Icíar Bollaín

Directing

Icíar Bollaín

Born 1967-06-12 · Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Icíar Bollaín Pérez-Mínguez (born June 12, 1967; Madrid) is a Spanish actress, director and writer. Her father was an aeronautical engineer and her mother was a music teacher. She made her début when she was 15 years old. She is a member of the Academia Española de Cinematografía. She began her work in cinema at the age of fourteen as part of the cast in Victor Erice's film El Sur (1983). Since then she has acted in fourteen films. Hola, estas sola? (Hi, are you alone? in English) (1995) was her first feature film as director, a story about two young girls who dream of finding an earthly paradise, and undertake a long trip towards the sea. Flores de otro mundo (Flowers from another world in English) (1999) was her second feature film, which she co-wrote with Julio Llamazares. It is the story of four women who travel to rural Spain with the hopes of finding love. Her latest film as writer and director is Te Doy Mis Ojos (I'll give you my eyes in English) (2003) which won seven Goya awards including Best Film. The movie is about the abusive marriage relationship between Pilar and Antonio. Her 2010 film Even the Rain was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. In January 2011, the film made the final nine shortlist.

Acting credits

Subjúdice poster
7.5

No synopsis available yet.

Subjúdice

1998

Land and Freedom poster
7.3

Summer 1936: young unemployed communist David Carr leaves Liverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men and women, the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). After being wounded, he goes to Barcelona, where he joins another group of fighters.

Land and Freedom

1995

Hi, Are You Alone? poster
5.3

Nina is a 20 years old girl from Valladolid who lives with her divorced father, an autoritarian and conservative man. Trini is of the same age and has lost her mother. For both Valladolid and their families have nothing to offer and therefore they go on a risky voyage to the Costa del Sol at the south of Spain.

Hi, Are You Alone?

1995

Rage poster
5.6

A romantic thriller about a construction worker in hiding for killing his foreman who hides in the mansion where his girlfriend works as a maid.

Rage

2009

Niño nadie poster
5.0

Unbenownst to a middle-aged teacher of handicapped children, his long-term suffering girlfriend is pregnant with his child. The film philosophically explores the ideas of free will and destiny as they relate to the characters and their life choices.

Niño nadie

1997

El Sur poster
7.7

A woman recalls her childhood growing up in the North of Spain, focusing on her relationship with her father.

El Sur

1983

Al acecho poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Al acecho

1987

They're Watching Us poster
5.4

Norberto Lopez Amado's They're Watching Us is about a cop who becomes obsessed with a case. Juan (Carmelo Gomez) is ordered to head up an investigation concerning a businessman who has been missing for almost three years. The officer who worled on the case previously now resides in a mental institution and is unable to say anything other than, "They're watching us." A priest (Roberto Alvarez) explains how a series of disappearances in the area have supernatural underpinnings. As Juan is absorbed deeper and deeper into the case, his mother is concerned for him.

They're Watching Us

2002

The Critic poster
6.0

A portrait of film critic Carlos Boyero, one of the most followed and feared figures in Spanish cinema, surrounded by controversy and both love and hate.

The Critic

2022

Tocando fondo poster
6.0

Andres de Granada, a forty-benefit trade more clear, believed that the first months of 1993 are the best time to do business. It also has the help of his nephew Fulgencio, who has arrived in Madrid with the idea of ​​learning the trade.

Tocando fondo

1993

The Night of the Brother poster
4.4

The Night of the brother ("La Noche del Hermano") is a chiaroscuro tale in which the characters' not always explicit feelings cover the gamut from darkness to light through the thin line between love and fear. Because the events of life are often less astonishing than the way they are shown to us.

The Night of the Brother

2005

Venecias poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Venecias

1989

Sara, una estrella poster
9.5

No synopsis available yet.

Sara, una estrella

2002

Las dos orillas poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Las dos orillas

1987

Menos que cero poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Menos que cero

1996

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Doblones de a ocho

1990

The Stone Raft poster
5.3

An inexplicable crack in the Pyrenees Mountains provokes excitement and scientific curiosity. As the geological fracture deepens and widens, the European community begins to disassociate itself from the calamity, and panic ensues among tourists and residents attempting to escape. When Spain and Portugal physically separate from the continent, the detached Iberian peninsula aimlessly floats off to sea, becoming home to a group of god-like humans.

The Stone Raft

2002

Borau y el cine poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Borau y el cine

2025

Leo poster
6.6

Salva works as security guard in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Madrid. There he meets Leo, a woman who makes a living collecting cardboard. As Salva falls in love with her, Leo's dark past comes back to haunt her.

Leo

2000

No artwork available
8.0

Daniel arrives at a port under police surveillance while transporting drugs. There, he meets a woman and aspires to settle down for a more stable existence.

