Prolific Spanish film-maker who specialised in psychedelic gothic horror – often laced with sex and violence
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Spanish film-maker Jesús Franco, who has died aged 82, directed 199 films, from El árbol de España in 1957 to Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies in 2012, a record few can match in the era of talking pictures. Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies, his overall tally might be considerably higher.
Born Jesús Franco Manera, he was most often credited – at least on international release prints – as Jess Frank or Jess Franco, though he used a host of pseudonyms, writing scripts as David Khune, composing music as Pablo Villa and co-directing pornographic films (with his long-term muse Lina Romay) as Rosa Almirall. He was a true man of the cinema, whose CV ranged from...
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Spanish film-maker Jesús Franco, who has died aged 82, directed 199 films, from El árbol de España in 1957 to Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies in 2012, a record few can match in the era of talking pictures. Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies, his overall tally might be considerably higher.
Born Jesús Franco Manera, he was most often credited – at least on international release prints – as Jess Frank or Jess Franco, though he used a host of pseudonyms, writing scripts as David Khune, composing music as Pablo Villa and co-directing pornographic films (with his long-term muse Lina Romay) as Rosa Almirall. He was a true man of the cinema, whose CV ranged from...
- 4/5/2013
- by Kim Newman
- The Guardian - Film News
Spanish director, scriptwriter, producer, actor, editor, cinematographer, composer and genre specialist Jesus (a.k.a. Jess) Franco (pictured) is to be the recipient of an Honorary Award at the 23rd annual Goya Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars. The ceremony will take place in Madrid on February 1 of next year.
The prize, similar to the American Lifetime Acheivement Academy Award, is bestowed each year by Spain’s Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas on a different showbiz personality who has made a lasting and noteworthy contribution to local cinema. In this respect, Franco is probably, in international terms, the best-known Spanish moviemaker after Luis Buñuel, Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Amenábar. In its citation, the Academy underlines Franco’s position as “a resilient filmmaker with a highly personal professional trajectory.”
Since his first feature film in 1954, the comedy Tenemos 18 AÑOS, Franco has helmed over 180 titles, the great majority in the horror,...
The prize, similar to the American Lifetime Acheivement Academy Award, is bestowed each year by Spain’s Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas on a different showbiz personality who has made a lasting and noteworthy contribution to local cinema. In this respect, Franco is probably, in international terms, the best-known Spanish moviemaker after Luis Buñuel, Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Amenábar. In its citation, the Academy underlines Franco’s position as “a resilient filmmaker with a highly personal professional trajectory.”
Since his first feature film in 1954, the comedy Tenemos 18 AÑOS, Franco has helmed over 180 titles, the great majority in the horror,...
- 11/27/2008
- Fangoria
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