
Directing
José Luis Garci
Born
1944-01-20 (82)
Place of birth
Madrid, España
Known for
Directing
Credits
55 titles
José Luis Garci is a Spanish director, producer, film critic, TV presenter, screenwriter and author. He earned worldwide acclaim and his country's first Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for Begin the Beguine (1982). Four of his films, including also Sesión continua (1984), Asignatura aprobada (1987) and El abuelo (1998), have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, more than any other Spanish director. His films are characterized for his classical style and the underlying sentimentality of their plots.
Known for
NRTVE broadcasted this program on the occasion of the first centenary of the history of cinema, a feature film was broadcast weekly that, due to its characteristics, was of interest within the cinematographic world, directed and moderated by José Luis Garci, with the assistance of three experts , belonging to the world of cinema and literature, which debated following the screening of the chosen film.
¡Qué grande es el cine!
1995
5.2Andrés, a dowdy Spaniard, goes to Paris on holiday, hoping to meet a pretty French girl. His wishes may come true after meeting Ninette, his landlord's sensual and possessive young daughter.
Ninette
2005
4.7Set in the future, the story follows a nurse who tries to bring her own style of relief to people condemned to die. Her identity is a mystery and she may not be quite what she seems.
Murder in a Blue World
1973
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Directors Talks
2023
7.3A man gets trapped inside a telephone box and nobody is able to free him.
The Telephone Box
1972
6.3Famous Spanish film critic Alfonso Sánchez talks about his personal life, his work and Anouk Aimée. A sentimental tribute to one of the most relevant figures on the Spanish film scene.
Alfonso Sánchez
1980
Film credits
2020s · 5 titles
NRA dauntless film director, an enfant terrible in his early days, confrontational with censorship, always pushing the boundaries of freedom of expression, chronicler of the darkest corners of the transition, De la Iglesia will fall into the clutches of drug addiction, being forgotten and sometimes repudiated for more than a decade before eventually shaking off the ostracism to make films once again, that habit he could never kick.
Eloy de la Iglesia: Film Addict
2025
NRAn account of the life and work behind the camera of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Olea, whose very personal viewpoint, interested in all kinds of subjects, approached in very different ways, but always with a very characteristic style, has analyzed the social and political life of Spain for more than five decades.
Olea… ¡Más alto!
2020
NRThe epic story of a great man of cinema, Samuel Bronston, as recounted by those who knew him. Bronston created a parallel Hollywood in Spain that was much larger than the one in California, and this provoked the wrath of an industry that ultimately devoured him.
Samuel: Hollywood vs Hollywood
2024
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Miguel Velázquez. El catedrático del ring
2025
6.0Winner of the Silver Shell for Best Director for his debut film, Del rosa... al amarillo, Manolo Summers was the great revelation of Spanish cinema. Over time, he became a very popular figure, while criticism of him intensified. Now we will get to know his personality through his own words, as well as what his films tell us about him. And with the help of film critics, directors, professionals, and his family, we will discover Summers the rebel.
Summers el rebelde
2024
2010s · 2 titles
6.2Finally, 33 years later, the whole truth behind the attempted coup d'état that shook Spain on the afternoon of February 23, 1981, is revealed by those who lived through those dreadful hours; a deep look behind the heavy curtain which hides the real mastermind, waiting to be unmasked.
Operación Palace
2014
6.5The story of Enrique Herreros (1903-1977), cartoonist, advertiser, poster designer, talent manager, actor, producer and filmmaker, and the most daring of mountaineers; the man who, along with his companions from the so-called “other Generation of '27,” brought Hollywood to Madrid's Gran Vía, turning a grey and sinister post-war city into the capital of an incipient and ambitious cultural industry.
Enrique Herreros
2011
1990s · 1 titles
1980s · 2 titles
6.9Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo investigates the life of a gay man who has apparently abandoned his partner. When they both turn up dead, it seems one killed the other before committing suicide, but Areta is not convinced.
El crack dos
1983
5.6Drama based on the true life of a group of middle class and members of the Communist Party of Spain, who were involved in clandestine political activities during the sixties.
Viva la clase media
1980
1970s · 2 titles
4.8The young Enrique leaving to study at the University and is married to Juana. One day he meets a painter who takes Enrique into another life and confused begin to think about taking some drastic measures.
La noche de los cien pájaros
1976
4.0Enrique is a thirty-year-old lawyer who is married to Ana. Apparently he is a normal man who has only one obsession: the commercials. He feels a real passion for the erotic world of the ads either in billboards, trash cans, public transport, magazines or television. The continuous publicity bombardment ends up leading him towards a neurosis that changes his personality.
Vida conyugal sana
1974
Series credits
NRTVE broadcasted this program on the occasion of the first centenary of the history of cinema, a feature film was broadcast weekly that, due to its characteristics, was of interest within the cinematographic world, directed and moderated by José Luis Garci, with the assistance of three experts , belonging to the world of cinema and literature, which debated following the screening of the chosen film.
¡Qué grande es el cine!
