Fernando Trueba

director, writer, music producer

Fernando Trueba is a multi-award-winning writer, director and producer, with a career spanning more than three decades in film, television, documentaries, theatre and music. Belle Epoque, starring ingénue Penelope Cruz, won both the Oscar and BAFTA for Foreign Language Film. Trueba enjoyed a brief flirtation with Hollywood with romantic comedy Two Much, starring Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith and Daryl Hannah, but he returned to his native Spain with films such as La Niña De Tus Ojos (The Girl Of Your Dreams), also starring Cruz, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and netted seven Goya awards. Trueba’s Latin jazz documentary Calle 54 saw the birth of his collaboration and friendship with Javier Mariscal. In the concert film Blanco Y Negro he brought together Cuban-born musician Bebo Valdés and Spanish flamenco star Diego “El Cigala”, winning the Latin Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. His documentary filmed in Brazil, El Milagro De Candeal (Miracle Of Candeal), won two Goya awards. El Año De Las Luces (Year Of Enlightenment, 1986) won a Goya as well as the Silver Bear in the Berlin Film Festival; The Mad Monkey (1989) won five Goya Awards; and El Embrujo De Shanghai (The Shanghai Spell, 2001) was winner of three Goyas. Trueba’s last film El Baile De La Victoria (The Dancer And The Thief) was Spain’s submission to the 2010 Academy Awards, and received 10 Goya nominations. Trueba’s published works include his Dictionary Of Cinema. He began his career as the film critic of leading Spanish newspaper El Pais.