Montxo Armendariz
| Montxo Armendáriz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
27 January 1949 Olleta, Orbaibar, in Navarra, Spain |
| Other names | Ramón Armendariz Barrios |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1974–present |
Montxo Armendariz (born as Juan Ramón Armendariz Barrios; 27 January 1949 in Olleta, Navarra, Spain) is an awarded Spanish film director and screenwriter.
His film Las cartas de Alou won at the San Sebastian Film Festival. His next film, Historias del Kronen, was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.Secretos del corazón won several Goya Award, Berlin Film Festival and received the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film.
Born on 27 January 1949 in Olleta, Navarra. He was the last hope for his parents, who had already lost three baby sons. His father was a farmhand and blacksmith and Armendáriz spent his first year in rural Basque Country, a landscape that would reappear repeatedly in his filmography. He was six years old when, in 1955, he moved with his parents to Pamplona in search of a better life. At age eighteen, he discovered existentialism in the works of foreign authors. After completing his mandatory military service, he studied electronics, a subject he taught as university professor at the Instituto politecnico de Pamplona. Interested in filmmaking, he joined a film club, studied folklore, wrote and performed protest songs and bought a Super 8 camera to make his own short films. In 1975 he was arrested for protesting the killing of a Basque activist and faced trial on charges of conspiracy; this coincided with Franco's death and a subsequent amnesty was declared.
Eventually Armendáriz left his teaching profession behind to follow a career as film director. He joined Euskal Zinegille Elkartea, a new association of Basque filmmakers and made a series of documentary shorts on Basque topics including: Barregwrien Dantza (Funny Dance) (1979) and Ikusmena (Landscape) (1980).
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