Filmmaker Agustí Villaronga dies at 69

The director and screenwriter Agustí Villaronga, who stood out especially with his work Bye black, great winner of the 2011 Goya with nine statuettes, died early this Sunday at the age of 69 in Barcelona, ​​a victim of cancer.

Villaronga was born in Palma de Mallorca on March 4, 1953. Son of a carnival family, grandson of puppeteers and street vendors, from a very young age he had a passion for cinema, he played at making projections with drawings, matchboxes and flashlights. At the age of 14 he decided to be a director.

When he finished school he wrote to Roberto Rosselline at his film school in Rome, who replied that he had to finish university first. He went to Jesuit school and later enrolled and graduated in Barcelona in Geography and History. Shortly after starting his degree, he met Víctor García, with whom he began touring Europe and America performing Barren, by Lorca.

Their first short films were Anta woman (1976), Labyrinth (1980) y Al Mayurka (1980). Seven years later he shot his first feature film behind the glass, which was selected for the berlin festival.

In 1989 he directed The moon child, a film with which he achieved his first Goya as a screenwriter. After directing the 1992 documentary Al-Andalus: las artes islámicas en España, en 1997 regresa a la ficción con 99.9.

En el año 2000 su película El mar, logra numerosos galardones, entre ellos el premio Manfred Salzberg a la innovación y es nominada al Oso de Oso.

En 2002, junto a Isaac P. Racine y Lydia Zimmermann aborda el género del falso documental con Aro Tolbukhin: en la mente del asesino, obteniendo el Premio Ariel como mejor guión original y nominado a la mejor película y dirección.

Tras varios proyectos fallidos, regresa al cine por la puerta grande con Bye black (2010), a brave black and white film that won the Silver Shell and nine Goya Awards in San Sebastián (including Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay), and was also nominated to compete for Best Non-English Language Film at the Oscars.

Other productions followed, such as The king of Havana (2015), Uncertain Gloria (2017) y The belly of the sea (2021), winner at the Malaga Festival.

After his death he left pending release what is his first foray into comedy, Loli Tormenta.

Among the numerous awards for Agustí Villaronga's cinematographic career, the National Film Culture Award in 2001, the National Cinematography Award in 2011 and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts that he received on December 1 from the Kings in Tenerife stand out.