
Directing
Carlos Atanes
Born 1971-11-08 · Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Carlos Atanes (Barcelona, 1971) is a Spanish filmmaker, writer and playwright whose work occupies a singular place in European underground cinema. Since the late 1980s, he has built a distinctive artistic universe that combines science fiction, fantasy, surrealism and philosophical inquiry, becoming one of the most recognisable cult auteurs of contemporary Spanish cinema. Among his most acclaimed works are the dystopian science-fiction films "FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions" and "Proxima", as well as the surreal and deeply underground "Maximum Shame" and "Gallino, the Chicken System", which established him as one of the most uncompromising voices in contemporary European cult cinema. His films have often provoked strongly divided reactions, being celebrated by admirers for their originality and audacity while dismissed by detractors as deliberately provocative and inaccessible. Works such as "The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka" and "Perdurabo (Where is Aleister Crowley?)" reveal his enduring interest in literature and esotericism, while "Báthory" (2026) sees him moving further into experimental cinema through a more abstract and formally daring approach. Throughout his career, Atanes has remained fiercely independent, building a body of work distinguished by its originality, intellectual ambition and complete artistic freedom.
Acting credits
7.0Exasperated and megalomaniac director Carlos Atanes, takes the charge of produce a pilot program for the television, but his interests walks on another way: he wants to leave the audiovisual world definitively, by the most drastic way: hang himself by the neck. Intrepid journalist Diana forces him to fight against his own ghosts. So, both of them live an exciting underground adventure in Barcelona cinema's drains, peopled by the most raved and bizarre characters: rude and wretched producers, revenger and freakish actresses, survival actors, hyper-violent technicians who goes in front of camera...
Morfing
1996
7.0Augustine of Hippo dreams of time paradoxes and spiritual decadence of a civilization, which could as much be that of the 4th Century A.D. as our own.
The Seven Hills of Rome
1999
NRA director is interested in the punk movement and outsiders. Following a meeting with a music group, he plans to make a documentary about it.
Fils de Punk
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Behind the camera
5.8Tony, the owner of a small fantastic film video shop, has found out that at times reality can defy science-fiction. The time has come to embark on a trip to a place nobody has ever been to before.
Próxima
2007
5.8Tony, the owner of a small fantastic film video shop, has found out that at times reality can defy science-fiction. The time has come to embark on a trip to a place nobody has ever been to before.
Próxima
2007
10.0The tavern where the action takes place is the waiting-room of Hell, the first door through which the inhabitants from the other side of the mirror will return.
Metaminds & Metabodies
1995
10.0The tavern where the action takes place is the waiting-room of Hell, the first door through which the inhabitants from the other side of the mirror will return.
Metaminds & Metabodies
1995
7.0Exasperated and megalomaniac director Carlos Atanes, takes the charge of produce a pilot program for the television, but his interests walks on another way: he wants to leave the audiovisual world definitively, by the most drastic way: hang himself by the neck. Intrepid journalist Diana forces him to fight against his own ghosts. So, both of them live an exciting underground adventure in Barcelona cinema's drains, peopled by the most raved and bizarre characters: rude and wretched producers, revenger and freakish actresses, survival actors, hyper-violent technicians who goes in front of camera...
Morfing
1996
7.0Exasperated and megalomaniac director Carlos Atanes, takes the charge of produce a pilot program for the television, but his interests walks on another way: he wants to leave the audiovisual world definitively, by the most drastic way: hang himself by the neck. Intrepid journalist Diana forces him to fight against his own ghosts. So, both of them live an exciting underground adventure in Barcelona cinema's drains, peopled by the most raved and bizarre characters: rude and wretched producers, revenger and freakish actresses, survival actors, hyper-violent technicians who goes in front of camera...
Morfing
1996
NRA ghostly journey guided by the voice of Erzsébet Báthory, the infamous Blood Countess of Transylvania. At the beginning of the 17th century, Countess Báthory was accused of torturing and murdering more than 600 maidens. Trialed and convicted, she was imprisoned in Čachtice, her own castle, where she remained for four years until her dead in 1614. Only in a diary could she express the words she would have spoken in her defense at a trial at which she never appeared.
Báthory
2026
NRA ghostly journey guided by the voice of Erzsébet Báthory, the infamous Blood Countess of Transylvania. At the beginning of the 17th century, Countess Báthory was accused of torturing and murdering more than 600 maidens. Trialed and convicted, she was imprisoned in Čachtice, her own castle, where she remained for four years until her dead in 1614. Only in a diary could she express the words she would have spoken in her defense at a trial at which she never appeared.
