The filmmaker Eugenio Martín, Nocturna de Honor 2019

Key figure of Spanish genre cinema, the director of legendary films such as 'The Price of a Man' (1966) or the Spanish cult horror film 'Panic on the Trans-Siberian' (1972) will receive recognition for his career at the age of 94 at the VII edition of the Nocturna Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival.

The filmmaker Eugenio Martin, known in the Anglo-Saxon world as Gene Martin, surprised in 1966 with the film The price of a man, a new symbiosis between the American western tradition and the influences of Italian cinema. His feature film was then recognized as having “special artistic interest” and turned its protagonist, actor Tomás Milián, into an icon of the genre, today being one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films.

Eugenio Martín (Ceuta, 1925) will be honored on October 26 at the VII edition of Nocturna Madrid “for his contribution to Spanish fantasy horror and for his ability to shoot films of various genres with the same elegance and responsibility,” explains Sergio Molina, director of the festival.

In his extensive filmography, the veteran filmmaker has ranged from documentary shorts to fantasy and horror films, spaghetti westerns, musical comedy and the most significant Spanish-tinged films of the late 1960s. In 1972 he directed Panic on the Trans-Siberian, one of his most notable films internationally, which to this day is considered a cult work. The following year, A candle for the devil (1973), censored at the time and recently restored by the Granada Classic Film Festival (Retroback).

Also among his most recognized works are Let's have the war in peace or the television series Long Juanita. "I had first-class dramatic material. For me the most important thing is to tell a good story, the genre doesn't matter," explains Eugenio Martín about his career.

A life of cinema

Born in Ceuta, he moved to Granada with his family when he was a teenager and founded the first film club in its history in that city, together with intellectuals of the time such as José Martín Memoria, Elena Vivaldi and Gregorio Salvador. Later he would enter the Institute of Cinematographic Research and Experiences in Madrid with his first short film shot in 35 millimeters and with music by Ernesto Halffter, Romantic trip to Granadaa (1954) -based on the engravings that 19th century travelers made of the Alhambra-, training in the same school as the filmmakers Berlanga or Saura.

Eugenio Martín also worked as an assistant on the film Sinbad and the princess (1958), filmed partly in the Nasrid monument and the Andalusian province, and established the pillars of what would be his first films, The privateers of the Caribbean -an unpretentious pirate story that ended up triumphing in theaters across half of Europe- and Bachelor Party (both 1961), a film with which the filmmaker failed and had to accept being an assistant on foreign productions, in the shadow of international directors such as Michael Anderson (1984) or Nicholas Ray (king of kings), to continue in the world of cinema. Then came films of his own authorship such as Hypnosis (1962) y Duel in the Amazon (1964).

Pepe Isbert, Christopher Lee, James Mason, Julio Iglesias, José Luis López Vázquez, Gracita Morales and Lola Flores have passed in front of her camera - who managed to be the first woman to be awarded the National Entertainment Union Award for A wonderful lady (1967). Martín affirms that he never wanted to opt for a style, and has always remained flexible in the face of any possibility: "I have felt equally comfortable making a thriller or a comedy, a mystery film or an adventure film. I consider myself a kind of minstrel because I dedicate myself to telling the stories that others have invented," he explains humbly. A virtue that, according to his biographers Carlos Aguilar and Anita Haas (Eugenio Martín: an author for all genres), stands out in his personality and in his way of working.

His filmography also includes The Leandras (1969), life goes on the same (1969), The bad river man (1971), I don't want to lose honor (1974), “Spanish movies that are part of the food movies that you have to make to eat and that have nothing wrong with them,” explains Eugenio Martín. Although, what he has always wanted to do is auteur cinema.

“Eugenio Martín's evolution has always been consistent with the film industry and its timeline, and also very personal because he has always known how to contribute his style,” says Reinaldo Pereira, deputy director of Nocturna Madrid. "I know that not all my films are good, but out of more than twenty, five or six are. And I have been able to make the stories I wanted," says Martín, who artistically survived the Franco dictatorship, censorship, and even self-criticism.

Eugenio Martín will receive recognition for his long career from the Nocturna Madrid Festival with the Nocturna de Honor Award, a tribute that previous editions have received filmmakers such as Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, Jorge Grau o Caroline Munro.