Pedro Almodóvar (born September 24, 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker.

Biography

He was born in Calzada de Calatrava , Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha and grew up in Extremadura. At the age of sixteen he moved to Madrid, he worked in a number of jobs before settling down for twelve years at Telefónica. His first commercial film was shown in 1980 although he had been making short Super 8 or 16 mm films since 1972, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón had been shot over eighteen months. He writes and directs most of his film and has also acted and produced.

Almodovar is best known for his use of melodrama, improbable circumstances and high camp in his movies. However a theme that recurs in his work is the connections and/or the desire to connect with others. His characters, in all their many forms, are attempting to 'come home', find safety, fulfillment and love with those around them to dispel an almost universal loneliness. Through his use of intellectually and socially marginal characters, Almodovar is able to take the search for fulfillment to extremes that mainstream society seldom tolerates. The extreme actions undertaken by his characters, like the kidnap and seduction of a woman by a recently released mental patient (played by Antonio Banderas) in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! drives home the point that the urge to be with someone is strong enough to merit drastic action.

Awards

• Best Director and the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999 for All About My Mother
• Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2003 for Talk to Her
• BAFTA Film Award , Golden Kinnaree at the Bangkok Film Festival and Silver Condor by the Argentinean Film Critics Association for Best Foreign Film for Talk to Her in 2003
• BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Film for All About My Mother

Filmography

• Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap , 1980)
• Laberinto de pasiones (Labyrinth of passion , 1982)
• Entre tinieblas (Dark Habits , 1983)
• ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What have I done to deserve this? , 1984)
• Matador (1986)
• La Ley del deseo (The Law of Desire, 1987)
• Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1988)
• ¡Átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, 1990)
• Tacones lejanos (High Heels, 1991)
• Kika (1993)
• La Flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret , 1995)
• Carne trémula (Live Flesh) , 1997)
• Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother, 1999)
• Hable con ella (Talk to Her , 2002)
• La mala educación (Bad_Education, 2004)

External links