|
Gracia Exquisita
|
Yes
|
No
|
Short films anthology
|
2005
|
Fuck Them All
|
Yes
|
No
|
Music video for
Mylene Farmer
|
2015
|
El Testament de Rosa
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Television
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Director
|
Writer
|
Notes
|
|
1995
|
Cycle Simenon
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
TV Anthology serie
Episode "Le passages clandestin"
|
1997
|
Croniques de la vertat oculta
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Episode "Pedagogia Aplicada"
|
2007
|
Miguel Bauca, Poeta Invisible
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
TV Movie
|
Despues de La Lluvia
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
2009
|
50 anos de..
|
Yes
|
No
|
Documentary TV Series
Episode "Fe"
|
2012
|
Carta a Eva
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
TV Mini-series
2 episodes
|
Accolades
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Muere el director Agusti Villaronga ('Pa Negre') a los 69 anos"
.
Cinemania
. 22 January 2023 – via
20minutos.es
.
- ^
"Agusti Villaronga"
.
AlloCine
(in French)
. Retrieved
2 March
2016
.
- ^
"Agusti Villaronga"
.
spainisculture
. Retrieved
18 November
2011
.
- ^
"Festival de Cannes: Moon Child"
.
festival-cannes.com
. Retrieved
1 August
2009
.
- ^
Mayorga, Emilio (22 January 2023).
"Agusti Villaronga, 'Black Bread', 'The Sea' director, dies aged 69"
.
ScreenDaily
.
- ^
"
"PA NEGRE" REPRESENTARA A ESPANA EN LOS OSCAR"
.
CBC
. 28 September 2011
. Retrieved
28 September
2011
.
- ^
"9 Foreign Language Films Vie for Oscar"
. Archived from
the original
on 18 May 2012
. Retrieved
19 January
2012
.
- ^
Levine, Sydney (11 January 2012).
"The Secret of
Black Bread
"
.
IndieWire
. Retrieved
7 July
2016
.
Nor was [
Black Bread
] Villaronga's first film about children in the post Spanish Civil War era. [
The Sea
],
In a Glass Cage
and [
Aro Tolbukhin. En la mente del asesino
] all spoke of the consequences of the war, the perversions of war which changes the nautre of human beings, now, after, in the future and before. The perversions of war most interests Villaronga.
- ^
"EL NINO DE LA LUNA"
.
Cannes Festival
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
"Agusti Villaronga, el director de la mirada poetica"
.
RTVE
(in Spanish). 22 July 2011
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
"El 'GOYA 2011 Mejor Direccion' ha sido para Agusti Villaronga ≪ Blog del Instituto Cervantes Nueva York"
(in Spanish)
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
Lardin, Ruben.
"Agusti Villaronga"
.
Vice
(in Spanish)
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
Colmena, Enrique.
"El pasajero clandestino - Criticalia.com"
.
Criticalia
(in Spanish)
. Retrieved
23 January
2023
.
- ^
"El Pasajero Clandestino"
.
Catalogo de Cine Espanol - I.C.A.A
.
- ^
Torreiro, Casimiro (19 October 1997).
"El festival de cine de Sitges se clausura con unos premios polemicos"
.
El Pais
(in Spanish)
. Retrieved
22 November
2022
.
- ^
The Sea
, Rotten Tomatoes
, retrieved
23 January
2023
- ^
a
b
"Darkness in Berlin"
.
The Advocate
. 11 April 2000. p. 46
. Retrieved
20 January
2013
.
- ^
Julien AUTIER; Philippe LEZE; Guillaume DATEZ & Sarah HOFER.
"Mylene.Net - Le site reference sur Mylene Farmer"
.
mylene.net
. Retrieved
30 March
2016
.
- ^
Mayorga, Emilio (22 January 2023).
"Agusti Villaronga, 'Black Bread', 'The Sea' director, dies aged 69"
.
ScreenDaily
.
- ^
"Muere a los 69 anos el cineasta Agusti Villaronga, director de 'Pa negre'
"
.
