Víctor Erice

Directing·Jun 30, 1940·Carranza, Vizcaya, País Vasco, España

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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.

Film	Credit
Close Your Eyes2023 · Director, Producer, Screenplay	Director, Producer, Screenplay
PPiedra y cielo2019 · Director	Director
Wiara2018 · Self	Self
PPlegaria2018 · Director	Director
Historic Centre2012 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Broken Windows2012 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Don't Expect Too Much2011 · Himself	Himself
Ana, Three Minutes2011 · Director	Director
3.11 A Sense of Home Films2011 · Director	Director
VVíctor Erice: Paris-Madrid allers-retours2010 · Actor	Actor
Sea-Mail2007 · Director	Director
Víctor Erice – Abbas Kiarostami: Correspondences2007 · himself, Director, Writer, Director of Photography	himself, Director, Writer, Director of Photography
Nuevo / Otro Cine Español - Un Lugar En El Cine2007 · Actor	Actor
La Morte Rouge2006 · Self - Narrator, Director, Writer	Self - Narrator, Director, Writer
Arroyo de la luz2005 · Director	Director
VVersión Española: Victor Erice2003 · Interviewee	Interviewee
Sketches (1990-2003)2003 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet2002 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Lifeline2002 · Director, Writer, Producer	Director, Writer, Producer
Victor Erice in Madrid2000 · Interviewee	Interviewee
The Footprints of a Spirit1998 · Self - Filmmaker	Self - Filmmaker
PPreguntas En El Atardecer1996 · Director	Director
Celebrate Cinema 1011996 · Director	Director
Dream of Light1992 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
El Sur1983 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
The Spirit of the Beehive1973 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Challenges1969 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Antoñito vuelve a casa1969 · Actor	Actor
Next Fall1967 · Writer	Writer
Oscuros sueños de agosto1967 · Writer	Writer
Los días perdidos1963 · Screenplay, Director	Screenplay, Director
PPages From a Lost Diary1962 · Director	Director
BBetween the Tracks1962 · Director	Director
OOn the Terrace1961 · Director	Director
MMemoria y sueño: El desprecioDirector	Director
MMemoria y sueño: Sierra de TeruelDirector	Director