José Luis Guerín (born 1960) is a Spanish filmmaker and educator known for ''
Train of Shadows'' (1997), ' (2001), and ''
The Academy of Muses'' (2015).
Style and influences
As a young
cinephile
Cinephilia (; also cinemaphilia or filmophilia) is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in films, film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words cinema and philia, one of the four ancient Greek words for love. A ...
, Guerín attended many film screenings, made films on Super 8 and 16mm
and sought out and befriended many of the filmmakers he admired, including
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director.
Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have l ...
,
Raoul Ruiz __NOTOC__
Raoul is a French variant of the male given name Ralph or Rudolph, and a cognate of Raul.
Raoul may also refer to:
Given name
* Raoul Berger, American legal scholar
* Raoul Bova, Italian actor
* Radulphus Brito (Raoul le Breton, died ...
and
Philippe Garrel.
Guerín's films are often described as being influenced by the
Lumière Brothers
Lumière is French for ' light'.
Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to:
*Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People
*Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV
* Institut Lumière, a ...
,
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A ...
,
and
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
(Guerín went so far as to shoot a film in
Innisfree, the setting of Ford's ''
The Quiet Man
''The Quiet Man'' is a 1952 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Ford. It stars John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen. The screenplay by Frank S. Nugent was based on a 1933 ''Saturday Ev ...
'').
Guerín is known for his meditative
and intellectually curious
work in both documentary and narrative filmmaking. Describing Guerín in an introduction to a series of his films, the programmers of the
Harvard Film Archive
The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) is a film archive and cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of film, the HFA houses ...
wrote: "Guerín's films purposefully confound narrative and documentary traditions, discovering rich narrative threads woven into the tapestries of his real life subjects and unraveling mysteries without solutions that nevertheless leave the viewer deeply satisfied."
Filmography
* ''Berta's Motives'' (1985)
* ''Souvenir'' (1986, Short)
* ''City Life'' (1990)
* ''
Innisfree'' (1990)
* ''
Train of Shadows'' (1997)
* ''En construcción'' AKA ''Work in Progress'' (2001)
* ''Tren Estrasburgo-Paris/ Mujer esperando al tranvia'' (2006, Short)
* ''Unas fotos en la ciudad de Sylvia'' (2007)
* ''
In the City of Sylvia'' (2007)
* ''Guest'' (2010)
* ''Correspondences: Jonas Mekas - J. L. Guerin'' (2011)
* ''Dos cartas a Ana'' AKA ''Two Letters for Ana'' (2011, Short)
* ''Recuerdos de una manana'' AKA ''Memories of a Morning'' (2011)
* ''L’Accademia delle muse'' AKA ''
The Academy of Muses'' (2015)
* ''
Le Saphir de Saint-Louis AKA The Sapphire of St. Louis '' (2015)
* ''De una Isla'' (2019, Short)
Awards
His film ''Under Construction'' (''En construcción'') won the Special Prize of the Jury in the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2001 and the Goya Prize for Best Documentary in 2002.
References
External links
Spanish film directors
1960 births
Living people
Spanish contemporary artists
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