Báthory
2026
7.0Augustine of Hippo dreams of time paradoxes and spiritual decadence of a civilization, which could as much be that of the 4th Century A.D. as our own.
The Seven Hills of Rome
1999
7.0Augustine of Hippo dreams of time paradoxes and spiritual decadence of a civilization, which could as much be that of the 4th Century A.D. as our own.
The Seven Hills of Rome
1999
8.0In Ancient Times, the classic hero returned home and was rewarded with Glory. Nowadays, a trap awaits the returning hero: he is convinced failure is unavoidable.
Welcome to Spain
1999
8.0In Ancient Times, the classic hero returned home and was rewarded with Glory. Nowadays, a trap awaits the returning hero: he is convinced failure is unavoidable.
Welcome to Spain
1999
NRA bizarre "ménage à quatre" where everyone is half alive.
Romance bizarro
2018
NRA bizarre "ménage à quatre" where everyone is half alive.
Romance bizarro
2018
NR5 short films, from 5 directors and 4 different countries on the theme of the Alter-Ego. The "Alter Ego Film Project" is inspired by the spirit of Maya Deren and her way of making films. Between double personality, secret identity, doppelgänger and impossible love we have discovered several unconventional stories halfway between narrative and experimental.
Alter Ego Film Project
2024
NR5 short films, from 5 directors and 4 different countries on the theme of the Alter-Ego. The "Alter Ego Film Project" is inspired by the spirit of Maya Deren and her way of making films. Between double personality, secret identity, doppelgänger and impossible love we have discovered several unconventional stories halfway between narrative and experimental.
Alter Ego Film Project
2024
NR5 short films, from 5 directors and 4 different countries on the theme of the Alter-Ego. The "Alter Ego Film Project" is inspired by the spirit of Maya Deren and her way of making films. Between double personality, secret identity, doppelgänger and impossible love we have discovered several unconventional stories halfway between narrative and experimental.
Alter Ego Film Project
2024
6.0A man named Alucinio drifts on the Antarctic desert amid a winter storm. He has been betrayed -in dreams- by the woman he loves. When he is about to freeze to death is rescued by a poulterer who will introduce him to the secrets of pornophilosophy. Meanwhile, in Boston, the crazy artist Gropius Cantor and his little sect are getting tear the structure of reality. The space begins to twist on itself with unpredictable consequences for the future of the characters and all mankind. A story full of lechery, sarcasm, extravagance, impossible geometries, discovery of existence's hidden sides and a pinch of Magick.
Gallino, the Chicken System
2012
6.0A man named Alucinio drifts on the Antarctic desert amid a winter storm. He has been betrayed -in dreams- by the woman he loves. When he is about to freeze to death is rescued by a poulterer who will introduce him to the secrets of pornophilosophy. Meanwhile, in Boston, the crazy artist Gropius Cantor and his little sect are getting tear the structure of reality. The space begins to twist on itself with unpredictable consequences for the future of the characters and all mankind. A story full of lechery, sarcasm, extravagance, impossible geometries, discovery of existence's hidden sides and a pinch of Magick.
Gallino, the Chicken System
2012
NRReturning to your roots, to your family's house, can sometimes not be so good if the tranquility of your town is increasingly overtaken by surprises. A recorded theatre performance.
Necrofilia fina
2013
NRReturning to your roots, to your family's house, can sometimes not be so good if the tranquility of your town is increasingly overtaken by surprises. A recorded theatre performance.
Necrofilia fina
2013
NRReturning to your roots, to your family's house, can sometimes not be so good if the tranquility of your town is increasingly overtaken by surprises. A recorded theatre performance.
Necrofilia fina
2013
Free adaptation based on Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". The action is in Praga occupied by Germans, at home of a Jew family (maybe the Kafka's). Novel's room of Gregor Samsa is replaced by an enormous library.
The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka
1993
4.8The end of the world is imminent. A man goes into a parallel dimension, a limbo between reality and fantasy where the normal rules of time and space have ceased to apply. His wife goes to rescue him. Both will be trapped in a strange and cruel world where a ruthless Queen organizes reality as a mad game of chess, a post-apocalyptic dystopia of domination and subjugation where characters can’t eat, speak or move about freely and are periodically viciously attacked.
Maximum Shame
2010