Rodrigo Cortés Giráldez (born 31 May 1973) is a Spanish

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, producer,

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

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and occasional actor. He is best known for directing the 2010 psychological thriller '' Buried''.

Early life

Rodrigo Cortés was born in Pazos Hermos ( Cenlle,

province of Ourense Ourense (; ) is a province of Spain, in the southeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Pontevedra to the west, Lugo to the north, León and Zamora, (which both belong to Castile and León) to ...

) on 31 May 1973, but soon moved to

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, where he spent most of his childhood and his early 20s.

Career

Cortés' fondness for film making started at an early age. At 16 he had already directed his first short film in Super 8. In 1998 he directed the short ''Yul'' that won over 20 awards and in 2001 he released ''15 Days'', a fake

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

in the form of a large short film that earned over 57 awards at festivals, becoming the most awarded

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

short film of the time. In 2007 he directed '' The Contestant'', his first feature film that was released with critical applause and earned several awards, including the Critic's prize at

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

Film Festival. He directed and edited the 2010 thriller '' Buried'', starring

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the List of highest-paid film actors, world's second-highest-paid actor in 202 ...

. The film premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, and has received considerable acclaim. In 2012 Cortés released '' Red Lights'', a film about a physicist and a psychology professor who specialise in debunking supernatural phenomena, it stars

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy ( ; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. His works encompass both stage and screen, and his accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He made his professional debut in Enda Walsh's 1996 pl ...

and Elizabeth Olsen. He reunited with '' Buried'' screenwriter Chris Sparling for his 2018 movie '' Down a Dark Hall'', based on the novel of the same name by

Lois Duncan Lois Duncan Steinmetz (April 28, 1934 – June 15, 2016), known as Lois Duncan, was an American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist. She is best known for her Young adult fiction, young-adult novels, and has been credited by historians as a pi ...

and produced by ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'' writer

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 160 million ...

Philosophy

In a 2012 interview, following the release of ''Red Lights'', Cortés explained his perspective on independent filmmaking in an online interview:

... I don’t believe in indie or studio as labels. As an audience member, what I want is to hear strong voices and clear personalities and to feel challenged; not to feel reaffirmed on my own decisions or whatever... it’s never about where you shoot. It’s about what and about how. I mean that. This is not a pro-
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
or anti-Hollywood position. I learned to love cinema via the studio movies and of course Scorsese films, Spielberg films, and Hitchcock. All of them did studio pictures with very strong voices. It’s about finding this margin of expressing and exploring the things that touch your sensitive points.

Filmography

Film

Short films

Acting roles

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cortes, Rodrigo 1973 births Living people People from O Ribeiro Spanish horror film directors Film directors from Galicia (Spain) Spanish film editors Spanish film producers Spanish male screenwriters 21st-century Spanish screenwriters