Onda Cero
. 22 January 2023.
- ^
"Agusti Villaronga rueda su primera comedia con Susi Sanchez, "Loli Tormenta"
"
.
Cadena COPE
. 13 July 2022.
- ^
"El director de cine Agusti Villaronga recoge la Medalla de Oro al Merito en las Bellas Artes"
.
Europa Press
. 1 December 2022.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Agusti Villaronga - Filmography"
.
BFI
. Archived from
the original
on 19 April 2017
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
"AL-ANDALUS. LAS ARTES ISLAMICAS EN ESPANA"
.
Catalogo de Cinespanol I.C.A.A
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
Lodge, Guy (1 October 2015).
"Film Review: 'The King of Havana'
"
.
Variety
.
- ^
"INCIERTA GLORIA"
.
Catalogo de Cinespanol I.C.A.A
. Retrieved
22 January
2023
.
- ^
Hopewell, John (4 October 2019).
"Agusti Villaronga's 'Born a King' Catches Box Office Fire in UAE, Saudi Arabia"
.
Variety
.
- ^
Young, Neil (25 April 2021).
"
'The Belly Of The Sea': Moscow Review"
.
ScreenDaily
.
- ^
"Muere el cineasta Agusti Villaronga, director de 'Pa Negre', a los 69 anos en Barcelona"
.
El Confidencial
. 22 January 2023.
- ^
"El nino de la luna"
.
premiosgoya.com
.
Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematograficas de Espana
. Retrieved
23 January
2023
.
- ^
"III Gaudi Awards"
.
www.academiadelcinema.cat
. Retrieved
3 June
2021
.
- ^
"Pa negre"
.
premiosgoya.com
.
Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematograficas de Espana
. Retrieved
23 January
2023
.
- ^
"Nominaciones a los Premios Gaudi 2016"
.
Fotogramas
. 30 December 2015.
- ^
"Todos los ganadores de los Gaudi 2016"
.
El Periodico de Catalunya
. 1 February 2016.
- ^
"El Rey de La Habana"
.
premiosgoya.com
.
Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematograficas de Espana
. Retrieved
23 January
2023
.
- ^
"Totes les nominacions als Gaudi 2018"
.
3/24
. 28 December 2017 – via
Corporacio Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals
.
- ^
"
'Estiu 1993' triomfa en uns premis Gaudi marcats per l'excepcionalitat politica"
.
VilaWeb
(in Catalan). 28 January 2020
. Retrieved
31 October
2021
.
- ^
"El vientre del mar"
.
premiosgoya.com
.
Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematograficas de Espana
. Retrieved
23 January
2023
.
- ^
"Los Gaudi encumbran a Neus Ballus y Clara Roquet por 'Sis dies corrents' y 'Libertad'
"
.
Cine con N
. 7 March 2022.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Films directed
| |
---|
Television films and miniseries
|
- After the Rain
(2007)
- Carta a Eva
(
A Letter to Evita
, 2013)
|
---|
Music videos
| |
---|
|
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
| |
---|
2020s
| |
---|
|
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
|
- 2010:
Agusti Villaronga
- 2011: Angel de la Cruz, Ignacio Ferreras,
Paco Roca
, and Rosanna Cecchini
- 2012: Javier Barreira, Gorka Magallon, Ignacio del Moral, Jordi Gasull, and Neil Landau
- 2013:
Alejandro Hernandez
and
Mariano Barroso
- 2014:
Javier Fesser
, Claro Garcia, and Cristobal Ruiz
- 2015:
Fernando Leon de Aranoa
- 2016:
Alberto Rodriguez
and
Rafael Cobos
- 2017:
Isabel Coixet
- 2018:
Alvaro Brechner
- 2019:
Benito Zambrano
, Daniel Remon, and Pablo Remon
|
---|
2020s
| |
---|
[1]
Awarded as Best Screenplay (including both original and adapted)
|
|
---|
1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
| |
---|
2020s
| |
---|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|