Juan Luis Buñuel

Cast · Writer · Director

Born

November 9, 1934 · Calandra, Spain

Died

December 6, 2017

Spanish-Mexican director and screenwriter, born in Spain on February 22, 1900, noted for his influence on the surrealist group. Born into an upper-class family, he received a high education and had the necessary resources to develop as an artist, although his roots are something he would deny all his life. As a young man he moved to Madrid and settled in the Residencia de Estudiantes, where he became friends with figures such as Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca, promoting avant-garde cinema, surrealist ideas and revolutionary principles. Later he moved to Paris, where he became involved in immigrant gatherings and emphasized his passion for cinema, working as a critic and founding a film club. It was also the city where he filmed his first two movies, "El perro andaluz" (1929) and "La edad de oro" (1930). Due to Franco's censorship, he had to go into exile in Mexico, where he would make most of his work and develop his favorite themes with greater freedom: class inequality, religion, the bourgeoisie and power. Finally, he died in Mexico at the age of 83 on July 29, 1983.