Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar to head Cannes jury
January 31, 2017
His films are full of homosexuality, sex and drugs, and Almodóvar is one of the most influential directors of his time. The Spanish filmmaker will be in charge of deciding who goes home with the Golden Palm in May.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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MoMA and the oeuvre of filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar
The Spanish film director was honored with an exhibition covering his entire oeuvre in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Pedro Almodóvar personally opened the show, while presenting his latest film.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Honoring Pedro Almodóvar
Now Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar made it into a museum. The art temple that also covers the film world presented all works of the film director from November 29 through December 17, 2016. Being the theme of a MoMA show was yet another honor for Almodóvar, who has already received Oscars, European Film Prizes and Palme d'Ors.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Latest work: 'Julieta'
His 20th movie, "Julieta," hit US movie theaters in late December 2016. The exhibition offered New Yorkers the very first opportunity to watch the melodrama about a woman and her unhappy relationship with her daughter. "Julieta" opens the MoMA retrospective on works by Almodóvar. The filmmaker himself was on hand to present his work.
Image: imago/ZUMA Press
Oscar in 2000
In general, European filmmakers first need to receive an Oscar before US audiences take any particular notice of them. In 2000, Almodóvar managed precisely that. He was awarded an Oscar for Best Foreign Film for "All About My Mother."
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
A review of early works
The MoMA show enabled American audiences to take a look at earlier and less well-known Almodóvar films. His early films tend to be even wilder and crazier than the later ones. One particular theme seems to dominate the entire oeuvre of the Spanish filmmaker, and that is "The Labyrinth of Passion" - which is also the title of his second movie from 1982.
Image: picture alliance/United Archives
A women's director
One good reason why Almodóvar's films enjoy a lot of popularity is that they tend to present beautiful women in a positive way. The Spanish filmmaker likes to work with the same actresses - and some of them became stars thanks to him. Although Penélope Cruz wasn't discovered by Almodóvar, she owes him some of her best performances - like in "Volver" (2006).
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
Driven by strange ideas - or love
Almodóvar also attributes important roles to his male stars. In 2011, Antonio Banderas starred in "The Skin I Live In" as a surgeon dreaming of a "better" human skin - an idea he also put into practice. In Almodóvar's films, male protagonists tend to be characters driven by a particular vision - or by love.
Image: imago/Unimedia Images
Spanish clichés
Antonio Banderas also performed in Almodóvar's early work "Matador" (1986) where he played a young torero. Many of Almodóvar's films feature Spanish customs and traditions, as the filmmaker loves to play with the clichés of his home country.
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
Sensual cinema
Almodóvar's films are known for their particular visual effects. Fixtures and décors play a big role, as demonstrated here by a scene out of "The Skin I Live In." Loud and trendy, shrill and always extraordinary in some way - that's why many of his films have reached a worldwide audience, also in the US.
Image: imago/Unimedia Images
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Though he's a long-time darling in Cannes, Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar has never won its top prize, the Palme d'Or, himself. Now, however, he has gotten an even better "prize." The festival said Tuesday that Almodóvar would take the reigns of the yet-to-be-named jury.
Born 67 years ago in what was then the Francisco Franco dictatorship, Almodóvar is known for depicting a freer, more colorful version of Spain in some 20 films laden with humor, drugs and sex.
As a leader of the "Movida" - a creative movement that took root after the death of Franco in 1975 - Almodóvar also helped shape the more liberal Spain he portrays on screen.
Almodóvar's international breakthrough came in 1988 with "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," which was nominated for an Oscar. The dark comedy portrays a love-sick woman whose home becomes the backdrop for hostage situations and drug overdoses.
The film was about "masochism, homosexuality, masturbation, drugs, porn and attacks against religion," Almodóvar, who is openly gay, later said. "All of these themes that are considered taboo belong to my life - I don't consider them to be prohibited or scandalous."
The director went on to win two Oscars. "All About My Mother" (1999), about a mother's search for her dead son's transvestite father, took the Academy Award for best foreign language film, and "Talk to Her" (2002), portraying two men caring for two women in a coma, won best screenplay.
Almodóvar, who always refused to go to Hollywood, was among the first directors to include transsexuals and transvestites in his movies.
In December 2016, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has reserved a section for film since 1935, offering large exhibitions and carefully curated retrospectives, honored Almodóvar with an exhibition. The director himself was on hand to present his latest film and discuss previous works. (Click through the gallery below for a look back at the show.)
Now Almodóvar will be taking a key role in Cannes, where five of his films have been shown in competition over the years. The international film festival takes place from May 17-28.
kbm/eg (APF, dpa)
MoMA and the oeuvre of filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar
The Spanish film director was honored with an exhibition covering his entire oeuvre in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Pedro Almodóvar personally opened the show, while presenting his latest film.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Honoring Pedro Almodóvar
Now Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar made it into a museum. The art temple that also covers the film world presented all works of the film director from November 29 through December 17, 2016. Being the theme of a MoMA show was yet another honor for Almodóvar, who has already received Oscars, European Film Prizes and Palme d'Ors.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Latest work: 'Julieta'
His 20th movie, "Julieta," hit US movie theaters in late December 2016. The exhibition offered New Yorkers the very first opportunity to watch the melodrama about a woman and her unhappy relationship with her daughter. "Julieta" opens the MoMA retrospective on works by Almodóvar. The filmmaker himself was on hand to present his work.
Image: imago/ZUMA Press
Oscar in 2000
In general, European filmmakers first need to receive an Oscar before US audiences take any particular notice of them. In 2000, Almodóvar managed precisely that. He was awarded an Oscar for Best Foreign Film for "All About My Mother."
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
A review of early works
The MoMA show enabled American audiences to take a look at earlier and less well-known Almodóvar films. His early films tend to be even wilder and crazier than the later ones. One particular theme seems to dominate the entire oeuvre of the Spanish filmmaker, and that is "The Labyrinth of Passion" - which is also the title of his second movie from 1982.
Image: picture alliance/United Archives
A women's director
One good reason why Almodóvar's films enjoy a lot of popularity is that they tend to present beautiful women in a positive way. The Spanish filmmaker likes to work with the same actresses - and some of them became stars thanks to him. Although Penélope Cruz wasn't discovered by Almodóvar, she owes him some of her best performances - like in "Volver" (2006).
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
Driven by strange ideas - or love
Almodóvar also attributes important roles to his male stars. In 2011, Antonio Banderas starred in "The Skin I Live In" as a surgeon dreaming of a "better" human skin - an idea he also put into practice. In Almodóvar's films, male protagonists tend to be characters driven by a particular vision - or by love.
Image: imago/Unimedia Images
Spanish clichés
Antonio Banderas also performed in Almodóvar's early work "Matador" (1986) where he played a young torero. Many of Almodóvar's films feature Spanish customs and traditions, as the filmmaker loves to play with the clichés of his home country.
Image: imago/EntertainmentPictures
Sensual cinema
Almodóvar's films are known for their particular visual effects. Fixtures and décors play a big role, as demonstrated here by a scene out of "The Skin I Live In." Loud and trendy, shrill and always extraordinary in some way - that's why many of his films have reached a worldwide audience, also in the US.
