Luis Buñuel

Born Feb. 22, 1900, in the city of Calanda. Film director; Spanish by nationality.

Buñuel studied in the history department of the University of Madrid. From 1924 he lived in Paris and took part in the avant-garde movement; he made surrealistic films, such as An Andalusian Dog (1928, scenario jointly with S. Dali) and L’Age d’Or (1930). In 1932, in Spain, Buñuel shot the documentary film Land Without Bread concerning the life of poor people and the poverty of the Spanish peasantry. Since 1946 he has worked primarily in Mexico. Among the films which he made there are Los Olvidados (1950) and Nazarin (1958, based on the novel by B. Pérez Galdós). In 1960, in Spain, Buñuel produced his film Viridiana, which condemns religious hypocrisy and the system of life in present-day Spain. Among his other films are The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1955), The Exterminating Angel (1962), Diary of a Chambermaid (1963, based on a work of the same name by O. Mirbeau), Simon of the Desert (1964), and Belle de Jour (1967).

Buñuel’s creative work is permeated with expressions of protest against social injustice and moral and religious prejudices. The means of expression and stylistic devices utilized by Buñuel in most of his films are linked with the traditions of Spanish painting. Many of Buñuel’s films have won prizes at the international film festivals held in Cannes and Venice.