El Mejor de los Tiempos

1989

Dime una mentira poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Dime una mentira

1993

Mientras haya luz poster
6.3

Marisa, a 38 years old woman, tells a stranges story to her daughter while they're walking through a level crossing in Madrid. An anthropologist, Jaime, is chased by a mysterious jeep. In the course of the chase, he takes shelter in a small motel. When he settles down, he keeps writing in his personal diary, reflecting his impressions about his work in it.

Mientras haya luz

1987

Un paraguas para tres poster
9.0

Having just split up with their respective partners, Maria and Daniel meet in a shop where they argue over a bed. From then on, they keep running into each other in all sorts of strange places and in all sorts of circumstances. They are mutually attracted and begin to intrepret the coincidences of their meeting as sign of fate, but they are hesitant to take the plunge. This little game of love and fate becomes even more complicated when Pierre, a French teacher, and Alicia, Maria's friend, become involved..Who will seduce whom?...Who will be seduced by whom?...After a series of misunderstandings, love settles the question.

Un paraguas para tres

1992

Misadventure poster
6.3

An intrigue based on a failed relationship with touches of dreams and magic filmed on the streets of Seville.

Misadventure

1988

Behind the camera

Even the Rain poster
7.0

As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, local people rise up against plans to privatize the water supply.

Even the Rain

2011

Rosa's Wedding poster
6.2

Rosa is about to turn 45 and realises that she's always lived her life to serve everyone else. So she decides to leave it all behind, take charge of her life and fulfil her dream of starting her own business.

Rosa's Wedding

2020

Rosa's Wedding poster
6.2

Rosa is about to turn 45 and realises that she's always lived her life to serve everyone else. So she decides to leave it all behind, take charge of her life and fulfil her dream of starting her own business.

Rosa's Wedding

2020

Take My Eyes poster
7.2

One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her. He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her eyes"...

Take My Eyes

2003

Take My Eyes poster
7.2

One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her. He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her eyes"...

Take My Eyes

2003

Hi, Are You Alone? poster
5.3

Nina is a 20 years old girl from Valladolid who lives with her divorced father, an autoritarian and conservative man. Trini is of the same age and has lost her mother. For both Valladolid and their families have nothing to offer and therefore they go on a risky voyage to the Costa del Sol at the south of Spain.

Hi, Are You Alone?

1995

Yuli poster
6.9

Yuli is the nickname given to Carlos Acosta by his father, Pedro, who considers him the son of Ogun, an African god and a fighter. As a child Yuli avoids discipline and education, learning from the streets of an impoverished and abandoned Havana. His father, however, has other ideas, and knowing that his son has a natural talent for dance, sends him to the National Ballet School of Cuba. Despite his repeated escapes and initial poor behaviour, the boy is inevitably drawn to the world of dance, and begins to shape his legendary career from a young age, becoming the first black dancer to be cast in some of the most prestigious ballet roles, originally written for white dancers, in companies such as the Houston Ballet or the Royal Ballet in London.

Yuli

2018

I Am Nevenka poster
7.0

In the year 2000, Nevenka Fernández, 24 years old, Councilor for Finance in the Ponferrada City Council, suffered relentless persecution, both sentimental and professional, by the mayor, a man accustomed to doing his will politically and personally. She never decides to report, although she knows that she will have to pay a very high price: her environment does not support her, the society of Ponferrada turns its back on her and the media subjects her to a public trial. A story inspired by real events that turns its protagonist into a pioneer by taking an influential and popular politician to court for sexual and workplace harassment for the first time.

I Am Nevenka

2024

I Am Nevenka poster
7.0

In the year 2000, Nevenka Fernández, 24 years old, Councilor for Finance in the Ponferrada City Council, suffered relentless persecution, both sentimental and professional, by the mayor, a man accustomed to doing his will politically and personally. She never decides to report, although she knows that she will have to pay a very high price: her environment does not support her, the society of Ponferrada turns its back on her and the media subjects her to a public trial. A story inspired by real events that turns its protagonist into a pioneer by taking an influential and popular politician to court for sexual and workplace harassment for the first time.

I Am Nevenka

2024

Maixabel poster
7.0

In the year 2000, Maixabel Lasa’s husband, Juan Maria Jauregi, was killed by ETA. Eleven years later, she receives an incredible request: one of the men who killed Juan wants to meet with her in the Nanclares de la Oca prison in Araba (Spain), where he is serving his sentence after breaking ties with the terrorist group. Despite her reservations and her immense pain, Maixabel Lasa agrees to meet face to face with those who ended the life of the person who had been her companion since she was 16 years old. ‘Everyone deserves a second chance’, she said, when asked why she was willing to confront the man who killed her husband.

