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The Most Famous

FILM DIRECTORS from Spain

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This page contains a list of the greatest Spanish Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 1,581 Film Directors, 35 of which were born in Spain. This makes Spain the birth place of the 9th most number of Film Directors behind India and Japan.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Spanish Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Spanish Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Spanish Film Directors.

Photo of Luis Buñuel

1. Luis Buñuel (1900 - 1983)

With an HPI of 74.56, Luis Buñuel is the most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 67 different languages on wikipedia.

Luis Buñuel Portolés (Spanish: [ˈlwis βuˈɲwel poɾtoˈles]; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Buñuel’s works were known for their avant-garde surrealism which were also infused with political commentary. Often associated with the surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel made films from the 1920s through the 1970s. He collaborated with prolific surrealist painter Salvador Dali creating the films Un Chien Andalou (1929), which was made in the silent era and L'Age d'Or (1930). The two films are seen as the birth of Cinematic surrealism. From 1947 to 1960 he developed his skills as a director filming in Mexico making grounded and human melodramas such as Gran Casino (1947), Los Olvidados (1950), and Él (1953). Here is where he gained the fundamentals of storytelling. Buñuel then transitioned into making artful, unconventional, surrealist, and political satirical films. He earned acclaim with the morally complex arthouse drama film Viridiana (1961) which criticized the Francoist dictatorship. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. He then criticized political and social conditions in The Exterminating Angel (1962), and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) the latter of which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. He also directed Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), and Belle de Jour (1967), as well as his final film That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) the latter of which earned the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director. Buñuel earned five Cannes Film Festival prizes, two Berlin International Film Festival prizes, and a BAFTA Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. Buñuel received numerous honors including National Prize for Arts and Sciences for Fine Arts in 1977, the Moscow International Film Festival Contribution to Cinema Prize in 1979, and the Career Golden Lion in 1982. He was nominated once for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. Seven of Buñuel's films are included in Sight & Sound's 2012 critics' poll of the top 250 films of all time.

Photo of Pedro Almodóvar

2. Pedro Almodóvar (1949 - )

With an HPI of 73.29, Pedro Almodóvar is the 2nd most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 72 different languages.

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾo almoˈðoβaɾ kaβaˈʝeɾo]; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narratives. Desire, LGBT issues, passion, family, motherhood, and identity are among Almodóvar's most prevalent subjects in his films. Acclaimed as one of the most internationally successful Spanish filmmakers, Almodóvar and his films have gained worldwide interest and developed a cult following. Almodóvar's career developed during La Movida Madrileña, a cultural renaissance that followed the end of Francoist Spain. His early films characterised the sense of sexual and political freedom of the period. In 1986, he established his own film production company, El Deseo, with his younger brother Agustín Almodóvar, who has been responsible for producing all of his films since Law of Desire (1987). His breakthrough film was Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He achieved further success often collaborating with actors Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz. He directed Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), High Heels (1991), and Live Flesh (1997). Almodóvar's next two films, All About My Mother (1999) and Talk to Her (2002), earned him an Academy Award each for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay, respectively. He continued to garner acclaim with his later films Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009), The Skin I Live In (2011), Julieta (2016), Pain and Glory (2019), and Parallel Mothers (2021). He is also known for directing several short films including The Human Voice (2020), and Strange Way of Life (2023) Almodóvar has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and nine Goya Awards. He has received the French Legion of Honour in 1997, the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 1999, the European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award in 2013, and the Golden Lion in 2019. He has also received honorary doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 2009 and from the University of Oxford in 2016.

Photo of Carlos Saura

3. Carlos Saura (1932 - 2023)

With an HPI of 65.63, Carlos Saura is the 3rd most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 47 different languages.

Carlos Saura Atarés (4 January 1932 – 10 February 2023) was a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. With Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be among Spain's great filmmakers. He had a long and prolific career that spanned over half a century, and his films won many international awards. Saura began his career in 1955 making documentary shorts. He gained international prominence when his first feature-length film premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 1960. Although he started filming as a neorealist, Saura switched to films encoded with metaphors and symbolism in order to get around the Spanish censors. In 1966, he was thrust into the international spotlight when his film The Hunt won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. In the following years, he forged an international reputation for his cinematic treatment of emotional and spiritual responses to repressive political conditions. By the 1970s, Saura was the best known filmmaker working in Spain. His films employed complex narrative devices and were frequently controversial. He won Special Jury Awards for Cousin Angelica (1973) and Cría Cuervos (1975) in Cannes, and he received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film nomination in 1979 for Mama Turns 100. In the 1980s, Saura was in the spotlight for his Flamenco trilogy – Blood Wedding, Carmen and El amor brujo, in which he combined dramatic content and flamenco dance forms. His work continued to be featured in worldwide competitions and earned numerous awards. He received two nominations for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film for Carmen (1983) and Tango (1998). His films are sophisticated expression of time and space fusing reality with fantasy, past with present, and memory with hallucination. In the last two decades of the 20th century, Saura concentrated on works uniting music, dance and images.

