Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (; born 17 February 1974) is a Spanish

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and advertising director and producer. He made his feature-film debut with '' The Platform'' (2019), a dystopian science fiction-horror film.

Early life and education

Gaztelu-Urrutia was born on 17 February 1974 in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

. He completed his B.A. in business management with a specialization in international trade.

Career

I’m addition to directing the short films ''913'' (2004) and ''The House on the Lake'' (2011), he directed commercials. He made his

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

debut in 2019 with the

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

–

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

'' The Platform''. He noted that the point of the film is that "it isn't about a war between those above and those below — we all have someone above us and someone below us". In February 2023, '' Deadline'' announced that his next film will be a thriller titled '' Rich Flu'', starring

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Her first major role was that of Jessica Bennett (Passions), Jessica Bennett on the NBC soap opera ''Passions'' (1999–2000). She came to wider attention for h ...

and

Jonah Hauer-King Jonah Andre Hauer-King (born 30 May 1995) is a British-American actor. He began acting while studying at St John's College, Cambridge. He is best known for playing List of The Little Mermaid characters#Prince_Eric, Prince Eric in Walt Disney Pi ...

Influences and style

Gaztelu-Urrutia has named Dante's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

'' as one of his literary influences for ''The Platform'', as well as films such as Buñuel's ''

The Exterminating Angel ''The Exterminating Angel'' () is a 1962 Mexican surrealism, surrealist black comedy film written and directed by Luis Buñuel. Starring Silvia Pinal and produced by Pinal's then-husband Gustavo Alatriste, the film tells the story of a group of ...

'' (1962), Jeunet's ''

Delicatessen A delicatessen or deli is a grocery that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany (contemporary spelling: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th centur ...

'' (1991), Ridley Scott's ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

'' (1982) and Scorsese's ''

Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in a morally decaying New York City following the Vietnam War, it stars Robert De Niro as veteran Marine and ...

'' (1976).

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Awards

'' The Platform'' won the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness at the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

,Jessica Wong
"TIFF 2019: Jojo Rabbit captures TIFF People's Choice Award"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, 15 September 2019. and garnered four honours at the

Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...

: Best Film, Best New Director, Best Special Effects and the Audience Award.

References

1974 births Living people Spanish film directors Spanish film producers People from Bilbao Film directors from the Basque Country (autonomous community) {{Spain-film-director-stub