Carlos Saura, one of the world's most important directors, died on Friday, February 10, at the age of 91. With his psychological dramas, he was one of the most famous Spanish filmmakers of the 20th century, along with Luis Buñuel. Saura was the recipient of the Crystal Globe Award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema. He received the award in person at the 35th KVIFF in 2000.
The media informed of the death by the Spanish Film Academy, which was going to present Saura with its Goya Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday.
Saura remained active in his old age. Last year he presented his feature-length documentary Las paredes hablan (The Walls Speak). Among his most recent works was I, Don Giovanni, a 2009 biographical film about Lorenzo da Ponte, which has often been compared to Miloš Forman's Amadeus.
El País newspaper reports that the director, who celebrated his 91st birthday in January, died in Madrid due to a respiratory illness. According to the newspaper, Saura was "the last classic of Spanish cinema". The Spanish Film Academy decided to award him this year's Goya Lifetime Achievement Award, which he was due to receive on Saturday. "I've been lucky to do what I've loved most in my life - directing in film, theatre and opera, painting and drawing," the director said in response to the award.
He has been making films since the second half of the 1950s, but his greatest fame came from the 1960s to the 1980s. One of his muses was Charlie Chaplin's daughter Geraldine. But he faced censorship during the Franco regime. In his films, Saura explored the ills of Spanish society. His style is described by El País as "dry, direct, sometimes even abstract". He made over 40 films in his lifetime.
Saura is known as the author of films inspired by various dance and music styles, such as Blood Wedding, Tango, Flamenco, Flamenco, Salomé, Iberia and Fado. Saura's other well-known works include the psychological dramas Peppermint Frappé and Anna and the Wolves.