Maixabel

2021

Maixabel poster
7.0

In the year 2000, Maixabel Lasa’s husband, Juan Maria Jauregi, was killed by ETA. Eleven years later, she receives an incredible request: one of the men who killed Juan wants to meet with her in the Nanclares de la Oca prison in Araba (Spain), where he is serving his sentence after breaking ties with the terrorist group. Despite her reservations and her immense pain, Maixabel Lasa agrees to meet face to face with those who ended the life of the person who had been her companion since she was 16 years old. ‘Everyone deserves a second chance’, she said, when asked why she was willing to confront the man who killed her husband.

Maixabel

2021

The Olive Tree poster
6.7

Alma’s family has been producing quality olive oil in the Baix Maestrat area of Spain’s Castellón for generations. Yet changing pressures in the industry have made their traditional practices economically untenable, and the family is now in the mass-production poultry business. Alma’s grandfather has not spoken in years. Sadness envelopes him, and he no longer wants to eat. His sons—Alma’s father and uncle—are impatient with him, but Alma understands her grandfather. She realizes he has been grieving for a thousand-year-old olive tree that the family has uprooted and sold to pay some debts. (A sadly common reality in Castellón at present.) Unable to bear the idea that her grandfather could die without seeing this terrible wrong corrected, Alma undertakes a quixotic mission to locate the tree and return it to the family orchard, so that her grandfather may have peace in his final days.

The Olive Tree

2016

With Good Reason poster
4.7

A multi-part feature on the governing body of Spain, the Popular Party under Jose María Aznar. Themes include the bombing of Iraq, immigration, U.S. fire in Baghdad, and the manipulation of the media.

With Good Reason

2004

A Love That Kills poster
6.5

The two million Spanish women who are victims of domestic violence and the death each week of a woman at the hands of her partner is not fiction but pure reality.

A Love That Kills

2000

A Love That Kills poster
6.5

The two million Spanish women who are victims of domestic violence and the death each week of a woman at the hands of her partner is not fiction but pure reality.

A Love That Kills

2000

Mataharis poster
5.1

Private detectives Inés, Eva, and Carmen often invade others' privacy but are clueless about confronting their own secrets. While on the job, these three surveillance specialists will have to cross the thin line dividing public and private matters, bringing their own issues to light in order to solve more than just their professional cases.

Mataharis

2007

Mataharis poster
5.1

Private detectives Inés, Eva, and Carmen often invade others' privacy but are clueless about confronting their own secrets. While on the job, these three surveillance specialists will have to cross the thin line dividing public and private matters, bringing their own issues to light in order to solve more than just their professional cases.

Mataharis

2007

En tierra extraña poster
3.5

A documentary about the life of young Spanish immigrants in Edinburgh, Scotland, who had to leave Spain due to recession and unemployment.

En tierra extraña

2014

En tierra extraña poster
3.5

A documentary about the life of young Spanish immigrants in Edinburgh, Scotland, who had to leave Spain due to recession and unemployment.

En tierra extraña

2014

Poniente poster
6.0

After living in Madrid for many years as a teacher, Lucia returns to her hometown after her father's death results in the inheritance of his tomato farm. While fighting the community's racism toward the new illegal workers, Lucia falls in love with the farm's accountant, Curro, a man who shares her cause. The couple is forced to confront the racism of the town and as tensions come to head, they will have to make some decisions that could cost them everything.

Poniente

2002

Kathmandu Lullaby poster
5.9

Kathmandu, Nepal, early 1990s. Laia, a young teacher from Catalonia, Spain, works at a local school in the slums of the city where poverty reigns. Her personal path, besieged by a harsh sum of indescribable social conditions, will be a struggle against a nefarious educational system, but a journey of self-discovery as well.

Kathmandu Lullaby

2011

Kathmandu Lullaby poster
5.9

Kathmandu, Nepal, early 1990s. Laia, a young teacher from Catalonia, Spain, works at a local school in the slums of the city where poverty reigns. Her personal path, besieged by a harsh sum of indescribable social conditions, will be a struggle against a nefarious educational system, but a journey of self-discovery as well.

Kathmandu Lullaby

2011

Flowers From Another World poster
5.4

Patricia, a woman from Dominican Republic, needs a home and an economic security that her illegal status in Madrid does not provide her. Milady, twenty, born in Havana and dying to travel the world. Marirosi has a job, a home, and the most complete solitude... just like Alfonso, Damián and Carmelo, men from the St. Eulalia, a village lacking both marrying women and future. A bachelors' party forces the encounter between them and the beginning of this bittersweet story of sharing a living.

Flowers From Another World

1999

Flowers From Another World poster
5.4

Patricia, a woman from Dominican Republic, needs a home and an economic security that her illegal status in Madrid does not provide her. Milady, twenty, born in Havana and dying to travel the world. Marirosi has a job, a home, and the most complete solitude... just like Alfonso, Damián and Carmelo, men from the St. Eulalia, a village lacking both marrying women and future. A bachelors' party forces the encounter between them and the beginning of this bittersweet story of sharing a living.

Flowers From Another World

1999