Film director Vicente Aranda dies

The director of films like 'Amante', 'Libertarias', 'Carmen' and 'Juana la loca' dies at the age of 88.

The film director Vicente Aranda died this Tuesday at the age of 88. A prominent member of what is known as the Barcelona School, due to the civil war he had to interrupt his studies, which he did not continue afterwards, opting to emigrate in 1949 to Venezuela, where his brother was. Returning to Spain in 1956, he was unable to enter the Institute of Cinematographic Research and Experiences in Madrid, but he also made his directorial debut, co-directing with Román Gubern the film Brillante porvenir (1964).

Then came fantastic and erotic short films like The cruel ones (1969), The bloody bride (1972), Clara is the price (1974), sex change (1977) o The girl in the golden panties (1980). In 1982 he directed Murder in the Central Committee (1982) based on the novel by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, and Fanny Pelopaja (1983), an uncompromising portrait of a young suburban girl and a corrupt police officer.

From the 90s it stands out Lovers (1991), one of his greatest box office hits, which won the Goya for best direction and film. For the rest, he continued to bring his universe of dissatisfied characters and social problems to the big screen in titles such as Libertarian (1996), The look of the other (1998) o Jealousy (1999). Among his most recent films are Juana the crazy (2001), a peculiar vision of this historical figure, and his own film version of Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen (2002).

The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, José Ignacio Wert, has expressed his condolences upon learning of the death of film director Vicente Aranda.

"With the death of Vicente Aranda, one of the most significant figures in the renewal of Spanish cinema disappears, which took place above all after the disappearance of censorship in the first stages of democracy and also in the subsequent years. A filmmaker with a clear line, with impeccable workmanship in all his films, many of them adaptations of very representative novels from that same period in which his cinematographic production is part," declared the Minister.