Jaume Balagueró Bernat (; born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

widely known for his

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s, most notably the acclaimed ''REC'' series.

Early life

Balagueró was born in

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and grew up in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He studied communications and photography at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

, graduating in 1991 with a degree in communication sciences. In 1992, Balagueró began work as a film journalist and radio host with the show “''La espuma de los días''” on Radio Hospitalet.

Career

Balagueró began his filmmaking career with the short video projects ''El niño bubónico'' (1991) and ''La invención de la leche'' (1993). In 1994, Balagueró graduated to shooting on

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

with the short film ''Alicia'' (1994). The film won the prize for Best Short film at the Sitges Film Festival. Balagueró returned with the short ''Days without Light'' (1995), which achieved similar success on the festival circuit. Balagueró made his feature-length film debut with '' The Nameless'' (1999). Based on the novel by

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

, the film appeared at festivals worldwide, winning several awards including Best Film at the Fant-Asia Film Festival. He returned three years later with ''

Darkness Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...

'' (2002). The film marked Balagueró's English-language debut, and was picked up by

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

Studios, which released a heavily truncated version in US theaters in December 2004. 2005 saw the release of Balagueró's third film, the ghost story ''

Fragile Fragile or The Fragile may refer to: Film and television * ''Fragile'' (film), a 2005 film by Jaume Balagueró * "Fragile" (''Smallville''), a television episode Literature * ''Fragile'' (manga), a 2016 Japanese series by Bin Kusamizu and Sab ...

'' (2005) starring

Calista Flockhart Calista Kay Flockhart (born November 11, 1964) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for portraying the title character on the Fox television series '' Ally McBeal'' (1997–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 1998 ...

and

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...

. Also in 2002, Balagueró co-directed the rock music documentary ''OT: la película'' (2002). In 2006, Balagueró participated in the TV project ''Películas para no dormir (6 Films to Keep You Awake)'', directing the fourth film in the series ''To Let'', with Nuria González. A revival of Narciso Ibañez Serrador's macabre TV series ''Historias Para No Dormir'' (aka ''Tales to Keep You Awake'', 1966–67 with a brief resurrection in 1982), ''Películas'' consisted of six horror-themed episodes directed by several notable horror directors from Catalonia and other parts of Spain, including

Álex de la Iglesia Alejandro "Álex" de la Iglesia Mendoza (born 4 December 1965) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, producer and former comic book artist. De la Iglesia's films combine grotesque and very dark elements such as death and murder: most of his ...

and

Mateo Gil Mateo Gil Rodríguez (born 23 September 1972, Las Palmas, Spain) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, second unit director, assistant director, cinematographer, editor and producer. He co-wrote most of Alejandro Amenábar's films with him, ...

. Balagueró began work on ''REC'' (2007), his fourth theatrical feature, in early 2007 and planned his third movie of the ''REC''

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

. He directed the thriller '' Sleep Tight'', which stars

Luis Tosar Luis López Tosar (born 13 October 1971) is a Spanish actor and musician from Galicia. He is one of the most recognizable and versatile actors in Spain, best known for performances in films such as '' Cell 211'', '' Take My Eyes'', '' Sleep Tig ...

. Balagueró directed '' REC 4: Apocalypse'' and co-wrote along

Manu Díez Manu may refer to: Geography * Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region **Manú National Park, Peru ** Manú River, in southeastern Peru *Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh *Manu Temp ...

the screenplay, of the film. He also wrote the screenbook of '' REC 3: Genesis''.

Filmography

Film

Producer only

Short film

Televisión

Awards

* 2007 – Best director in the Festival de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges for ''

REC REC or Rec is a shortening of Recording, the process of capturing data onto a storage medium. REC may also refer to: Educational institutes * Regional Engineering College, colleges of engineering and technology education in India * Rajalakshmi ...

''. * 1999 – Best European film in the Festival de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges for '' The Nameless''. * 1994 – Best shortcut in the Festival de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges for ''Alicia''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaguero, Jaume 1968 births Living people People from Lleida Film directors from Catalonia Horror film directors