Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, precursor of the internationalization of Spanish cinema, dies

Winner of the Goya Honor Award in 2000, some of his films from the 60s achieved great international projection, directing stars such as Karl Malden, Elke Sommer and Jack Palance.

The film director and producer Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi died this Wednesday at the age of 90. Born in Madrid in 1927, Isasi-Isasmendi lived in Barcelona as a young man and currently resided in Ibiza. Winner of the Goya Honor Award from the Film Academy in 2000, he began his professional career in Spanish action and police films with films such as La Huida (1955), which later became international with The Mask of Scaramouche (1963), directing actors such as Karl Malden, Elke Sommer and Jack Palance.

His films include rural drama Passion under the sun (1956), The lie has red hair (1960), Everyone's Land (1961) and Let's tell lies (1962). He also directed Las Vegas 500 million y A summer to kill, considered typical of North American cinema. Since the 1950s, Isasi-Isasmendi made action films in Spain. Some of his films from the 60s achieved great international projection, directing stars such as Karl Malden, Elke Sommer and Jack Palance.

The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports and Government spokesperson, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, after learning of the death of Isasi-Isasmendi, has highlighted the figure of a man "essential for Spanish cinema, to whom he dedicated more than 60 years of his life." The minister also recalled that he began working in cinema as a children's dubber at the Voz de España studios in Barcelona and from there he went on to work in editing rooms, quickly becoming one of the most prominent editors.

"He has been an enterprising director. With great vision for the future, he created his own production company and, after directing and producing several national films, such as everyone's land, he made others of international dissemination such as Scaramouche's mask or A summer to kill”, he assured.