1995
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Directors Talks
2023
Behind the camera
5.2Andrés, a dowdy Spaniard, goes to Paris on holiday, hoping to meet a pretty French girl. His wishes may come true after meeting Ninette, his landlord's sensual and possessive young daughter.
Ninette
2005
5.2Andrés, a dowdy Spaniard, goes to Paris on holiday, hoping to meet a pretty French girl. His wishes may come true after meeting Ninette, his landlord's sensual and possessive young daughter.
Ninette
2005
4.7Set in the future, the story follows a nurse who tries to bring her own style of relief to people condemned to die. Her identity is a mystery and she may not be quite what she seems.
Murder in a Blue World
1973
7.3A man gets trapped inside a telephone box and nobody is able to free him.
The Telephone Box
1972
6.3Famous Spanish film critic Alfonso Sánchez talks about his personal life, his work and Anouk Aimée. A sentimental tribute to one of the most relevant figures on the Spanish film scene.
Alfonso Sánchez
1980
6.3Famous Spanish film critic Alfonso Sánchez talks about his personal life, his work and Anouk Aimée. A sentimental tribute to one of the most relevant figures on the Spanish film scene.
Alfonso Sánchez
1980
4.7Film based on the characters of the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle. It tells a hypothetical meeting in Madrid between the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper.
Holmes & Watson: Madrid Days
2012
4.7Film based on the characters of the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle. It tells a hypothetical meeting in Madrid between the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper.
Holmes & Watson: Madrid Days
2012
4.2Yerma is desperate to have children, so when a psychic advises her to look outside her marriage to conceive, what can she say but yes?
Yerma
1999
5.8In June 1983 the journalist and TV presenter Enzo Tortora was arrested on charges of drug trafficking and belonging to the Camorra.
Un uomo perbene
1999
6.1Martín is a tormented and solitary man who hides a shameful and unspeakable secret: he lives with a life-size doll which he treats as if it were his wife. This idyliic, loving existence will be gravely threatened when a prostitute, her daughter, and a pimp enter his life.
It's Not Good for a Man to Be Alone
1973
6.9Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo investigates the life of a gay man who has apparently abandoned his partner. When they both turn up dead, it seems one killed the other before committing suicide, but Areta is not convinced.
El crack dos
1983
6.9Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo investigates the life of a gay man who has apparently abandoned his partner. When they both turn up dead, it seems one killed the other before committing suicide, but Areta is not convinced.
El crack dos
1983
4.2No synopsis available yet.
Mi mujer es muy decente, dentro de lo que cabe
1975
7.3Julia, an only child of an affluent, bank owning family living in Madrid, escapes from her family to get over her grief that her boyfriend has been imprisoned. Julia is a well educated woman, having studied in Switzerland and England, who wants to become a writer. Julia drives to a little village in Asturias called "Corralbos del Sella" and there she stays in a mansion "llendelabarca" of an old childhood friend "Pilara" she had spent many a happy summer with. Also living there is Pilara's mother in law Tia Gala, and her grandson Juanito. Julia's relationship with caretakers, teacher and priest makes Julia, a woman of the spanish capital, perhaps for the first time to not feel so alone.
You're the One
2000
7.3Julia, an only child of an affluent, bank owning family living in Madrid, escapes from her family to get over her grief that her boyfriend has been imprisoned. Julia is a well educated woman, having studied in Switzerland and England, who wants to become a writer. Julia drives to a little village in Asturias called "Corralbos del Sella" and there she stays in a mansion "llendelabarca" of an old childhood friend "Pilara" she had spent many a happy summer with. Also living there is Pilara's mother in law Tia Gala, and her grandson Juanito. Julia's relationship with caretakers, teacher and priest makes Julia, a woman of the spanish capital, perhaps for the first time to not feel so alone.
You're the One
2000
6.0A series of vignettes set in Madrid, where its residents manage to sustain entertainment, hope and love in a city still suffering the wounds caused by the Spanish Civil War.
Merry-Go-Round c. 1950
2004
6.0A series of vignettes set in Madrid, where its residents manage to sustain entertainment, hope and love in a city still suffering the wounds caused by the Spanish Civil War.
Merry-Go-Round c. 1950
2004
6.0A series of vignettes set in Madrid, where its residents manage to sustain entertainment, hope and love in a city still suffering the wounds caused by the Spanish Civil War.
Merry-Go-Round c. 1950
2004
5.6Yoyes, the first woman to hold responsibility positions within ETA, returns from exile in Mexico and try to rebuild her life. But her return is not easy.
Yoyes
2000
7.2Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies.
El crack
1981
7.2Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies.
El crack
1981
7.2Private detective Germán Areta el Piojo gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies.
El crack
1981
6.4A memory of Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), woman, actress, goddess, myth, in the words of the Spanish director and scriptwriter José Luis Garci, who returns to his childhood and recovers a lost paradise.
Mi Marilyn
1975
6.4A memory of Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), woman, actress, goddess, myth, in the words of the Spanish director and scriptwriter José Luis Garci, who returns to his childhood and recovers a lost paradise.
Mi Marilyn
1975
6.4After his son dies, an elderly man comes back to Spain from the US and hopes to find out which of his granddaughters is true, and which one is bastard.