Photo of Jesús Franco

4. Jesús Franco (1930 - 2013)

With an HPI of 61.48, Jesús Franco is the 4th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1954 to 2013, he wrote, directed, produced, acted in, and scored approximately 173 feature films, working both in his native Spain and (during the rule of Francisco Franco) in France, West Germany, Switzerland and Portugal. Additionally, during the 1960s, he made several films in Rio de Janeiro and Istanbul.

Photo of Bigas Luna

5. Bigas Luna (1946 - 2013)

With an HPI of 58.17, Bigas Luna is the 5th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

José Juan Bigas Luna (19 March 1946 – 5 April 2013) was a Catalan film director, designer and artist. His films are typically characterised by a strong emphasis on the erotic, often related to food, something for which he admitted a strong passion. His work often explores and parodies clichés of Spanish identity, but he had an international career and has made films in Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French and English.

Photo of Juan Antonio Bardem

6. Juan Antonio Bardem (1922 - 2002)

With an HPI of 56.22, Juan Antonio Bardem is the 6th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Juan Antonio Bardem Muñoz (2 June 1922 – 30 October 2002) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter, born in Madrid. Bardem was best known for Muerte de un ciclista (1955) which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, and El puente (1977) which won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1979 film Seven Days in January won the Golden Prize at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival.In 1953 he and Luis García Berlanga founded a film magazine, Objetivo, which existed until 1956. He was a member of the Communist Party.During the Franco dictatorship, Bardem was imprisoned by the Spanish State due to the anti-fascist nature of his films.In 1981 he was a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1993 he was a member of the jury at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. Bardem was the father of director Miguel Bardem and uncle of actor Javier Bardem. Bardem died in Madrid in 2002, at age 80.

Photo of Mario Camus

7. Mario Camus (1935 - 2021)

With an HPI of 55.34, Mario Camus is the 7th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Mario Camus García (20 April 1935 – 18 September 2021) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He won the Golden Bear at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival with La colmena. His 1987 film The House of Bernarda Alba was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival and in the main competition at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1993 film Shadows in a Conflict was entered into the 18th Moscow International Film Festival.

Photo of Luis García Berlanga

8. Luis García Berlanga (1921 - 2010)

With an HPI of 54.37, Luis García Berlanga is the 8th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Luis García-Berlanga Martí MMT (12 June 1921 – 13 November 2010) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Acclaimed as a pioneer of modern Spanish cinema, his films are marked by social satire and acerbic critiques of Spanish culture under the Francoist dictatorship. These include Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), which won the International Prize (Comedy Film) at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, Plácido (1961), nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962, and The Executioner (1963), winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 24th Venice International Film Festival He kept a long-time collaboration with screenwriter Rafael Azcona, with whom he co-wrote the scripts for seven of his films between 1961 and 1987.

Photo of Segundo de Chomón

9. Segundo de Chomón (1871 - 1929)

With an HPI of 54.34, Segundo de Chomón is the 9th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Segundo Víctor Aurelio Chomón y Ruiz (also Chomont or Chaumont French: [ʃomɔ̃]; 17 October 1871 – 2 May 1929) was a pioneering Spanish film director, cinematographer and screenwriter. He produced many short films in France while working for Pathé Frères and has been compared to Georges Méliès, due to his frequent camera tricks and optical illusions. He is regarded as the most significant Spanish silent film director in an international context.

Photo of Víctor Erice

10. Víctor Erice (1940 - )

With an HPI of 54.20, Víctor Erice is the 10th most famous Spanish Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Víctor Erice Aras (Spanish: [ˈbiɣtoɾ eˈɾiθe]; born 30 June 1940) is a Spanish film director. He is best known for his two feature fiction films, The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), which many regard as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made, and El Sur (1983).

Pantheon has 35 people classified as film directors born between 1871 and 1986. Of these 35, 20 (57.14%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living film directors include Pedro Almodóvar, Víctor Erice, and Isabel Coixet. The most famous deceased film directors include Luis Buñuel, Carlos Saura, and Jesús Franco. As of April 2022, 3 new film directors have been added to Pantheon including José Luis Garci, Carla Simón, and Ángeles González-Sinde.

Living Film Directors

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Deceased Film Directors

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Newly Added Film Directors (2022)

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Which Film Directors were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 15 most globally memorable Film Directors since 1700.