Víctor Erice

Víctor Erice

  • Birthday: 1940-06-30
  • Place of birth: Carranza, Vizcaya, País Vasco, España
  • Also know as: 빅토르 에리세

Biography

Víctor Erice Aras (Spanish: [ˈbiɣtoɾ eˈɾiθe]; born 30 June 1940; Karrantza) is a Spanish film director. He is best known for his two feature fiction films, The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), which many regard as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made, and El Sur (1983). Erice was born in Karrantza, Biscay. He studied law, political science, and economics at the University of Madrid. He also attended the Escuela Oficial de Cinematografia in 1963 to study film direction. He wrote film criticism and reviews for the Spanish film journal Nuestro Cine, and made a series of short films before making his first feature film, The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), a critical portrait of 1940s rural Spain. Erice was among other filmmakers, such as Luis Buñuel, who lived in “such restricted societies as Franco’s Spain,” to take aim at the authoritarian rule in power. At the time his first film was released in 1973, Francisco Franco was still in power. One of the things The Spirit of the Beehive is known for is its use of symbolism to portray what life was like in Spain under Franco’s rule. Setting the movie in 1940, at the start of Franco’s rule, was a risk for Erice, given that the film “wasn't a propagandist effort in which stalwart Francoists won victories against evil, priest-massacring Republicans.” Ten years later, Erice wrote and directed El Sur (1983), based on a story from Adelaida García Morales, another highly regarded film, although the producer Elías Querejeta only allowed him to film the first two-thirds of the story. His third movie, The Quince Tree Sun (1992) is a documentary about painter Antonio López García. The film won the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. In July 2022, thirty years after his last full-length film, a project for a new Erice film (Cerrar los ojos) supported by Pecado Films, Tándem Films, Nautilus as well as Canal Sur was revealed to be in development. The film premiered in the following year at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and was met with very positive reviews. He was a member of the jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May. At the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, Erice was awarded with a Golden Leopard award for lifetime achievement.

Filmography

Production

The Spirit of the Beehive

1973

As Director

El Sur

1983

As Director

The Quince Tree Sun

1992

As Director

Historic Centre

2012

As Director

La Morte Rouge

2006

As Director

The Challenges

1969

As Director

3.11 A Sense of Home

2011

As Director

Sea-Mail

2007

As Director

Sketches (1990-2003)

2003

As Director

Los días perdidos

1963

As Director

Pages From a Lost Diary

1962

As Director

Arroyo de la luz

2005

As Director

Between the Tracks

1962

As Director

Next Fall

1967

As Assistant Director

Piedra y cielo

2019

As Director

Close Your Eyes

2023

As Director

Broken Windows

2012

As Director

Celebrate Cinema 101

1996

As Director

On the Terrace

1961

As Director

Ana, Three Minutes

2011

As Director

Plegaria

2018

As Director

Lifeline

2002

As Director

Tarde de domingo

1960

As Production Manager

Broken Windows

2012

As Producer

Close Your Eyes

2023

As Producer

La Morte Rouge

2006

As Writer

El Sur

1983

As Screenplay

Historic Centre

2012

As Screenplay

Sketches (1990-2003)

2003

As Writer

The Quince Tree Sun

1992

As Writer

The Challenges

1969

As Writer

Next Fall

1967

As Writer

Los días perdidos

1963

As Screenplay

Broken Windows

2012

As Screenplay

Close Your Eyes

2023

As Screenstory

Close Your Eyes

2023

As Screenplay

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