The Grandfather
1998
6.4After his son dies, an elderly man comes back to Spain from the US and hopes to find out which of his granddaughters is true, and which one is bastard.
The Grandfather
1998
6.4After his son dies, an elderly man comes back to Spain from the US and hopes to find out which of his granddaughters is true, and which one is bastard.
The Grandfather
1998
5.5Director José Luis Garci has turned his camera inward on filmmakers and screenwriters to portray them as so self-absorbed in the creative process that there is no other world, no other human relationship that can compete. As José (Adolfo Marsillach) and Federico (Jesus Puente) work together on a new screenplay, their interactions with their family (José's teen daughters, Federico's wife) disappear under the all-consuming task of creation. The daughters give up and go off on their own, and the wife joins a convent while Federico barely notices. And when the producer is interrupted by profound grief at the sudden death of his older son, he almost automatically returns to thinking about the film project when the funeral has ended. Garci honors many great directors at the beginning of this film, and the film continues to play out as an elaboration on this homage -- an illustration both of the dedication and the cost of filmmaking, no judgments given.
Double Feature
1984
5.5Director José Luis Garci has turned his camera inward on filmmakers and screenwriters to portray them as so self-absorbed in the creative process that there is no other world, no other human relationship that can compete. As José (Adolfo Marsillach) and Federico (Jesus Puente) work together on a new screenplay, their interactions with their family (José's teen daughters, Federico's wife) disappear under the all-consuming task of creation. The daughters give up and go off on their own, and the wife joins a convent while Federico barely notices. And when the producer is interrupted by profound grief at the sudden death of his older son, he almost automatically returns to thinking about the film project when the funeral has ended. Garci honors many great directors at the beginning of this film, and the film continues to play out as an elaboration on this homage -- an illustration both of the dedication and the cost of filmmaking, no judgments given.
Double Feature
1984
5.5Director José Luis Garci has turned his camera inward on filmmakers and screenwriters to portray them as so self-absorbed in the creative process that there is no other world, no other human relationship that can compete. As José (Adolfo Marsillach) and Federico (Jesus Puente) work together on a new screenplay, their interactions with their family (José's teen daughters, Federico's wife) disappear under the all-consuming task of creation. The daughters give up and go off on their own, and the wife joins a convent while Federico barely notices. And when the producer is interrupted by profound grief at the sudden death of his older son, he almost automatically returns to thinking about the film project when the funeral has ended. Garci honors many great directors at the beginning of this film, and the film continues to play out as an elaboration on this homage -- an illustration both of the dedication and the cost of filmmaking, no judgments given.
Double Feature
1984
8.0No synopsis available yet.
La mujer es cosa de hombres
1976
5.2This 1985 Spanish film reveals one of the many terrible aspects of 16th century Spain, still plagued by the radical Christian Inquisition, one of a plethora of difficulties Spaniards faced at the time. Spanish super star Carmen Maura plays a nun who agrees to a selfless scam, a fake stigmata, only to avoid separation from her lover, another nun. It's a serious and passionate work, highlighting the theme of outspoken women-against-repression, seen in other good gay and lesbian films. This is not a lesbian "Nun sense" or another "Dark Habits" (by Almodovar, which also starred Carmen Maura, and also set in a Spanish convent, with some lesbian nuns). Perhaps, best of all, 'Extramuros' is realistic and frank. It isn't shy about its characters' sexuality. Their sexuality, and the film as a whole are genuine.
Beyond the Walls
1985
6.7Madrid, Spain, 1975; shortly after the end of the Franco dictatorship. Six months after the mysterious death of his lover, a prestigious tailor, a married woman visits the office of the young Germán Areta, a former police officer turned private detective, to request his professional services.
The Crack: Inception
2019
6.7Madrid, Spain, 1975; shortly after the end of the Franco dictatorship. Six months after the mysterious death of his lover, a prestigious tailor, a married woman visits the office of the young Germán Areta, a former police officer turned private detective, to request his professional services.
The Crack: Inception
2019
6.7Madrid, Spain, 1975; shortly after the end of the Franco dictatorship. Six months after the mysterious death of his lover, a prestigious tailor, a married woman visits the office of the young Germán Areta, a former police officer turned private detective, to request his professional services.
The Crack: Inception
2019
5.2A Spanish insurance company is absorbed by a multinational, so that, in order to modernize, its employees are obliged to carry out some training courses to adapt to the new situation and the new objectives. Given the relevance of what is at stake, the wives of these men will also be involved at work.
Los nuevos españoles
1974
5.6A group of pre-university boys and girls experience all kinds of problems and joys that arise in their lives. Among other worries, they have to deal with the pressure of their studies, difficulties with their families and, of course, their first loves.
Los chicos del Preu
1967
5.6Drama based on the true life of a group of middle class and members of the Communist Party of Spain, who were involved in clandestine political activities during the sixties.
Viva la clase media
1980
5.6Drama based on the true life of a group of middle class and members of the Communist Party of Spain, who were involved in clandestine political activities during the sixties.
Viva la clase media
1980


